OPEN RISK TAKER
An individual or business
that tends to behave in a way that can potentially cause physical harm or
financial loss, but might also present an opportunity for a rewarding outcome.
Most business types that thrive on innovation will encourage a risk taker mentality
among management to help support the creative process in other staff members.
Every business has its own risk. An entrepreneur that runs a business shall be
facing a lot of risks that are unavoidable. Therefore, a smart entrepreneur
will be alert with the possible risks that its company might face. As a result,
an entrepreneur should list out the solving methods in order to avoid
unnecessary risks consistently. There are some successful entrepreneurs that
can be role models of risk takers.
DATUK DR MAZNAH HAMID
Datuk Dr Maznah Hamid is
the Executive Chairman of Securiforce Group. She is also known as the Iron Lady
of Malaysia. In the 20th century, she intended to buy a security company to
improve her standard of living. However, she and her husband only had RM5000 in
hand, so they could only afford to buy an almost-bankrupt security company
because at that time there was not even a bank that was willing to give loan to
them as they viewed this as an unprofitable sector. However, she did not give
up but put in more effort to make it a success. Due to the limited source of
finance, she had to sell off their house to provide more funding in their
business. Her sacrifices were worthwhile as the company emerged as a renowned
security company in Malaysia (Robiatuladuhwiyah, 2013).
TAN SRI LIM GOH TONG
Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong was
also an open risk taker. The Genting Highlands Resort project was considered as
an unsuccessful project that will not be
implemented at once because people assumed this project was at the top of the
mountain and had to bear the high risk of financial or safety. Tan Sri Lim Goh
Tong dared to take all the risks involved in beginning this project as he was
open to all the risks that he might face directly or indirectly. Financially,
he was taking a risk by investing the financial resources available for
projects that are deemed insane and nearly suffered bankruptcy. He suffered
seven years without income during the project run of Genting Highlands Resort.
In terms of safety, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong almost lost many of his workers’ lives
and his own life many times throughout
the project. For example, failing car brakes, loss of function and causing his
car to nearly skid into a ravine. He was also hit by a tree causing his head to
bleed. The risks faced by Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong finally enabled him to become a
successful entrepreneur with the emergence of a world-class tourist center of
the Genting Highlands Resort which can attract foreign tourists, especially
tourists from China, Thailand and Indonesia.
VISIONARY
Any success in life must
always begin with a vision. A visionary entrepreneur is one who is able to see
what others are not able to see. In other words this class of entrepreneurs
have the right kind of picture in their mind that lets them know what will be
the outcome of their business venture. While every business is an investment,
entrepreneurs are actually into building an asset. When the business unfolds
and flourishes the way you wanted it to, then you would either prefer to keep it
or sell it. If you are keeping it, the meaning is you are buying your business
yourself. Remember, you will always want to buy something that is really worth
the price and this should be the prime concern of an entrepreneur in developing
the business to excellent heights. A visionary entrepreneur does exactly this
when he ventures into his business idea.
TAN SRI LOH BOON SIEW
As a successful
entrepreneur, Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew is seen as a person who has high vision for
the company he set up to bring in Honda motorcycles in Malaysia. This can be
seen from the construction of the first motorcycle factory in Malaysia Assembly
Plant, which is owned by Boon Siew Sdn Bhd in Mak Mandin Industrial Estate,
Penang. With the construction of this plant in 1969, Honda motorcycles are no
longer installed in Japan but it is installed in Malaysia so as to save the
cost of installation and sales. With the construction of this plant, Boon Siew
Sdn Bhd has introduced several new models of Honda motorcycles beginning in
1971, first introducing the Honda model S90Z. In this current era, there are
various types of Honda motorcycles in the market with different engine
capacities for all age users. His high-minded attitude is what drives Tan Sri
Loh Boon Siew to continue to succeed in the field of motoring. Not all
entrepreneurs have the ability to look ahead like Tan Sri. A positive attitude
is the main weapon in his efforts to continue to move forward in the Malaysian
automotive industry.
FAILURE IS AN OPTION
Generally, failure means
that something suddenly stops working. As an entrepreneur, one of the
entrepreneurial traits is that failure is an option to be successful in the
business. If an entrepreneur is afraid to face the failure, then this
particular person will not achieve the goals of the business at all. Richard Branson said it
best: “Few first ventures work out. It is how a beginning entrepreneur deals
with failure that sets that person apart. In fact, failure is one of the
secrets to success, since some of the best ideas arise from the ashes of a
shuttered business.” If you understand that failure is part of being an
entrepreneur, you will take those failures and use them as learning
experiences. Real world experience, even failing, will teach you more than you
would ever learn in a classroom.
PUAN FARIDAH ZAKARIA
It is undeniable that
failure is a very bitter pill to swallow. While it is difficult for us to pass
through, but if we see the failure of the positive side, it certainly will be a
point of failure of the transformer to our lives. That was passed by the
Managing Director of Fareeda House of Scarfs, Puan Faridah Zakaria. She considered a failure in her business before
the trials and tribulations that have shaped her life in the future. Her
enthusiasm never faded to rise again to achieve success. Her determination to
change the fate of her family made her strive and she never know the meaning of despair, and as
a result,Fareeda House of Scarfs was born. It is a yearning business for Muslim
women in hijab nowadays. At the foot of the cockerel's luck, good luck man is
anybody's guess, and that's what happened to her as shenever thought that she
would occasionally manage to build her own business brand . Women born in
Singapore but raised in Penang was initially bountiful in beauty and has opened
a beauty salon in Penang. However, the business is well received and only
lasted for one year only. After the failure of her beauty salon business, she
did not have any other job and this put pressure on her because her life was really difficult at that time. She
thought that she needed to support her family, she was not able to
sit silently without a job again. She needed to do something to change the fate
of her family, and that's when she started doing business on a small scale by
selling scarves.Her business escalated quickly to importing scarfs all over the
globe such as Dubai, Indonesia and Singapore.
BILL GATES
Secondly,Bill Gates a
young hacker quickly figured out the intricacies of the machine, found the
weaknesses and started causing trouble – they broke the defense, which on
several occasions led to a system failure and changed the files that contained
records of computer time. CCC noticed that breach, and set them aside from
working with computers for a few weeks. Meanwhile, the company’s business began
to suffer from constant failures and poor protection. Remembering the
destructive activities of computer users from Lakeside, CCC invited Bill Gates
and his friends to identify flaws and security holes. As a payment, the company
offered endless computer time for young hackers. Sure thing, Bill and his
friends could not refuse. Since that day boys couldn’t say if it was a day or
night outside – they were hanging out in the lab all the time. For instance, one project of Gates was a
program for scheduling classes. ‘Somehow’, it constantly redefined Bill to the
classes with the prettiest girls. In addition to troubleshooting, they studied
each material on automated calculations and improved their skills.
OUTCOME ORIENTED
Outcome oriented is
sometimes referred as result oriented. Generally, outcome oriented is a term
used to describe knowing what outcomes are important, and focusing resources to
achieve them. It is the opposite of process oriented, which focus more on process.
DATUK JIMMY CHOO
Firstly, An entrepreneur
who has the traits of outcome oriented is Datuk Jimmy Choo. His father started
the shoe making business by opening a shoe shop.He gained exposure on
techniques in making shoes from his father, who was a full-time shoemaker. He
continued his studies in London in the manufacture of footwear and fashion. He
did a part-time job as a cleaner in the restaurant and in the shoe factory for
getting the money to eat and pay for his cost of study. After graduating, he was
trying to open a shoes store by renting an abandoned former hospital. He worked
hard for four years and finally his designs earned coverage in Vogue, which is
a famous fashion magazine in the United Kingdom. After four years, Princess Diana liked his design and bought his design around the
year 1990. Start from there, Princess Diana was interested in his designs and
had caused his name to immediately jump on the international stage. He founded
Jimmy Choo Ltd with Tamara Mellon, who is the editor of British Vogue in the
year 1996. In April 2001, he had sold a 50 % stake in the company for £ 10
million to focus on the work that had been done by Jimmy Choo Couture that was
produced under the license from Jimmy Choo Ltd. Now, the brand of Jimmy Choo
has been associated with style, luxury and authenticity as well as the madness
of artists and celebrities around the world. A pair of women’s shoes is sold in
the reaching thousands of US dollars. Many famous people have worn and booked
his shoes. He has managed to establish his own company with the results from
his own effort. He also has to face many challenges before becoming a
successful entrepreneur. As the designer of shoes and handbags, he should
choose the most effective communication channels to market their latest
designs. Finally, he was awarded the title ‘Datuk’ by Sultan Pahang on his
success in fashion. He was awarded the title of ‘Professor’ by the University
of the Arts London for his contribution in the fashion field. He was the first
Malaysian to be awarded the ‘Order of the British Empire’ OBE (Knighthood) by
the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II in the year 2002.
TAN SRI MUSTAPHA KAMAL
Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal
Abu Bakar also is an outcome oriented entrepreneur. As a result, he
successfully completed his largest housing project that is Damansara Perdana
and Damansara Damai, both in Petaling Jaya to attract the attention of many people interested in it.Apart from that,
he received numerous awards from many governance agencies when he successfully
completed his housing project .For example, he accepted the Outstanding
Entrepreneur Award in 1995 by the Selangor Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia,
FIABCI Property Man of The Year Award 1997 and the Award for Outstanding
Personality of the Year 2001 Construction Industry Construction Industry
Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia. In the same time, He also received the 2002
Fellowship Award from HRH DPMMKL Yang Di-PertuanAgong and the Special Award
MaalHijrah 2003 from Raja Muda of Perak. These acceptance of awards shows the
outcome oriented behavior of a well deserved and model entrepreneuR.
OPEN CULTURE
Open Culture is a concept
according to which knowledge should be spread freely and its growth should come
from developing, altering or enriching already existing works on the basis of
sharing and collaboration, without being restricted by rules linked to the
legal protection of intellectual property.
MOHAMED BIN GHULAM HUSSEIN
This trait is showed
clearly from Mr. Mohamed Bin Ghulam Hussein. He is the founder of Mydin which
is one of the largest and well-established Malaysian-owned Companies involved
in wholesale and retailing. With his own savings, without the help of
government or anyone else, he began to start his business empire with his small
shop that had a really small space equivalent to the size of a grocery shop.
After 2 decades, Mydin Mohamed was finally able to expand his business to the
nearer country. One of the factors why
Mr. Mohamed could be so successful is because he is a person that is of
very open culture. To Mr. Mohamed, business is a culture and a way to live.
Malaysia is a country that is very diverse in ethnic, economics, religion, and
cultural. He accepted this diversity and used
it as a weapon in his business. Mydin sells various type of items that
is suitable for the public and also the specific items for different cultures.
Mydin products range from food line, household, soft lines and hard lines. This
makes Mydin popular in public and brings success to Mr. Mohamed.
NETWORKED
Networked is about
interacting with people and engaging them for mutual benefit. A successful
entrepreneur should be outgoing, sincere, friendly, supportive, a good listener
or someone who follows up and stays in touch. The ability to network is one of
the most crucial skills any entrepreneur must have. It can help entrepreneurs
to establish a new business or grow an existing one. They can use networking as
a tool for finding investors, customers, staff, suppliers and business partners
with minimal cost to their business. They can also network face-to-face at
social events, conferences and through industry associations (Entrepreneur,
n.d.).
TAN SRI SYED MOKHTAR AL-BUKHARY
Tan Sri Syed first
started his business by buying a shophouse in Alor Setar under a signed
contract with UDA or the Urban Development Authority. Later in 1975,Tan Sri
Syed started Shah Company and applied for a licence in the trading of rice.
This was obtained from BERNAS. Fruitful from his networking efforts,Tan Sri
Syed successfully obtained a contract to supply rice to various government and
state linked companies such as FELDA,MARA Senama,Pernas Edar and Sergam Sdn.Bhd
(a subsidiary company under the Johor state economic development comittee). His
successful networking ordeals then landed him a government contract to supply
mil and other controlled items to the government. His product under his Susu
Mas Sdn.Bhd production line was marketed under the Fernleaf and Anchor
brands.(Ashadi Zain,2005,pg 4-5)
T. ANANDA KRISHNAN
T.Ananda Krishnan worked
closely with Petronas through his wholely-owned company,Usaha Tegas Sdn.Bhd to
bring up KLCC with a 43% share owntage in KLCC Holdings. His company also ownes
33% of shares in Tanjong Plc which houses TGV cinemas. Through his close
networking with neighbouring countries such as Taiwan,Indonesia,India,Indonesia
and Philippines,ASTRO owned by T.Ananda Krishnan now provides satellite TV
services to these countries with close to 850,000 subscribers with a net worth
of RM 4 billion.As the first satellite TV company in Malaysia,ASTRO was given a
monopoly advantage till 2017. His networking efforts also earned him a spot in
the oil and gas,shipping and film industry. Proving this statement, his company
Objektif Bersatu Sdn.Bhd owns 49% of shares with Bumi Armada Bhd. (a shipping
company) ,Zodan and Zodavi (both oil and gas companies in Indonesia) and
Celestial Pictures Ltd (a film company) bought from Shaw Brothers valued at
RM292.6 million in the year 2000.
OBSERVANT
According to the Oxford
English Dictionary, the adjective, observant, can be defined as an individual
that pays a lot of attention to things and notices more about them than most
people do (2010, p.1499).In this highly competitive society, entrepreneurs
should always be observant towards their business surrounding. By having proper
observation, entrepreneurs can predict the type of products or services that
may improve people’ lives in that community and this will direct them to
achieve their business goals.
ROBERT KUOK
Robert Kuok is known to
many as the sugar king due to his massive involvement in the sugar business.
Kuok formed the Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Co. Bhd in 1959 with two Japanese
partners and also involving elite UMNO politicians and Malay royalties as
directors and shareholders. He invested heavily in the Malaysian sugar market
with 1.5 million tonnes of sugar refineries equivalent to 10% of the world
production. This was through owning several sugar plantations in Malaysia nad
Indonesia. Noticing the changes in tax expenses in Malaysia during 1974,Kuok
shifted all his operations to Singapore . Robert was observant enough to expand
his company interest into various other growing fields such as the retail and
services sector,media and real estate. Robert then expanded his business to
Hong Kong and China. Kuok was the first Asian to open the renowned hotel chain
Shangri-La with hotels in Asian and European countries. Kuok also helped in the
opening of Malaysia’s first airline MAS. In 1968 he helped with the
establishment of MISC,Malaysian Bumiputera Bank Bhd and PNB.
ALI HASSAN MOHD. HASSAN
Ali Hassan Mohd.Hassan is
the founder of Al-Ikhsan. Ali paid great attention to determination in business
forming an empire called Al-Ikhsan. He has been fostered with interest in
business since childhood helping his mother sell homemade ice cream. Today, a
total of 59 Al-Ikhsan boutiques exist nationwide and is a great evidence of the
teaching principles of Islam that is strongly held by Ali Hassan. Al-Ikhsan
company is a company that provides international standard sports equipment and
the products offered are exclusive and closely linked to the world sports arena
such as the Football League, European Cup,Olympics and Formula One. His
achievements started off small with a meagre capital and great humility. He
said in the success of a business there are several key elements that exist
such as patience,determination,and preseverance. If we fail once to obtain bank
loans, we have to presevere and continue to try and not give up. We should not
be shy to ask for customer feedback as their complaints will help our business
to grow to a higher level. The key to Ali Hassan’s success is fully devoted to
to his faith in Islamic teachings. Besides his religious beliefs, Ali Hassan
also beleives that his marketing strategies were to be one step ahead of his
competitors in terms of pricing and affordability. Now there are over 75
boutiques of Al-Ikhsan nationwide and currently growing. Model sports equipment worn by famous stars
are available in this store. He plans to open up a sports shop for women named
Al-Ikhsan Sports Girl in future. This will meet the demands of women who said
that clothing and equipment for females of leading brands were scarce in the
market. Al-Ikhsan store is now a leading store chain along with other known
sports shops like Nike,Adidas and Raebok. Ali Hassan validates the saying
‘where there is a will,there is a way’.
TEAM ORIENTED
According to Indiana
University on the ‘Defining Performance Standards’, team oriented is a quality
which a person can works effectively with others. This particular individual
which is team oriented can actively contribute to the achievement of group and
organizational goals. Individual who is team oriented can accept shared
responsibility and ownership of projects. Besides, they can also maintain open
communication among team members and utilize strengths of individuals within
group to the benefit of the team. Many successful entrepreneurs admitted that
they cannot build or run their business without others’ helps. Delegating
responsibilities to team of employees or even outside consultants will not only
allow the company to focus on its core competencies, but also will improve the
efficiency of its operations and provide avenues for creative ideas to filter
their way up to management (Gary, 2001).
TONY FERNANDES
Being team-oriented has
always been one of the main traits needed to run a business effective and
efficiently. Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is the perfect person that portrays that
specific trait in all his decisions. Tony Fernandes owns Air Asia Sdn Bhd and also
Tune Air Bhd. To be oriented is to be positioned in a direction relative to
something or someplace else, and it’s often used with the preposition towards
or away from. Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is the founder of Tune Air Sdn Bhd who
introduced the low budget airline, Air Asia. With the unique tagline, ‘Now
Everyone Can Fly’ Fernandes managed to turn Air Asia a failing
government-linked commercial airline,into a highly sought after public-listed
budget airline. He has since founded the Tune Group of companies that ranges
from talktime sim cards to well-known budget hotels. He was also instrumental
in lobbying Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to propose the idea of open skies with
neighbouring countries like Thailand,Indonesia and Singapore. As a result,these
nations have granted landing rights to Air Asia and other discount carriers. To
him ,employees come first before employers. He believes that in having a happy
workforce, his staffs will look after the customers anyway. His company is said
to have a culture department whose sole job is to organize parties. He looks
for people who are driven,ambitious and humble to help him in his venture.
Being invested in his employees will portray a leader as a caring and
understanding family in business rather than just a worker and boss
relationship. In conclusion, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is team-oriented in both
his charismatic and leadership features.
TAN SRI SHAHRIL SHAMSUDDIN
Tan Sri Shahril
Shamsuddin is a Malaysian oil and gas entrepeneur.Tan Sri Shahril aged 54 is
currently the President and Group Chief Executive Oficer and non-independant
executive director of Sapura Kancana Petroleum Berhad. He has a diverse
portfolio ranging from eduacation, aviation services, property development,
automotive component manufacturing and secured communications technology. He is
also serving as the Deputy Chairman of Sapura Industrial Berhad and a
non-executive director of Sapura Resources Bhd. He is also a member of the
board of trustees,treasurer and Executive Comittee member of Perdana Leadership
Foundation. Starting in 19 areas, he who was when aged 30 years has begun to
take over the company of his father. Being an observant entrepreneur, he makes
his father as his mentor. He sees his father who worked hard with one goal,
which is to provide better education to his family. Since taking the helm at
Sapura Kencana, Tan Sri Shahril has steered the company into a range of new
businesses and projects in Malaysia, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam, China,
West Africa and several other countries. At the day, Sapura Kencana has a
market capitalization of RM 22 billion, assets worth RM15 billion and a staff
of 11 000 employees. However, Tan Sri Shahril does not to build a giant
company. His initial intention is to build an organization that has a high
technical strength and provide the best value to our customers. He was a
far-sighted because it would establish a large organization but no quality. He
more focus on the quality of work undertaken by its members. He and his group
members gather and meet not think about what services are offered in Malaysia.
At the end of the nineties, almost no company oil and gas services provider,
while the country is an oil producer. The results of the discussion are Tan Sri
Dato’ Seri Shahril Shamsuddin and his team members had form a great team and
fill the gaps. Many companies when was interested in Information
Technology(IT), but they came out of the field and entering the field of oil
and gas. (Sapura Kencana Gushes Profits for Billionaire Shahril Shamsuddin, 2014)
Not many people who understand the business at that time. He was very observant
because out of the field of IT and ultimately chose the field of oil and gas
that has the potential to grow.
PROACTIVE
Proactive is defined a
person or an action of creating or controlling a situation rather than just
responding to it after it has happened accoring to the online oxford
dictionary.
TAN SRI MOKHZANI MAHATHIR
An example of
entrepreneur that demonstrates proactiveness very deeply is Tan Sri Mokhzani
Mahathir. He was appointed to the Board of Sapura Kencana Petroleum as
Executive Director and Vice Chairman. He is also a member of the Remuneration
Comittee of sapura Kencana Petroleum. Tan Sri Mokhzani already showed interest
in the petroleum sector since graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum
Engineering from University of Tulsa,USA. He started his career in the
petroleum field by working as a operations engineer with Sarawak Shell Berhad,
on offshore work on the drilling rig tender. He later invested with Tongkah
Holdings Berhad that specializes in the manufacture of components, the
healthcare sector, oil and gas and finance sector. He held the position of
Group CEO Of Pantai Holdings Berhad and Group Chief Executive of Tongkah
Holdings Bhd. Being proactive helped him set up an investment company called
Kencana Capital Sdn Ltd dealing in the petroleum,it and oila nd gas fields. He
decided to join the Company Investor Group in 2012 which then produced Sapura
Kencana, an oil and gas provider company. Sapura Kencana is now globally
recognised as a main oil and gas supplier in Malaysia. Thus,in a nutshell being
proactive can help us to start up something new without being chivvied by
people. Tan Sri Mokhzani is an individual taht should be made an icon by youngsters
who want to start their own business or become an entrepreneur.
TAN SRI MOHD SANI SALLEH
Proactive entrepreneurs
act without instructions from anyone. With high initiatives, entrepreneurs
strive to develop and expand their businesses. Rated entrepreneurs seek
opportunities to take early action including the need to initiate and explore
the areas that may have not been explored. Entrepreneurs also have insight into
their businesses. Entrepreneurs try to look ahead to enable the businesses to
continue to grow. The challengers will see entrepreneurs as an opportunity, not
a threat. Through proactive attitude, the entrepreneur will make a choice base
on rationalities, rather than according to what they feel. Among the prominent
businessman Datuk Wan Mohammad Sani Salleh. He entered the entertainment
industry, as a model, singer and actor. At one time, he wondered that if he
wanted to continue living by just to earn a living and entertaining himself. He
began to look even further after seeing his former co - became successful in
the business model. With the high initiative, he started looking for something
to explore for doing business. During his school days, he regularly used the
public transportations, especially buses. This developed his interest in
joining the business field of transportation. When he first started his
business, various allegations had to be faced and he even had to sleep in the
office. This shows that he has the vision and the willingness to expand its
business. To improve skills in these fields, he often sees the way management
and the methods used by other companies and to not be shy to ask. He was a
failure and was fired by his partners. He forced through it alone. He managed
it until his business is now stable. With the proactive attitude, he managed
the business to become a better organization.