Achievement of Robert Kuok

1923, October 6: Robert Kuok Hock Nien was born in Johor Bahru, Johor, the youngest of 3 brothers.

Unknown: Robert Kuok studied at Raffles Institution Singapore.

1942-1945 (age 18-21): Upon graduation, Robert Kuok worked in the grains department of Mitsubishi, a Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi.

1948 (age 24): Robert Kuok's father died.

1949 (age 25): Robert Kuok and his 2 brothers founded Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd, trading in agricultural commodities. Under the new post-colonial government, Kuok started in the sugar business alongside the government.

1961 (age 37): Robert Kuok made a coup by buying cheap sugar from India before the prices shot up. He continued to invest heavily in sugar refineries, controlled 80% of the Malaysian sugar market with production of 1.5 million tonnes, equivalent to 10% of world production, and so earned his nickname "Sugar King of Asia".

 1971 (age 47): Robert Kuok built his first Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore.

1977 (age 53): Robert Kuok made his first foray into Hong Kong property, when he acquired a plot of land on the newly reclaimed Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront. Here, he built his 2nd hotel, the Kowloon Shangri-La.

1985 November 22: Robert Kuok won the Golden Pyramid award that made him the Malaysian Entrepreneur for -1985. His son, Khoon Ean, received the award from Acting Prime Minister Datuk Musa Hitam on behalf of his father.

 1993 (age 69):

- Robert Kuok's Kerry Group acquired a 34.9% stake in the South China Morning Post from Murdoch's News Corporation.

-April 1: Robert Kuok officially retired from the Kerry Group and currently resides in Hong Kong.

2009, October 31 (age 86): Robert Kuok's PBB Group issued a statement Bursa Malaysia that it has decided to dispose of its sugar units, along with land used to cultivate sugarcane, to Felda for RM1.29 billion.

2010 (age 87): Robert Kuok delisted Allgreen Properties Singapore, and Jerneh Asia in Malaysia by buying back all shares.

2011 (age 88): Forbes valued Robert Kuok's personal wealth at US$12.4 billion, ranking him at No. 1 on the Forbes list of Malaysia's Richest.

What make Robert Kuok to be the most successful entrepreneur in Malaysia?

Tan Sri Robert Kuok has adopted five traits to success in the business, They are 

Foresight, versatility, initiative, decisive, perceptiveness.

Perceptiveness can be defined as showing keenness of insight, the state of having understanding, or intuition. In others word, having the ability to perceive; keen in discernment. It is the ability of understanding or figuring the thing out. Perceptiveness is not a thing but able to seeing what others can't.Entrepreneurs with perceptiveness can distinguish between ideas that are most likely to succeed or can deliver the required innovative solution for the organization and market value.

One of the examples of a successful entrepreneur is Robert Kuok. Asia’s sugar king the richest man in Malaysia, he is a proponent of being courageous to seize opportunities from at home and abroad and used his excellent connections with government and industry to rapidly scale up his empire. He said, “focus makes him a successful Sugar King”. The other example are china resources group of the ministry of foreign trade meet with Robert and saying china  was short of both sugar and money needed about 300000 tons of sugar, this amount is equivalent to one million tons now. Kuok secretly help them freeze his own business and only work for china during the next 5-6 week. He admitted he did not have that much of sugar at this critical movement, after that he decided to get the stock from Brazil event though there are risk. He said that

 “There are risk in every business; if you are not brave enough to grab on the first or next opportunities, then you shall be a poor person forever.”

Next are decisive in problem-solving. The meaning of decisive means someone who have the power or quality of deciding a question or controversy; putting an end to contest or controversy. A decisive entrepreneur make a strong and quality decision to lead the company effectively.  Robert Kuok, the richest man in Malaysia. He was bestowed by Forbes the world shrewdest business man. Kuok said to become a successful business man empire was 90% dependent on hard work. The rest are was intellect. He hinted, “ many people were clever than him. However, their night life was messier. The next day, they would fall asleep at their desks. He did not fall asleep so his horse ran faster”. This shows that look always make the correct decision in his daily life because he will estimate every risk that he;s about to take.

Next Tan Sri Robert Kuok also is an initiative entrepreneur. The meaning of initiative is the ability entrepreneur to turn ideas into action. Initiative is the combination of creativity, risk-taking, innovation and also the ability to plan and manage the project to achieve objectives. Kuok was known for his initiative where he was the first one who engaged in the sugar business in Malaysia. It was courageous for him to started sugar business since no one has been engaged in this before. He said that he took on the initiative in starting his trading business in the sugar business because of granulated sugar was very important in the food sector. He thinks sugar business is very simple and the raw sugar is cheapest to let a man get rich.

Except then that, Tan Sri Robert Kuok also is a versatility entrepreneur in Malaysia. Versatility mean someone who having many different skill or qualities which allow him to adopt in many different situations. Robert is a versatility entrepreneur because he has many kinds of business such as sugar, palm oil, mining, cooking oil, flour, hotel publishing and animal feed businesses. He is a quick learner so that become a versatility entrepreneur is not too hard for him. For example, he learn some business skill in Japanese industries and took the skill he learned to his family business in Johor.

Next are Robert Kuok are a foresight entrepreneur. Foresight means that an entrepreneur that design and manage the goals and vision of his business in line with the government’s vision. An entrepreneur must have the ability to anticipate the changes that will occur in the future and the right to make projections of a future career. During 1980, he had the foresight that china will become the most prosperous travel country in the future due to its historical relics and sites. So Robert builds his first Shangri-la hotel to help china;s travel industry to grow and popularize china as a tourist destination.

Robert Kuok

Robert Kuok is the youngest of three brothers, He born in Johor Bahru on 6 of October 1923. Kuok'sfather is from Fujian, He came to Malaya at the beginning of 20th century. Robert Kuok can speak Chinese Fuzhou dialect, English and also Japanese when Japan's wartime occupation of Malaya.He started his sugar business since 1959.

Robert Kuok began in business as an office boy, after that he work in his relatives business to complete his graduation after that he worked in his relatives business to complete his graduation. During the Japanese occupation period, Kuok worked in Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha a Japanese rice trading industrial conglomerate as a clerk since 1942 to 1945 In Singapore, a conglomerate which with the help of Japanese military unit monopolized the rice trade in Malaya during the occupation period. He was soon promoted to head the rice-trading department. After the war, he took the skills that he learned from the Japanese company back to his company business in Johor. After that, he opens his first company in Singapore with 100 thousand Malaysia ringgit doing Business management, ship broking, grocery industries. After 1 year Kuok's father dead, because of this reason he comes back to Malaysia and continues kuok's family business. After two years in his mother, Zheng Ge Ru recommendation, Robert Kuok and his two brothers and a cousin founded Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd  in 1949 doing rice, flour, beans, sugar business and more. Since Kuok outstanding ability and insight, he was elected as the chairman of the company.

In 1952, Kuok's brothers William Kuok was participating in Malaysian Communist Party and was killed during the 'Malaysian Emergency'. And this cause Kuok family was monitored by the authorities.This difficult situation forces him temporary leave Malaysia and goes to the United Kingdom. In that period, he does a deep research on his business and study about the knowledge od international trade, especially the sale of sugar.

in 1957  Kuok see the opportunity when Malaya gained independence, British economic forces subsided, Malaya government need to independent the economic development. in 1959 Robert  Kuok formed Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Co. Bhd. together with two prominent Japanese partners. He also brought many influential Malay elite into his company as directors and shareholders which include UMNO politician and Malay royalty  in Penang. he bought the raw sugar from Thailand and purify it in his own industries. After that sold it to all part Malaysia.In 1961, he made a coup by buying cheap sugar from India before the prices shot up. He continued to invest heavily in sugar refineries, controlled 80% of the Malaysian sugar market with production of 1.5 million tons, equivalent to 10% of world production, and so earned his nickname "Sugar King of Asia".

In 1971, Kuok built his the Shangri-La  hotel in Singapore. In 1977 is the first time he foray into hong kong property. When he acquired a plot of land on the Tsim Shat Sui, where he built the second hotel Kow Long Shangri-La. In 1993, he acquired a 34.9% stake in the south china morning post from Murdoch's News corporation. His companies also invest in many countries such as Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, mainland china, Australia and Fiji. Business in china is include bottling companies for Coca-Cola, cooking oil, and also the ownership of the Beijing world.