The achievement of Robert Kuok - Work hard, Work Smart

Robert’s philosophy in business can be summed up into four words: work hard, work smart. From a very young age, Robert has not only learned the value of diligence and hard work, but he has also discovered that it takes brains to become successful in the business world, and life in general.

He has instilled these values in his children very well, so much so that all of his children have gone on to become very famous and successful in their own right. Tim Dattels, a high-ranking officer at TPG Capitals, says of Robert:

“There’s only one Robert Kuok, there’s no doubt. But he has instilled his business philosophy deep into the family. With what he has built, they are well set to continue, whatever happens.”

Because of the life that he has experienced, Robert has made it a mission of his to ensure that he gives the next generation the opportunity that he was not able to get by his philanthropic work, the Kuok Foundation. This charitable organisation aims to provide scholarships for numerous Malaysian youth to enable them to study and work in their area of expertise. From its inception, the Kuok Foundation has given thousands of scholarships to various students throughout Malaysia, giving hope to the future of the country.

Robert’s successes in the business world have granted him a certain level of political influence, as he was instrumental in the negotiations between Malaysia and China by conveying information between both countries and setting up meetings between the two countries’ governments, resulting in the full diplomatic cross recognition between them. Aside from this, Robert was also included in the list of advisors pertaining to the future of Hong Kong, and having a minority stake in CITIC Pacific, a Hong Kong-based conglomerate holding company.

Today, even at age 93, Robert continues to actively participate in the running of his family’s companies, although he has delegated most of the managerial work to his children and nephews. He does, however, serve as a voice of reason and counsel, always encouraging the next generation to do their best to achieve their goals in life.

ROBERT KUOK: TIME COMPETENCE

Time defined as indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. Competence indicates sufficiency of knowledge and skills that enable someone to act in a wide variety of situation. Because each level of responsibility has its own requirements, competence can occur in any period of a person’s life or at any stage of his or her career. In other words, time competence is a trait that reveals the ability to seize all opportunities and fortune timing efficiently.

The richest man in Malaysia and also known as Asia’s Sugar King, Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien, 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.

As Robert Kuok seek out opportunities, he understood what his strengths and weaknesses are. This helps him identify the opportunities that are most relevant for him, and understand which skills he need to work on. He said focus makes him a successful Sugar King.

One of the example: there were 2 senior managers from China Resources Group of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, now known as the Ministry of commerce met with Robert Kuok, saying China was short of both sugar and money and needed about 300000 tons of sugar, this amount is equivalent to almost one million tons now. Such a deal will shake the global market soon, so they asked Kuok for help secretly. In that situation, Kuok had to think, plan, and take action as fast as he could. Therefore he had to freeze his own business account and only worked for China during the next 5-6 weeks. Kuok admitted he did not have such 300000 tons of sugar at that critical moment, so he decided to get the future stocks from Brazil, which is a big international sugar conference in Geneva. He whispered, “ 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.” His resurrections to success are fame and famous due to both his expertise in spotting opportunities.

When he started his sugar business, many people went against him, stating that the sugar business is a boring business. But what Robert Kuok saw was only opportunity and he jumped into it immediately. In addition to a large number of enterprises in Malaysia, now his companies have investments in many countries throughout Asia. In a nutshell, entrepreneurs with the trait of time competence can be said as unique because they can look forwards to their future far away from others.

   Integrity and reliability traits are the key to be a bind successful personal and business relationship and make them endure. This is the one of the secrets for Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien as a key success in his business. The driving force behind the growth of the Group is a quick family, whose vision and commitment to hard work and excellence for more than two generations have made Kuok Group market leader in many areas. From the beginning of its operations, the Group has set forth the basic values of integrity, reliability, loyalty and discipline too. From a trading post established in Malaysia and Singapore, the Group has expanded its operations in the 1950’s and 1960’s to Thailand and Indonesia. It focuses on the activities of ancillary and related to growth and also pursues new business and trade opportunities, particularly in commodities, resulting in a trading relationship with companies in Hamburg, Paris, London and New York. He had learned that the success of a company must depend on the unity of all its employees. He said that we must be relentless endeavor to maintain and practice the values of integrity and reliability. Integrity and reliability on himself were built and sustain trust and confidence in his business. Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien always find these two characteristic crucial to become successful in his business life.

 Tan Sri Robert Kuok as an initiative entrepreneur. He embarked on a new venture or business that has not been taken up by another entrepreneur in Malaysia. Tan Sri Robert Kuok was known for his initiative where he was the first people that engaged in the sugar business in Malaysia. It was courageous for his to started sugar business since no one has been engaged in this industry 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 also said that sugar business was a simple business which with the cheapest raw sugar, a man can get rich. Tan Sri Robert Kuok established Malaysian Sugar Manufacturing in collaboration with Mitsui Bussan Kaisha Limited and the Nissan Sugar Refinery in 1959. In 1968, he expanded his sugar trading business into sugar production. He commenced cane plantation and started a joint venture with the government. Then, he established Perlis Plantation Berhad (PPB) with the Perlis state government to clear 5,800 hectares of FELDA-owned land for cultivation of sugarcane. In the early 1970s, he established a second sugar mill, Kilang Kuala Perlis Felda Sdn Bhd with FELDA near the plantation. Tan Sri Robert Kuok continue to make every effort to expand his sugar business international. In the late 1960s, he expanded his business in Indonesia. Tan Sri Robert Kuok together with big sugar producer and refiner, Liem Sioe Liong operated and expanded sugar plantations with mill and refineries in southern Sumatra. Eventually, he had control 80% of the Malaysia sugar market which equivalent to 10% of the world sugar trade. In short, his great initiative to venture sugar business gave him a chance built a business empire, and thus dubbed as “Sugar King of Asia”.

        

Tan Sri Robert Kuok is as a foresight entrepreneur who shows remarkable ability to plan or predict for the long term. His presence as an entrepreneur is impressive. Tan Sri Robert Kuok displayed foresight and prescience to developed China as a prosperous travel industry. During 1980s, when he first went to China, he had the foresight that China will become the most prosperous travel country in the future due to its historical relics and sites. Then, he first forays into the hotel industry in mainland China. He built Shangri-La Hotel here to help China’s travel industry to grow and popularize China as a tourist destination. In 1984, Tan Sri Robert Kuok opened its first hotel, Shangri-La in Hangzhou, China as Hangzhou renowned for its historic relics and natural beauty like West Lake, Leifeng Pagoda and Hangzhou City Gate. In 1989, Shangri-La launched a second hotel in Beijing. In May 1996, there were 12 new hotels, Tan Sri Robert Kuok is built in China. At present, there are 34 Shangri-La Hotel built in China while 28 hotels under construction.

The background of Robert Kuok, Hock Nien

One of the most successful entrepreneur that impressed me a lot is Robert Kuok which is a influential Malaysian businessman.

The name of Robert Kuok is well-known throughout the global commerce including as an influential and enduring business powerhouse that Kuok made his money in sugar, palm oil, shipping and property. Kuok group boasts of a large network of companies under three main holding companies in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Therefore, he also controls South China morning post. Once the world's most profitable daily newspaper. His biggest success of wealth is his stake in wilmar, the world's largest listed palm oil company.

Kuok's profits are accumulated from a broad range of business interests including sugar refines, sugarcane plantations, hotel chains, properties, animal feed, oil mining, publishing and freight. To date, his most major source of wealth comes from his stake in the world's largest listed agribusiness organization, Wilmar International Limited. Most of his business are privately managed by him or close family members. Besides a variety of business dealings in his native country in Malaysia, his companies hold investments in other countries throughout the Asian region such as the Philippines, Singapore, Fiji, Australia, Indonesia, and mainland China.

In 1971, Kuok built his first hotel - Shangri-la hotels and resorts chain in Singapore. Today, he remains it chairman, Kuok's legacy in the industry extends for beyond his extraordinary business smarts, he also holds a degree of influence in the political scene. He played a significant role as an intermediary in organising meetings between both countries. At the age of 89, Kuok's businesses are still going strong with the help of his children and his name automatically comes up on any list of Asia's top influential business people.