Vincent
Tan Tan was born in 1952 and traces his roots from Shantou in the province of Guangdong, China. He stopped schooling at the age of 16 and first worked as a bank clerk. He, then, took a second job as a seller of insurance in the evening. At only 21, he was promoted as agency supervisor of American International Insurance. In his mid-twenties, he put up his own insurance company. Before he turned 30, in 1981, Tan won the franchise to bring international fast food chain McDonalds in Malaysia. Since then, there’s no stopping Tan as he becomes one of the country’s fastest-rising entrepreneurs. Tan’s business empire started to grow dramatically when he was able to convince the Malaysian government to privatize Sports Toto Lottery (www.sportstoto.com.my) in 1985. The government initially sold Tan 70% of the lottery. By early 90’s, Tan’s Berjaya Corporation already has the full control of its operations. Tan had declared publicly that legalizing other forms of betting was a good way to curb illegal gambling and would generate additional tax income for the government. Tan made use of the Lottery’s strong income to acquire more properties and ventured into other business. He made his name in real estate specifically in the hotel and resort vacation industry. He developed and built several hotels and resorts in Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown, Kota Kinabalu and in the islands of Langkawi, Tioman, and Redang. This includes the Bukit Tinggi Resort Complex (http://www.berjayahotels-resorts.com/) that boasts of a golf course, deer sanctuary, and a sports complex among many other world-class amenities and features. Berjaya also had majority of the controlling shares of Singer Sewing Machine Company in Malaysia. In 1995, Tan launches construction of the Berjaya Times Square Complex, a massive 675-square meter shopping, entertainment, and leisure complex which was opened to the public in October 2003. Berjaya Times Square Complex is Tan’s personal project that is not included in the Berjaya Group’s financial structure. Tan also went into the telecommunications business. In 1995, together with foreign partner, Telnor, of Norway, he established Mutiara Swisscom. This company was the first in the country to offer a fully digital phone service. Mutiara Swisscom changed its name to DiGi in 2000. DiGi is now Malaysia’s third largest mobile phone operator and number one in pre-paid market. In 1998, Tan established Cosway as Berjaya’s
manufacturing and distribution arm. His recent major acquisition was made in 2004 when he bought more than 40% of MiTV (http://www.mitv.com.my/) , a second pay-TV service that aims to provide 50 television channels. Like other successful entrepreneurs in Malaysia, part of Tan’s success is his good relationship with the government, particularly with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Tan admits this saying “It’s only prudent for a businessman to be friendly with the government of the day, but I’m not into politics and our companies are well run.” Sources: http://www.indopedia.org/Tan_Sri_Vincent_Tan_Chee_Yioun.html Corporate website: http://www.berjaya.com/ Photo credits: http://ezwans.blogspot.com/2008/09/malaysias-richest-man-2007.html  |
The Berjaya Group (http://www.berjaya.com/) is one of the most diverse
and biggest conglomerates in Malaysia which owns and manages popular
franchises of Starbucks, McDonalds, 7-Eleven, and Hyundai. From
its humble beginnings as a small insurance company in the early
80’s, Berjaya has been transformed into one of Malaysia’s
most powerful financial groups by its Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, Vincent Tan.