The Founder & President

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First Malaysian advertising agency

He was 29 when he set up Wings Creative Consultants in 1975. It was a bold move because he was muscling into an industry controlled by expatriates and multinationals. The few local agencies were more sign-makers than anything else. He knew the business. He understood the market. He laboured patiently and diligently to convince many of the multinational manufacturers and other companies to use local talent. For the first time a home-grown agency had the guts, the talent and the business acumen to woo and win blue-chip accounts.

He was making a name for himself. He was still churning out the ideas but this time the credits were coming his way. His agency grew. His reputation grew even bigger. He soon became an industry legend. Creatively he was raising standards winning more than 100 national and international awards. The industry elected him to head the 4As – Accredited Advertising Agencies Association – as President. Using the Association as his platform he pushed hard to build local branding. He believed in the quality of local talent and felt compelled to champion their cause using his personal experience as a yardstick. He pioneered the 6As annual award – now known as the Kancil award – as a means to encourage and reward quality in the industry.

His relentless efforts began to pay off as local advertising reached sophistication in approach and execution. Local talent gained recognition for quality work. His greatest satisfaction came from the growing conviction of the local industry in its own abilities. His own business moved on to become part of an international network through a merger with the third largest communication network in the world.

The stable of clients had grown. He reached the pinnacle of his profession. And he was bored. He had outgrown the exclusive niche of advertising. His attention turned to bigger prospects. He was drawn to the visions of former Prime Minister – Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad – in whom he found a kindred spirit. They shared common conviction in the ability of Malaysians. They shared a belief that a major shift of mindset had to be orchestrated to be able to achieve the country's objectives. The former Prime Minister had a vision called Vision 2020 to transform the nation into a fully developed nation by 2020.

He always saw issues from a macro point of view and his communications strategy was always about addressing the individual. With a new Prime Minister, Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi, taking office in October 2003, he was able to move in tandem with the new aspirations for socio-economic development.

Malaysia began to look inward to energise its small and medium enterprises, especially those located in the rural heartland. He focused on the weaknesses of the rural industries and provided the Prime Minister with ideas on moving the rural sector forward. He set up a packaging gallery called Malaysia Branding & Packaging Design Centre, where thousands of ideas on new brand packaging were presented to the Prime Minister for distribution to rural industries that needed to upgrade their branding.

But he felt that the real change for the rural sector can only happen through its younger generation. He set up a campus for rural students to gain new skills in business management, in marketing, in mass communications, in packaging design, in interactive design and a host of other skills they will need to perk up the rural industries and bridge the digital divide that is holding back expansion of the sector.

He called them the Creative and Innovative New Generation. The students have responded well to the new environment proving once again that, given the opportunity, young talent will rise to the occasion. This time this new generation will be the change the rural sector has been waiting for to move forward and be a part of the national drive to build competitiveness.

He is an unusual entrepreneur, in that he looks beyond the profit margin for satisfaction. He is always interested in novel ways of conducting business and every project must have some kind of social benefit. In advertising he built recognition for local talent, in education he created respect for creative professionals. He has always believed that entrepreneurship comes with social responsibility.

For over 30 years he has applied his skills in helping the country achieve its objectives, often simplifying complex policies to bridge the information gap between government and people. His has been the kind of entrepreneurship that a developing country, like Malaysia, has needed to transform itself into a thriving, prosperous economy.