Build It Better

Having Adeptly Carved a Foothold for Mah Sing Group in Malaysia’s Property Development Industry Over the Past 25 Years, Founder and Group Managing Director Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Leong Hoy Kum Delves Into the Importance of Adhering to Traditional Japanese Workplace Values, the Subtle Art of Legacy Planning and the Complex Framework That Lies Within Nation-building.

- Renyi Lim

Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Leong Hoy Kum is a man of order and routine. Each morning, he wakes at 7.30am, exercises for an hour and – with the benefit of postworkout clarity – begins to assemble his business strategies for the day and makes calls to his heads of department at Mah Sing Group. And for everyone else in the company, this is when the working day really kicks off. “He’s got so much energy that the rest of us can barely keep up with him!” exclaims his Senior General Manager of Strategic Communications.

Moving at a brisk clip has always been Tan Sri Leong’s default setting. It’s part of the reason behind his ability to captain Mah Sing Group for 40 years, nimbly overseeing its transition from a small plastics manufacturer to one of Malaysia’s major property developers. Over the span of a quarter of a century, the company has been responsible for developments such as the i-Parc industrial integrated park series, The Icon along Jalan Tun Razak, and townships including Sri Pulai Perdana in Skudai, Aman Perdana in the Klang Valley and Meridin East in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor, selling more than 40,000 homes in total.

With a very respectable 2,099ac in its land bank and a tidy net profit of MYR271.6 million last year, many are doubtless as keen to ask as we are: where will the building blocks of Mah Sing Group be placed next?

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