The Malaysian Man Behind Midea

Many of us may not know that the Midea air-conditioner, Midea fan or Midea small kitchen appliances in our homes owe its existence in the Malaysian market to one man.

The rise of these home appliances today, spans an extensive range, from big items like the washing machines and refrigerators to the smaller appliances such as air fryers, food processors, microwaves, electric ovens and many more.

But it wasn’t like that back in early days of 2006, when China-made products were relatively unheard of in the Malaysian market.

Ng Kong Chin, President of Midea Scott & English Electronics (MSEE), shares with Business Today his challenges of introducing and growing an unknown China brand in Malaysian.

After making the Korean brand LG into a household name, Ng took a risk to introduce what would grow from RM12 million in 2006 to become a RM367 million distributorship deal for MSEE.

MSEE is a Malaysia-based subsidiary company of Midea Refrigeration (Hong Kong) Ltd which in turn is a subsidiary of the Midea Group of Companies in China. Midea Group is a public listed company and became a Forbes Global Fortune 500 company in 2016.

TOUGH AND HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

After Ng graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from the University of Malaya in 1970, he joined Scott & English (M) Sdn Bhd as an engineering executive. Later in 1980, he was promoted to General Manager and then to Chief Executive Officer in 1985. He developed Cummins diesel engines and generators, a notable brand for the Generator and Engine sectors in Malaysia.

During the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, Scott & English’s business plummeted 50 to 60 percent, severely impacted the company’s cash flow.

“For the company to sustain, I thought, Ng muses, “why not seek new business opportunities?”