"Asian Sugar King" Robert Kuok: Richest person in Southeast Asia for 20 years, 100 years old owns 10.3 billion USD

Robert Kuok is one of the longest-living billionaires in the world. He owns a huge fortune, holding a series of businesses in many different fields, from hotels to coal mining.

Born in 1923 in Malaysia, Kuok is among the few Asian businessmen who have witnessed a series of economic and political upheavals in the region. He built a business empire spanning Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, operating in the fields of agricultural products, real estate, and logistics.

On October 6, the billionaire turned 100 years old. Many famous businessmen sent Kuok happy birthday wishes. Including the father and son of Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing, the Lee family - owner of real estate giant Henderson Land Group and Joe Tsai - co-founder of Alibaba.

According to Forbes, billionaire Robert Kuok has a fortune of about 10.3 billion USD, holding the position of richest person in Malaysia for the past 20 years. This is an achievement that proves the billionaire's talent during his young years.

Mr. Kuok was born in Johor state, Malaysia in a family of three brothers. His father was from Fujian, China, and worked in agricultural business. Robert Kuok is the youngest son in the family, inheriting the business sense from his parents.

Therefore, from a very young age, the Chinese billionaire demonstrated his ability in the business field. He saved his own money to open a small shop for business after receiving support from his family.

He studied at Raffles Institution in Singapore (1941) and became an office worker in the rice trading department of Mitsubishi (Japan). After his father passed away in 1948, Mr. Kuok founded Kuok Brothers with family members.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Robert Kuok started his career as a rice and sugar trader. He achieved great achievements in the field of sugar trading, especially the fact that his company controlled 0% of the sugar market in Malaysia. Therefore, he has been dubbed the "Asian Sugar King" since the 1970s after accounting for 10% of the global sugar market share.

Not stopping at the above success, Mr. Kuok continued to expand his business scope into other fields such as palm oil, chemicals, shipping, real estate...

In 1971, he entered the real estate field, building the first Shangri-La hotel in Singapore. 6 years later, he built Kowloon Shangri-La in Hong Kong. Shangri-La Asia is currently the largest luxury hotel operating group in Asia, managing more than 100 hotels and resorts. Of these, half are in China.

Kuok moved the headquarters of his companies from Singapore and Malaysia to Hong Kong in 1974. In the same year, he founded Kerry Holdings, providing many services, from logistics to real estate and goods. Kuok and his family own many properties in Hong Kong and China, including real estate firm Kerry Properties.

In the 90s, he participated in the construction of the China World Trade Center high-rise building in Beijing. This is one of Kuok's most famous investments in mainland China. This helped Kuok build a positive reputation here.

Kerry Group has also been a bottling plant for Coca-Cola since 1993. In 2006, the world's largest beverage company gradually bought Kerry's shares in this factory.

In 2007, Kuok merged his grain and cooking oil growing and manufacturing company into Wilmar International (Singapore). This company is currently the world's largest palm oil producer, run by Kuok's nephew - Kuok Khoon Hong.

In 2009, he left the Malaysian sugar industry. PPB Group - a corporation controlled by the Kuok family - sold its sugar business for $380 million to Felda Global Ventures.

He also has shares in Wilmar - the world's largest palm oil company and shares in Asia's largest gas exploration ship operator PACC Offshore Services Holdings. In addition, this Chinese-Malaysian billionaire also owns the South China Morning Post newspaper. This newspaper was once the most profitable daily newspaper in the world.

After many years of dedication to business, the Malaysian billionaire still maintains one view: Successful people need to take risks. He always takes bold steps in getting rich, perhaps that's why he doesn't miss valuable opportunities to make a breakthrough.

He also has clear thinking in recruiting employees to bring his corporation to success. He affirmed that employees need ability, hard work and integrity. The way the centenarian billionaire treats his employees is also different from the majority. He always cares for his employees like his own family, only then will they stick with the company for a long time and go through every journey with the company.

Currently, Mr. Robert Kuok is 100 years old but is still healthy, alert, and passionate about business. When he was over 90 years old, this billionaire still managed and operated the company with his children. He is considered an example of tireless work, even though he is old, he is still devoted to the company.

Since he was young, this billionaire has believed that: There are 2 purposes to get rich. First, wealth will be the premise to promote investment, increase profits and become richer. Next, he wants to be rich to enrich humanity by investing in research projects, human health, charity...

In general, in the mind of the hundred-year-old billionaire, he considers money only as an external object. He regularly does charity work, participates in social activities, and brings humane values worth spreading.