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START WITH NOTHING, END WITH EVERYTHING, OR AT LEAST SOMETHING People tell me there’s something satisfying about listening to a successful story that started with a humble beginning. I know quite a few self-made tycoons who came from poor families. That’s not surprising as usually, the older generation or their forefathers before them were but migrants. My dad was a wharf laborer in Sibu, earning less than RM200 in monthly wages during his time, and my mum, despite having to look after 8 children, also chipped in as a rubber tapper. I think it’s the tenacity, determination and resourcefulness of those who started with nothing but managed to build massive conglomerates and corporate entities from scratch. I guess thriving big players have some key traits in common. They have an appetite for risk, yet they are guided with rationality. They are adaptable yet consistent in their effort to move towards a vision of better days ahead. These attributes among many others rarely manifest together in a single individual. And if they do, we would most likely find such people at the helm of society, being prominent in their respective industries. Personally, I have always preferred trying to build something substantive out of nothing. It’s a challenging and painful process, but ultimately, most satisfying. As a corporate player, I’m not really into mergers or acquisitions to fast track growth or expansion. I started all my existing business ventures from scratch, beginning as ideas pounding restlessly in my head. And, like many of my peers, I had to do the needful. I scratched the big itch.