KUCHING: Words of life a leader spoke years ago convinced a then up-and-coming entrepreneur that he has a fighting chance to make it in the world of business.
Today Michael Liong, 48, wears many hats with the success he has come to enjoy but still remembers, in vivid detail, what had made it all possible.
It had to do with the late Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) Mayor Datuk Yusuf Hanifah.
Yusuf, who then also Sarawak Welfare Chairman, had challenged him to raise funds for his Red Carper Charity Dinner.
“At that time, I only had four persons in my team and Yusuf said to me that he wanted to sell 100 tables,” Liong recalled in an interview here.
“After nine months, I sold more than 100 tables and helped to raise some RM500,000 for them.
“At the event, Yusuf credited me saying, ‘without Michael Liong, there is no Red Carpet Charity Dinner.’
“Those few words gave me the courage and encouragement to go further in business,” he said.
Liong has since then come a long way – and today as one of the Asean-China Entrepreneur Association co-founders – is working hard to create more business opportunities between the Asean countries and Sarawak.
In addition he is also heavily involved in companies set up with his lawyer-software engineer wife.
“One of our companies is Chinese Circle Sdn Bhd and we are involved in telecommunication and fiber optics and the other is Paint Gold, an IT company for the car park system.
“We are actively doing business in the sports industry, movie industry and education industry,” he said.
Liong is also deputy president of the Malaysian Hakka Culture Association and president of the Sarawak Hakka Culture Association.
Married with two children he also finds time in between for badminton, golf and cycling.
Looking back Liong readily admits his identify today as a successful local entrepreneur had its genesis in the words uttered by the late Yusuf.
Another game changer was when he embarked on the Asean-China Entrepreneur Association’s business mission.
“I was actually alone when I had to go and visit all the Asean countries and I eventually brought seven ambassadors to the association’s annual general meeting in Kuching.
“The chairman at the time was Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah and the best part was he said the same thing, the words that he had said were: ‘Sarawak has created history. There are now private organisations and an NGO that has brought seven ambassadors to Kuching’.
“That night, I was so exhausted. But what he had said also gave me motivation and helped a lot in my career,” he added.
These days Liong is busy cultivating similar friendships with the region’s ambassadors and thanks to the efforts he has put in over the last 28 years – and the motivating words of Yusuf and Karim – his work is a little more easier.
Having your own brand name is indeed crucial in any business endeavour, he said matter-of-factly.
“Of course, my future and coming plan is to expand my business to the Asean countries, that is my own mission and also the association’s mission,” he added.
