Business challenges, financial crises, market slowdowns are all part and parcel of life for a businessman. The only way to get through them is to not give up. This holds true for Mah Sing Group Bhd group managing director and this year’s joint winner of The Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property Entrepreneur Award, Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum.

“Giving up is not in my vocabulary. Where there is a will, there is always a way. It is not always easy to achieve the targets and goals you set, which is why the appetite for success or the willpower you have within is the internal reserve that pushes you on to persevere,” Leong says. Under his leadership, Mah Sing has appeared in the Top 10 of The Edge Malaysia Top Property Developers Awards five times.

This can-do attitude has stood Leong in good stead through the years since Mah Sing expanded into property development. The group started off as a plastics trading company in 1965. In 1986, Leong founded the plastics manufacturing division, which he grew with propriety and original equipment manufacturing products for the automotive and electrical and electronics industries.

In 1994, Leong entered the property development arena with Mah Sing’s maiden project in Ulu Yam, Selangor. The 45-acre project with a gross development value (GDV) of RM21.5 million featured link houses. Once he started, Leong got hooked. Besides a new-found passion for real estate, he also saw the property industry as an avenue to maximise shareholder value.

“When I cut my teeth on property development, I had to separate the highly successful and established Mah Sing Plastics from the new entity of Mah Sing Properties,” Leong says. “This ensured that both grew organically and did not compete for my time and resources.”

Today, the plastics division is going strong with operations in Malaysia and Indonesia.

“There is a separate management team for the plastics division and as they are very capable, they have been running the division independently for many years,” he says. “The plastics division has been steadily winning various corporate and product awards and we have our own patent-pending products. The Malaysian operation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group while the Indonesian operation is a 65%-owned subsidiary.”

Besides the project in Ulu Yam, Mah Sing also developed Sungai Petani Business Centre in Sungai Petani, Kedah (GDV: RM13.4 million) and the Mah Sing Integrated Industrial Park in Sungai Buloh, Selangor (GDV: RM750 million) in 1994. The following year, it developed Saujana Akasia Country & Resort Homes (GDV: RM70.8 million), also in Sungai Buloh. There has been no holding back its rapid rise in property development since — Mah Sing today has 46 projects spread across Malaysia.

 

Business evolution

Leong notes that one of the challenges that a property developer faces is to carve a niche for itself among the competition.

“The competition among property developers in Malaysia is very high, and this is a good thing! It is through healthy competition that we can push ourselves to be better and to grow Mah Sing to where the company is today.

“As a premier lifestyle developer, we aim to enhance the lives of our buyers and investors through our products.

“Hence, we aim to impart a lifestyle that is a step up from what our purchasers have experienced before. This includes having exclusivity, security and amenities that address their lifestyle needs. To our investors, we present high-value properties that have good capital gains as well as rental yields.”

This direction and vision have seen the business of property development evolve from merely building houses.

“We have evolved from a developer building houses to building communities. For example, in Mah Sing’s Southville City@KL South, we have a sustainable township with a cohesive master plan that delivers a conducive and safe environment. We have also adopted this model at our other townships such as M Residence in Rawang, and Bandar Meridin East in Johor Bahru,” Leong says.

In addition to master planning, Mah Sing partners experienced contractors, architects, consultants and other suppliers. And it is always on the lookout for talent and is committed to develop and retain its staff.

Customer service is another key aspect of its business. “We are always working to improve the experience of our users as they are our best brand advocates. With all these components in place, we can ensure that the quality of our products is of the highest standard, that we are able to continuously innovate to meet market demand and improve our branding,” says Leong.

As the founder of the company, Leong has imparted some of his entrepreneurial skills and experience to the present management.

“I am very proud that Mah Sing has retained an entrepreneurial spirit and professional management. Building Mah Sing together with my team over the years, we have found that life is about continuous learning and improvement.

“The world is constantly changing. As a market-driven developer, we need to adapt to and stay ahead of the market. As we strive to live up to our brand promise, which is to be a premier lifestyle developer, we have learnt to invest strongly in our human capital. This is because, at the end of the day, it is my team who have led Mah Sing to where the company is today, and it is my team who will lead Mah Sing to the next level.”

Building for everyone

While the running of the company is in good hands, Leong realises the importance of creating homes that cater for all strata of society.

“Our portfolio of projects not only serves the upper end of the market but also provides an enhanced lifestyle for the masses. In fact, many of our properties meet the value-for-money demand of the middle-income group, who desire a higher quality of life in an affordable price range.”

Despite the current soft property market, Leong believes Mah Sing’s healthy balance sheet and philosophy of “right product, right timing, right target market” will stand it in good stead.

“Mah Sing has a strong team, a comprehensive range of products and a strong financial position,” he says. “Hence, we believe we can weather challenging times better … We are careful to plan and maintain our market leadership position and to roll out products that are relevant at a price point based on market needs.

“We are a financially prudent company. We have kept our gearing very reasonable and this will allow us to tap any good opportunities that may arise. We will also focus on offering affordably priced products as consumer spending power has been affected.

“At the same time, the quality must be there, and we will offer good concepts that will appeal to the younger generation. In today’s time and age, quality is a given, and this is the reason we focus on delivering good quality with good customer service.”

Leong believes there is much more the property market in Malaysia can absorb.

“Currently, while market sentiment is poor, there is still a supply and demand gap — only 70,000 to 80,000 new homes are completed each year while about 200,000 new properties are required to meet the number of new households formed from new marriages. This is why we still have selective launches.

“In the face of inflationary and economic concerns, we believe property will continue to be the preferred investment option to hedge against such concerns. We are practical in our product launches as we garner a decent 70% take-up rate for a project block before launching a new one.”

Forward-looking

After more than two decades in the industry, Leong is still going strong. His business verve is unabated, but he is under no illusion that this will continue and is infusing new blood into the business.

“To the future leaders of Mah Sing, we are very pleased that you have chosen to grow your careers with us. As I said before, we are a company that is highly invested in our human capital because we believe that our team is our greatest asset.

“Team Mah Sing will further enhance the value of the company by providing great customer service, quality products and by innovating to meet the market demand.” TEPEA 2015

 

Do not ask your BFF about the value of your home. Click here at The Edge Reference Price to find out.

This article first appeared in City & Country, a pullout of The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on Dec 7, 2015. Subscribe here for your personal copy.

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