Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong’s Story of building Genting Highlands
At the tender age of 16 years old, his father passed away and he was forced to take over his father’s petty trading business. There were all sorts of problems with the business, on some days he failed to make even a single sale. In 1937, the year the Japanese launched their war of aggression on China, he at 20 years old, bravely set off for Malaya with a small suitcase and 175 dollars (100 from his mother and 75 from his own savings).A man who had proved nothing is impossible and made Malaysian proud of it,although he had left us,but he will be remembered as one of the entrepreneur greats in Malaysia and his name is Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong-founder of Genting highland,he was an immigrant who came to Malaya with less than 150 US dollar (RM525) and eventually became one of the richest men in the country.
I bought My Story - Lim Goh Tongquite a while back from MPH bookstore.The book costed me RM28.00 only, relatively cheap compared to other books I guess.This book is an autobiography of Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, which gives us a rare glimpse into the mid of the man who built Genting Highlands into a world-class resort.
In Malaya, he eventually went into iron mining; became a middleman for heavy machinery trading; and took on government contracts for development projects. You have correctly guessed that he had already made himself a fortune by then. However, in 1964 when he was a sub-contractor for part of the Cameron hydro-electric dam project in Cameron Highlands, an evening stroll hit him upon the idea of developing a mountaintop resort in Malaysia to cater to city dwellers seeking an escape from the tropical heat.
After 40 years, today his publicly-traded Genting holds the only license to operate a casino in Malaysia; his Star Cruises touts itself as the operator of the world’s “most modern and exciting world-class fleet.â€
The story is an inspiring one, beginning with nothing to his name, he turned difficulties into opportunities, took much calculated risks and confounded sceptics through sheer foresight and perseverance.
Comments (1)
FELEX Tan
2
Project Director
He is a success business man with patient