How Hong Kong tycoons’ success stories in Southeast Asia paved way for more to tap region’s business potential
- City leader John Lee’s warm welcome in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore bodes well for investors
- Southeast Asian countries hope Hong Kong investors can help improve industries and sectors there
Hongkonger David Chiu Tat-cheong was in his early 30s when he decided to part ways with his father’s business and strike out on his own somewhere else.
“I wanted to go to a country that my father was not familiar with,” he recalled. “I was young and wanted to start a business. That would be a bit more exciting.”
That was the late 1980s. He set his sights on Malaysia, as his father, the late entertainment and property tycoon Deacon Chiu Te-ken had already left his mark in Singapore and Indonesia.
After his first few small-scale property projects proved successful, Chiu moved to Malaysia with his wife in the mid-1990s to build a real estate development business from the ground up.
“If you’re going to embark on something big, you have to live in that country for two or three years because you aren’t entitled to leave the place until you are familiar with it,” Chiu said.
He brought with him ideas from Hong Kong such as show houses, common leisure facilities for condominium projects and smaller flats.
