LIFE IS A PROJECT

LIAP #05: Corporate Turnaround Management of A&W Malaysia About 25 years ago, TDM Berhad, a publicly listed company on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE), took full control of A&W (M) Sdn. Bhd. I was a director of both companies at the time. Prior to this acquisition, TDM owned only a 30% equity stake in A&W, which was losing approximately RM300,000 annually. The acquisition was a strategic corporate decision aimed at: 1. Diversifying TDM’s revenue streams from plantation-based income to the food and beverage (F&B) industry. 2. Reducing financial losses and improving the group’s overall revenue and profitability. The Turnaround Strategy To achieve these objectives, we formed a Corporate Turnaround Management (CTM) team comprising two directors and senior management of A&W. Turnaround management is essentially a business project, and like any project, it required: • Meticulous planning • Disciplined execution • A clear vision of the desired outco...

  Fund for a New School Block When I became the Chairman of the Board of Management for Madarah Amir Indra Putera (MAIP) in 1978, the school faced an urgent need for expansion. We required at least 20 additional classrooms to accommodate the growing student population. MAIP, a religious school founded by my late father in 1946, had seen its enrolment surge in the 1970s, forcing us to implement a double-session system—morning and afternoon classes—to manage the overflow. At the time, my father was homebound, having suffered a stroke that left him unable to move freely. The responsibility of addressing this pressing issue fell entirely on my shoulders at the young age of 26. I was then serving as an engineer with the Public Works Department (PWD) in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, Malaysia. Unlike federal government schools, which receive regular funding, MAIP operated under a state agency and had no allocated budget for expansion. The estimated cost for constructing 20 classrooms was around RM...

  Cycling Trip to Holland: A Project Management Perspective In 2016, the Putrajaya Riders club, a group of cycling enthusiasts, decided to embark on a cycling trip to Holland. As the tribe leader, I recognized that this endeavor was not just a casual trip but a project requiring meticulous planning, coordination, and execution to ensure its success. The trip was planned for May 2017, with the goal of visiting the iconic Keukenhof Tulip Garden. This is my story of how we managed this project and the lessons we learned along the way.  1. Project Initiation: Defining the Scope and Objectives The first step in any project is to define its scope and objectives. For this trip, the scope was clear: a cycling adventure for nine members of the Putrajaya Riders club to Holland. The objectives included: - Cycling through selected destinations in Holland. - Visiting Keukenhof Tulip Garden. - Ensuring a memorable and enjoyable experience for all participants. We also identified the key con...

This story is dedicated to my late teacher, Cikgu Zakaria Omar, who was my Standard Six class teacher in 1964. His personal project was to ensure his top three students were selected to attend a full boarding school—a great privilege at the time. Back then, there were only two such schools for students from Sekolah Kebangsaan (national-type schools where the medium of instruction was Malay): SDAR and STAR. Cikgu Zakaria selected two boys and one girl, and I was fortunate to be one of them. He organized weekend tuition classes to prepare us for the entrance exams. As a 12-year-old boy, I hated these sessions. I would have much rather been outside playing with my friends. But Cikgu Zakaria had a vision. He wanted us to attend better schools in town because our kampung schools in the 1960s lacked resources—qualified teachers, proper teaching materials, and opportunities. He pushed us to study hard for a brighter future, something I was too young and naive to fully understand at the time....