16 theSun | TUESDAY NOVEMBER 4 2008

business news

Against all odds

by Karen Arukesamy
newsdesk@thesundaily.com

PETALING JAYA: Who says one needs

big capital to venture into business?
Equipped with a computer as an
only asset in a one-bedroom apartment,
zero capital and a lot of IT know-how,
a woman, her son and cousin started
a business in technology software and
security solutions.
Against the odds, the trio produced
many firsts that received both local and
international acclaim and recognition
– all in under 10 years.
“We started with RM500 in orders,
and today our turnover is RM200 million
a year,” said Multimedia Glory Sdn Bhd
managing director Dr Lalitha Kaleedhas,
one of 14 nominees in the Woman
Entrepreneur category of the Ernst and
Young (E&Y) Entrepreneur of the Year
2008 awards.
Multimedia Glory was established in
1999 by Kaleedhas, her son Dr K. Karthik
and cousin Dr N. Srikanthan, and they
became the pioneers of Malaysia’s MSC
status companies.
“Our major clients are the Prime
Minister’s Office, Home Ministry,
Immigration Department, National
Security Bureau, Women Entrepreneurs
Department and Kraftangan,” said
Kaleedhas, an Indian who was granted
Malaysian citizenship for her innovations.
“Our core activities are software
development, system integration, research
and development, security solutions.
The foreign worker I-Kad is one product
which we manufactured,” she said,
adding that it is a polycarbonate card, the
first of its kind in the world.
Being foreigners and starting a
business from zero were already big
challenges for Kaleedhas and her
partners; made worse by the reluctance of
Multimedia Glory MD Dr Lalitha Kaleedhas
customers to adopt their innovations.
“Customers used to ask, ‘what if you
run away after we pay’,” she said.
Kaleedhas overcame this obstacle
by telling customers they could pay if
satisfied with the services – a huge risk
for a struggling company.
“We told them we would take
the order, complete the innovation
and deliver it, and only after full
implementation and satisfaction would
we take the money. That was how Affin
Bank became our first customer.”
She distinguished the company from
others by saying many companies provide
remedies to problems, but Multimedia
Glory prevents the problem.
“Our company’s vision is that
prevention is better than cure, and we
never say no to customers. We always say
‘yes we can’.”
“We don’t like to borrow from anyone.
We do not want to be debtors. We got
a short term LC facility against our
deposit and orders,” said Kaleedhas, who
turned down a government research
and development grant to uphold the
company’s business principle.
“To us, our biggest success comes
when customers turn our innovations into
products,” she said.
Kaleedhas pays tribute to Karthik, 27,
an IT whiz who started his career at age
seven.
She said that although she has only one
son, her 100 staff members are also like
her children.
“My father was my biggest mentor,
instilling in me the value of innovation
and that I should create innovations useful
to people,” she said, adding that she is a
first generation entrepreneur in the family.
The last four years has seen
Multimedia Glory’s sales fast approaching
US$100 million (RM350 million), placing
it on par with its global counterparts.
“Our accolades include our
appointment as an International Air
Transport Association Strategic Partner,
making us the first ICT company
in Malaysia to get such recognition.
Worldwide, we are amongst a few
companies which received this highly-
acclaimed status,” Kaleedhas said.
She said that looking over the
company’s achievements as she filled in
the application form for the E&Y awards,
has motivated her to achieve more.
“You are always working, you don’t
stop to see what you have done so far, and
when I was filling the form for the award,
I saw how much I had achieved and that,
I will say, is in itself a motivating factor.”

Asian stocks rally continues on policy hopes

HONGKONG: Asian stocks rose for a fifth straight
day yesterday on hopes policy efforts to dampen the
impact of the financial crisis would ultimately take
hold, though data still painted an ugly picture of the
global economy.
Investors were also cautiously shopping for bar-
gains after shares and commodity prices globally in
October posted their biggest decline ever on fears
of a deep recession in the world economy.
Major European stock markets opened as
much as 2.5%, buoyed by the bullish sentiments
carry over from Asia.
Expectations of more interest rate cuts this
week from Australia, Britain and the euro zone
following last week’s reductions from China, India,
Japan and the United States, among others, has
at the least slowed the panicked selling of risky
assets that dominated most of October.
“Some weeks back, what were needed were
coordinated global policy responses. Though
there have been a few wobbles and maybe less
coordination than ideal, it is difficult not to look
back and consider that we are moving in the right
direction,” said Patrick Bennett, Asia foreign ex-
change and rates strategist with Societe Generale
in Hongkong.
“For Asia, a renewed focus on the real economy
cannot ignore the fact of slower global growth and
resultant slower external demand,” he said in a
note.
The scramble to exit equities, commodities and
local currency emerging market bonds in October
had poured money into yen, US Treasuries and the
US dollar, which had its largest monthly in gain
in 17 years. These trends were not expected to
reverse any time soon, but investors were taking
advantage of the relative calm in markets to bal-
ance their portfolios.
The MSCI index of stocks in the Asia-Pacific
region outside Japan rose 5.9%, up for a fifth con-
secutive session after having dropped 24.6% in
October for its biggest monthly decline in the
gauge’s 20-year history.
Hongkong’s Hang Seng index climbed 5.3%,
For Asia, a renewed focus on
the real economy cannot ignore
the fact of slower global growth and
resultant slower external demand.”
with bank shares posting solid gains after a Chi-
nese central bank official reportedly said Beijing
had abandoned its lending caps in a move that
could make funnelling money to small firms much
easier.
The benchmark KOSPI in South Korea gained
1.4%, boosted by details on a US$11 billion (RM38.5
billion) government fiscal stimulus package that
officials said would add a full percentage point to
total output.
Australian stocks rose 5.1%, while Japanese
markets were closed for a holiday.
The parade of rate cuts from Beijing to
Washington and massive amounts of US dollar
liquidity flooding the financial system have pulled
lower lending rates between banks and improved
investor sentiment, despite the strong potential
for higher unemployment and softer consumer
spending around the world.
JPMorgan asset allocation strategists expect
gross domestic product in developed economies
in the current and next quarters to shrink by the
most since 1974. They recommended keeping bets
on short-dated government bonds, and against
the industrial, materials and energy sectors in
equities.
Growth in Korean exports was at a 13-month
low in October, hurt by crimped demand from both
developed and emerging markets, while a measure
of China’s factory segment fell to a record low. The
reports underscored the region’s biggest vulner-
ability to the global slowdown: exports.
Crude prices climbed, with dealers taking cues
from equities and the US dollar. US light crude for
December delivery rose US$1.11 to US$68.92 a
barrel. – Reuters

South Korea spends another US$11b to prop up economy

SEOUL: South Korea plans to pump an extra
US$11 billion (RM38.5 billion) into its economy
next year to help fend off the impact of the global
financial storm, which is beginning to hit exports
– the country’s economic lifeblood.
Finance Minister Kang Man-soo said yesterday
economic growth could fall to its lowest in more
than a decade without the fiscal stimulus, which
will need approval by parliament where the pro-
government party has a large majority.
His comments came just after the government
gave stark proof of the damage from the global
economic downturn, announcing that export
growth in October had fallen to a 13-month low,
worse than analysts had expected.
“If the current situation continues, the economy
is expected to grow by around 3% next year. If the
global economy shrinks further, it may be difficult
to achieve 3% growth,” Kang told reporters.
Financial markets have slumped in the face of
the global downturn, with both the won and the
main KOSPI share index losing around a third of
their value since the start of the year in some of the
most volatile trading seen since the Asian financial
crisis a decade ago which ravaged its economy.
But 0244GMT, the KOSPI share index was up
2.3% at 1,138.11 points in what analysts said was
largely a technical reaction to October’s sharp
decline.
The won had another see-saw day, opening
almost 2% lower, then rising, helped by the gains
in share prices. It was quoted at 1,285.90/9.10 to
the dollar, up from its early fall.
The 14 trillion won (US$11 billion) package
includes 11 trillion won in additional government
spending next year and three trillion in tax cuts.
Much of the extra spending is aimed at the real
estate and construction industries.
Money will also go to smaller firms, which face
the risk of bankruptcy because of the liquidity
squeeze and which together employ around 90%
of the workforce.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy has looked
particularly exposed to the lack of liquidity in the
world’s financial markets, that has left its financial
institutions struggling to raise funds to pay off
foreign debt and made them reluctant to lend at
home. – Reuters