Letting go of the helm slowly

PORT tycoon Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam, better known as Tan Sri G, is planning one of the country's biggest initial public offerings this year, in what would raise as much as RM1.3 billion.

For now, however, Gnanalingam will not comment.

But a listing on Bursa Malaysia or a major stock exchange would have been far from the intentions of the executive chairman of Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd a few years ago.

In fact, in the past, Gnanalingam would refuse to entertain even the slightest possibility of losing control of the company amid constant questioning of a merger with closest rival Northport (Malaysia) Bhd.

However, Gnanalingam appears to have softened his stance as he gets ready to hand over the reins at Westports to his son Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, who is CEO of the company.

"The world has evolved, especially when your children (he has three) have been to Eton, London School of Economics and Cambridge. You need to see things from the way of the younger generation," he told SunBiz when asked about the change of heart.

Most people know Gnanalingam as an authority in the port industry and a marketing whiz. He is also known for his many philanthropic initiatives such as supporting social upliftment projects for poor families in Pulau Indah, Selangor, which is also the site of Westports.

A former Westports manager recalls that Gnanalingam wasn't one to procrastinate.

"When he wants something done, he wants it done yesterday," Martin Soosay told SunBiz.

Much like that employed on the port industry, Gnanalingam wants fast turnaround of his staff's productivity.

"He hates procrastination and often practises forward thinking in all aspects of work. He trains his employees to look to the future and is always eager to know what we can do next," said Martin.

Martin also described Gnanalingam as a "people's CEO".

"He is one of the rare CEOs who comes to the office not only to look at management affairs, but also to meet and discuss work and family matters with staff of every level, from the crane drivers to the technicians and his team of executives.

"He takes great care of the staff's welfare. Besides providing incentives for high productivity, he has also put in place a financial assistance scheme (loans) for those faced with the 'Ah Long' menace."

Born in Singapore, Gnanalingam spent much of his childhood in Kuala Pilah, Negri Sembilan, where he attended high school in the Royal Military College (RMC). He graduated from University of Malaya and Harvard Business School in Boston, and has been president of the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia since 2004.

"My early education was in Kuala Pilah and I went to RMC. The 'kampung' life in Kuala Pilah was fantastic and RMC school days were one of the best days of my life.

"It was the best school in Malaysia then, as it not only taught us discipline, sense of priority and urgency, but also the true meaning of all of us being truly Malaysians," said Gnanalingam.

Gnanalingam started his career as a sales representative with British American Tobacco Malaysia Group (BAT). And he was good at it. At the age of 34, he was appointed marketing director of the multinational corporation and stayed on for another 19 years.

Following that, he started his own marketing company called G-team Consultants, which handled commercial operations of Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM). His career went into overdrive after he successfully increase the revenue of RTM from RM55 million in 1988 to RM360 million in 1996.

In 1989, as a marketing consultant, he turned the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games into a money-making event.From then on, he was recognised as the man who brought live telecasts of the World Cup football matches to Malaysian homes in the 1980s.

In 1994, he started Westports from an area immersed with mangrove swamps. But the site was ideal because it has a natural deep 20-metre draft that would make it possible for large vessels to dock there.

The port started at a time when the port industry struggled to regain control of Malaysia's indigenous cargo from being shipped via Singapore. It was estimated that over 60% of Port Klang's shipping traffic then were transhipped via Singapore.

Today, 70% of Malaysian cargo goes direct to their destination.

But given that Gnanalingam's background was firmly in marketing, his move to the port industry initially stumped many industry observers.

To this day, Gnanalingam said he doesn't know whether he was "pushed out or pulled in by the various industries".

Asked whether he regretted making the career change, Gnanalingam said: "Of course life has many trials and turbulences, but if you believe in the end result, it will be all worthwhile."

Under his leadership, Westports has had several coups. One was its ability to attract Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Port Holdings to invest in it. Hutchison currently has a 31.5% shareholding in Westports.

Another was when it overtook its more established neighbour Northport to handle about 70% of the overall container volume at Port Klang today.

But Gnanalingam attributes these achievements to his staff.

"All the three companies I have been in, my staff have been the best! In my first company (BAT), they felt that our staff were tortoise that could run.

"In the second company (G-team Consultants), they felt I could make salted fish swim and in my third (Westports), my staff made it possible for Westports to become the top five terminals in the world in terms of productivity," said Gnanalingam.

"Today, they relish the fact that the country is proud of them. I always believe that Shah Jahan (Mughal emperor in India who built the Taj Mahal) was a romantic dreamer…(But) the workers were the ones who built Taj Mahal for him," he added.

Today, Westports has over 4,000 employees and expects to increase to 4,400 employees by 2014.

Still, after spending 19 years getting to know the ins and outs of the port industry, one will be wrong to assume that the 60-something Gnanalingam is ready to totally let go from steering Westports. Already, he has set out new goals for the port in the next 10 years.

"We are now doing 7 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of containers and have potential to reach 15 million TEUs and I hope this is achievable within the next 10 years. Hopefully this improves Port Klang's ranking to top 10 busiest ports in the world."