Teoh Kok Lin: Overseas Chinese serving as bridge for business relationships

Teoh Kok Lin, Founder & Chief Investment Officer of Singular Asset Management Malaysia, pointed out that, although we are in an age of the digital economy, integrity is still extremely important. It is only by maintaining and strengthening an environment of honesty and integrity that we can make the most of innovation, cooperation and talent, become a driving force to create the future and foster economic innovation, and achieve more with less.

Teoh explained that, in terms of the government and the development of science and technology, Malaysia was the first country in the region to embrace the Internet and the digital economy in a farsighted and hopeful manner. More than 20 years ago, the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad led the creation of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC Malaysia). This initiative was supported by Bill Gates and resulted in Malaysia at one point becoming the fastest developing IT center in the world. Although the Internet was in its infancy in 1990, Malaysia had already committed to not subjecting online opinion to review and approval, a policy that helped create an open environment that fostered innovative industries.

In terms of talent, Teoh believes that talented individuals returning from overseas provide global competitiveness and valuable experience. As they are familiar with both Malaysia and the international stage, that makes it easier for them to start businesses and collaborate with local enterprises after returning home. They can also uncover opportunities that others have not spotted, so the future will provide even greater opportunities for talent to flow back into the country. He also commented that returning talent provides a variety of perspectives that help to bring in international capital. This collaborative model is by no means limited to Malaysians, as all overseas Chinese people can create similar business relationships. For example, at the early stage of investing in Singapore, China’s DiDi Chuxing Technology (DiDi) found out about the local conditions through this shared ethnic Chinese heritage, and utilized the overseas Chinese status to gain an early advantage and rapidly establish trust and relationships.