No success
without sacrifice
2
SME Success Story
No success without sacrifice
Success involves hard work and hard work means sacrifice according to Dato’ Hj Ameer Ali bin Mydin,
Managing Director of Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd. In this exclusive interview with
MALAYSIA SMET”, Dato’ Hj Ameer gives his thoughts on his values and outlook on work and life.
M
YDIN is a familiar name to
Malaysians and the company’s history is an inspiring
one as it is a typical rags to riches story.
Started by Mr Mydin with a small shop
in Kota Bharu in 1957, the company
remains a family business. The second
son of Mr Mydin, Dato’ Hj Ameer Ali
who is now managing director of the
company, brought the family business
to another level with his first shop (and
the company’s third) in Jalan Masjid
India in Kuala Lumpur.
The retail business
“There are three directions in the retail business - the bis malls (like KLCC
and 1 Utama); the hypermarket; and the
convenience stores,” explained Dato Hj
Ameer at his new hypermarket in Subang Jaya. Mydin is now in all the three
areas while applying its own retail and
wholesale concepts which comprises
emporiums, 24-hour convenience
stores, mall, mini-markets and bazaars.
He faced a challenge when trying
to open the first MYDIN hypermarket
in Subang Jaya. “No banks wanted to
finance us when we decided to open
our first hypermarket in USJ1, Subang
Jaya. The reason given to us was: You
must be out of your minds to open next
to a hypermarket that is already wellestablished and strong! Can you compete?” However, he finally obtained a
loan from the Arab-Malaysian Bank.
Success secrets
What are his success secrets? “It is
important to know what you are doing
and to do the things that you know. For
us, we have always been in the wholesale and retail business and we keep to
our expertise,” said Dato Hj Ameer.
“We try to learn as much as possible
about developments in the retail industry and to improve in terms of merchandising, warehousing, customer service,
systems and information technology,
point of purchase and tenant management,” he added.
On a personal level, to be successful,
one must have the will or the `greed’ to
want to succeed, he said. “It is the same
for everyone - work hard and work
smart. We have to put in the hours and
we have to sacrifice our family time
and our lives. There is no easy way.”
he emphasised, debunking any secret
hopes of anyone looking for a quick
success formula.
“I can talk about a balanced lifestyle
now,” he said with a smile. “because I
have worked hard and sacrificed It is
very important to have an understand-
ing family who share vow goals. Perseverance is essential.”
“We must have humility as we grow
bigger. We are only human and make
a bt of mistakes. Accept the mistakes.
and move on. I normally do not dwell
on matters too long. I look at the pros
and cons. make my decision and don’t
regret it. We cannot expect to be always right. We have to bear the con..
equenms of our decisions but don’t be
afraid to make wrong decisions. Learn
from your mistakes and move on. Organisation do not grow if they fear
making mistakes,” advised Dato’ Hj
Ameer.
Corporate social responsibility
The company takes its corporate social responsibilities seriously as “God
takes care of people who take care of
others”.
“When you do something with sincerity, subsequent events will take care
of themselves. We don’t do it to show
we are doing it.” Otherwise, he said,
there wil be no ‘pahala’ which means
merit in Arabic.
Getting Mydinised
The company strongly feels that their
staff is their family that the process to
inculcate good work habits in employees is called being `Mydinised’. The
Mydinise process involves weekly sessions to small groups of 15 staff in each
session comprising those who have
been employed for more than a year.
Participants come from all the branches. At these sessions, company stories
and anecdotes are shared and Dato’ Hj
Ameer will sit and talk with his extended family’.
Halal concept
Being Muslims and a Malaysianowned company, MYDIN strictly emphasises running its businesses based
on the Halal concept. In a broader and
deeper meaning, halal means that what
we eat must be earned in the correct
way, explained Dato’ Hj Ameer.
A staunch Muslim, Dato’ Hj Ameer
said that it is an obligation or fardhu kifayah to provide goods and services to
fellow muslims to buy.
Why pay more?
The MYDIN proposition is a very
attractive one: Why pay more? Buy at
wholesale prices! The general perception may be that cheap means not good,
agreed Dato’ Hj Ameer. MYDIN, he
said, “sells reasonable quality at low
prices”. Furthermore, he added, we
have become such a `disposable’ society and one would not want to pay so
much when following fickle fashion.
Micro manage
Dato’ Hj Ameer believes in micro
management “to a certain extent”. In
his case, it might involve visiting an
outlet at 9.30 at night to check out the
displays. “You have to micro-manage
to make things move. Otherwise you
don’t see progress, for example, the
Prime Minister himself had to get on
the LRT,” he said in defence of his
management style. Follow-up is next.
“I don’t believe in telling somebody to
do something and then you forget about
it. I still make notes on my little `353’
notebook. You must follow up or nothing will happen,” he stressed.
Dato’ Hi Ameer’s values for winners
Punctuality: When you are punctual, you will be more relaxed and composed
and not rush into things. I always tell my staff before a meeting that “you
are on time if you are 5 minutes early, and you are late if you are on time”.
Discipline: Being a disciplined person means you are well-organised. It
has to come from the person himself / herself as no one can change a person
unless the person wants to change.
For me, I think it started when, I was a bell ringer at primary school. I had
to ring the bell punctually when school started, for recess and at the end of the
school day. There was a lot of peer pressure to cheat.
Honesty: In Islam, being honest is a requirement. Through honesty you can
win everything. My father instilled this value in all of his children. If our suppliers send to us more than the quantity ordered, we will return the balance
to them and not close one eye and take the over-supply. Otherwise, like the
Malays say, this will be ‘tak berkat’. If you earn it that way, you will lose it.
What is not due to you will not stay with you.
Hard work: I work 7 days a week. Even during holidays, I will open my
laptop and reply to my e-mails and sms. In the retail line, a short break can
cause disruptions in operations. Decisions are needed fast to avoid delay.
Attitude: We must have the right attitude and change for the better. Someone with a bad attitude is unable to accept other people’s opinion and unable
to adapt. A bad attitude hinders us from moving forward.
Sincerity: When lending a helping hand to other people, make sure that it
is done with sincerity.