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Spreading
The Qi BY Grace Lai
Travelling the world only to come home for the best, Dato’ Vijay Eswaran shares his secret to success and what legacy means to him.
T
he man behind the impressive QI Group of Companies, Dato’ Vijay Eswaran is a force to be reckoned with. A man whose every word falls like loaded bullets – sharp and authoritative, Dato’ Vijay never misses a beat. He knows exactly who he is, what he wants and how he’s going to get it. The Executive Chairman of the QI Group with an estimated revenue of USD900 million just last year, Dato’ Vijay founded the Group that today spans across Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia with a wide range of subsidiary companies in nearly 30 countries. A multinational conglomerate comprising of a dynamic group with six main business lines, the Group also has a highly specialised financial services arm that oversees investments. At its core, the Group’s main business lines are telecommunications, lifestyle and leisure, luxury and collectibles, training and conference management, property development and its flagship, global retail and direct sales business. Established 14 years ago, the QI Group in essence is an e-commerce based conglomerate which uses the internet as its modality to bring products and services from all points of the globe to the individual.
The younger days Born in Penang in 1960, Dato’ Vijay mulls over his growing up years with a father who served with the Ministry of Labour. “My dad’s job required him to be transferred to a new city every few years. A significant trend in my younger days was the constant moving around. I was born in Penang but I went
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to school all over the country - Malacca, Dungun, Penang, Kluang and Ipoh. Preuniversity studies concluded in Singapore before I went to the UK for further studies. Being the new boy in school every few years taught me to be adaptable, an important quality when running a global business.” “My parents were certainly a major influence in my early life. I would call them my first Gurus or mentors. They have always been very independent people and they instilled in me that independence. Until the day my father passed away recently at the age of 77, his entire life was dedicated to service and that remains an example I strive to emulate. They taught me to question things and never to blindly accept what I see. They instilled in me the right values that continue to guide me every single day,” Dato’ Vijay shares. Taking a year off to ‘see the world’ upon graduation in the UK, Dato’ Vijay says with a chuckle, “Today, they call it the ‘Gap Year’. Back then my parents thought I was merely wasting time! But I knew I wanted to travel and explore new places. I wanted to see new cultures, the sights and sounds. I didn’t know when I would have such an opportunity again. To pay for my wanderings, I worked in a construction site in Belgium, plucked grapes in France, waited tables on a cruise ship in Greece and did whatever odd jobs that came along as I moved around the continent.” “One of my most memorable experiences was my stint in a monastery in Umbria, Italy. During the month of Lent, the monks there would take a vow of silence
M illio n ai r e A sia
I don’t consider myself a victim of circumstance. Nor do I consider myself to be a man moulded by my environment. If at all, I see myself as someone who does the reverse! I’m someone who moulds the environment to suit my purposes.
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