WHEN Malaysian business mogul Robert Kuok decided to travel to and eventually invest in Fiji, he did so based on two significant experiences.
One was a chance meeting a young Ratu Penaia Ganilau in Malaysia in the mid ’40s, and the other was his experience while trading sugar with Fiji.
His grandson, Kuok Meng Xiong, said the two events sparked the beginning of an endearing relationship between his family and Fiji.
“When you’re trading commodities, you establish very quickly a strong level of trust because for weeks on end the cargo is in the ship and in this sort of industry, the whole business is built on trust,” the 36-year-old shared. Known as M.X to staff, the younger Mr Kuok was in Fiji for Shangri La’s Fijian Resort and Spa’s 50th anniversary celebrations. He is the chairman of board of directors Fiji Resorts Limited.
“So he got to work with quite a few Fijians and he found in his business dealings that people were very honourable and had high integrity and he enjoyed his business dealings with them.”
The now 94-year-old Mr Kuok had travelled to Fiji with his wife Hoh Poh Lin and spent a lot of time at the Fijian Resort during his sugar business dealings. He snatched up the opportunity to purchase the resort in 1974.
“This hotel was then the second hotel in our entire portfolio — which today is 100 hotels strong — and Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort was one of our earliest investments and that’s what makes it a very special property for us.”
Despite being a very successful business magnate — and Malaysia’s richest man — the senior Mr Kuok lives a very low-key lifestyle and values relationships and integrity above the pursuit of wealth.
M.X said despite being acknowledged by the Malaysian Government for his success, his grandfather had never accepted awards or any form of recognition until he was bestowed the Order of Fiji early this year.
He could not travel to Fiji to receive the medal, however Ambassador Ioane Naivalurua travelled from Beijing to present him with the honour.
“I was very surprised my grandfather accepted the medal and it really shows how much he values his relationship with the Fijian people.”
M.X said while Shangri-La’s finance team focused on keeping the business viable, his family had continued their grandfather’s legacy of maintaining close ties with their Fijian family.
“If you talk to the bean counters — the finance guys, they are very focussed on driving revenue and profitability — and I would say the hotel is very profitable.
“Our bean counters are concerned about profitability but where the real connection is, it is with the people of Fiji.
“We have two or three generations of members of the same family working in this hotel and guests who keep coming back for year after year for decades. It’s an indication of how much we value relationships.
“And our guests have also developed the same sense of connection that we have — they are not coming back because we have the newest rooms or facilities, it’s purely because of our staff and our people.
“We, as a family, do our job and honour our colleagues and look after their families.
“My grandfather and uncle have really taught the younger generation that if we look after our colleagues well, they will look after our guests well.”
M.X said the Shangri-La Group is investing $72million to give the Yanuca Island property a major makeover.
The first phase involved enhancing staff facilities which included a brand new kitchen, lockers, changing room and laundry .
“We are moving into the Beach Bar and Grill, we have a new restaurant there and new kids facilities as well.” Phase two will see complete renovation of the ocean and coral wing and we would really like to focus on three specific markets — attract more of the family market from Australia, we want to enhance our MICE facilities so we have more meetings and conventions and we want to enhance the sense of home for the Fijians, to attract locals to come and bring their families for special occasions.
