Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary
$2.9 billion — With net worth $2.9 billion, according to Forbes, Al-Bukhary was ranked as Marcopolis’ #1 most powerful business man in Malaysia.
Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary is a top corporate leader with a very diverse business portfolio. He is the richest Bumiputra, which is a Malaysian word that describes the Malay race, business figure in Malaysia. He started his company in the 1990s dealing in rice, which eventually led him to the rice trading business. Today, Al-Bukhary holds a near monopoly on the distribution of rice in Malaysia.
As his success started to skyrocket, so did his interests and diversification of other industries. The next major move after rice came the logistics sector, which was mostly intended to transport his own trading materials.
Currently, Al-Bukhary has a net worth of about $2.9 billion, according to Forbes, and is involved in industries across the economy.
His company, Albukhary Corporation Sdn Bhd, functions as a conglomerate, and is involved in many sectors, including banking, e-commerce, transportation and logistics, property development, defense and armory, engineering and power generation, construction, plantation, and infrastructure and ports.
Moreover, over 51% of Malaysian Mining Corporation is owned by a subsidiary company, Syarikat Seaport Terminal (johore), which is wholly owned by Al-Bukhary. Furthermore, he has a 32% share in PERNAS through another subsidiary, called Syarikat Ratu Jernih. SKS Ventures is a company both he, and his partner, Zainal Hatim, own, and offers construction and engineering services. Al-Bukhary has a variety of interests in a number of companies, both in Malaysia and globally.
In order to give back to his country, Al-Bukhary founded Albukhary International University, providing full tuition to financially needy students. Furthermore, he also founded The Albukhary Foundation, which can trace its roots back to 1974, when Al-Bukhary donated half his income to 15 needy families in his village. With time, people would see that as his business grew, so did his generosity.
A high school dropout, self-made billionaire Al-Bukhary broke all barriers and continues to challenge his competitors and the market as the 8th richest man in Malaysia.