August 17 2008By Raphael Minder
Financial Times (UK)
About an hour into our meeting, Kith Meng, Cambodia’s leading entrepreneur, dips a finger into an intriguing little flask on his coffee table and applies a fragrant yellow ointment to his neck and temples. “It’s Chinese,” he says. “When you have a muscle cramp, it helps take the pain away.”
The massage brings a smile to the face of a man who seems to find it hard to wind down. A self-confessed workaholic, the 39-year-old cannot imagine ever retiring or selling his Royal Group conglomerate because, he says, “this business is my passion”. He adds: “If I don’t work, I get sick. I don’t like to take it easy, I like to get things done.”
Such energy and intensity set him apart from the more relaxed attitude of the average Cambodian.
Mr Kith Meng has been at the forefront of Cambodia’s transformation from a backward, war-torn country into one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, averaging 9 per cent growth a year over the past decade. Royal Group’s businesses include the country’s biggest mobile phone company, its first broadband provider and a bank that pioneered ATMs. It is about to launch phone banking.
Such activities have put Mr Kith Meng on a very different path from his fellow ethnic Chinese, who have tended to build family businesses in traditional sectors such as farming, mining and logging.
“We are going into every sector we can because Cambodia needs every sector to grow,” he says. “After that, we’ll see in what industry we want to be an Asian player.”
With such ambitions in mind, he has already started touring financial centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong to see how and when Royal Group should widen its presence in the region as well as list the equity of a company that has already made him a billionaire. (He refuses to value his assets precisely.)
Mr Kith Meng also has casino interests in Cambodia and one of his recent trips abroad was to Macao, the world’s largest gaming centre, accompanied by western bankers. His conclusion is unambiguous, and typical of a man who believes Cambodians must shed their inferiority complex towards other Asians. “Macao is already so crowded,” he says. “I think people in Macao should be looking here, not us looking there.”
Although he has so far confined his activities to his homeland, his ascent has started to draw comparisons with more renowned and far-reaching Asian tycoons, including Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai businessman and ousted former prime minister. Mr Kith Meng scoffs at that particular comparison, insisting he has no desire to use his wealth as a political launchpad as Mr Thaksin did in Thailand, where he created his own political party. “I am a businessman and just don’t have any of that [political] ambition,” he says.
In fact, insiders say Mr Kith Meng’s allegiance to Hun Sen, Cambodia’s long-standing prime minister, has been crucial to his success. Royal Group’s meeting rooms are adorned with pictures of the Hun Sen family, confirming what he describes as “very good relations with the government”.
Mr Hun Sen was returned to power in a landslide electoral victory last month with the backing of a business community that has benefited from strong growth and political stability after decades of war. Still, the government’s record has continued to be stained by international corruption studies that rank Cambodia among the most corrupt nations in the world. On that topic, Mr Kith Meng echoes government officials, emphasising the billions of dollars of foreign investment that have poured into Cambodia in recent years as vindication of Mr Hun Sen’s efforts to guarantee a fair and transparent business and legal environment.
“From outside, people can make any statement they want, but those [investors] who actually come here realise that Cambodia is a place where they should do business,” he says.
Even though he also holds the honorific title of Okhna, the Cambodian equivalent of a British peerage, associates and some other local businessmen say he steers clear of fellow Cambodian high-flyers. While Royal Group is set to build one of the skyscrapers that are redrawing Phnom Penh’s skyline, the company’s headquarters are in a nondescript office block and are entered via an electronics dealership with peeling walls.
Asked about this surprisingly low-key location, Mark Hanna, his Irish chief financial officer, says: “It might seem strange but I don’t think he’ll ever move from here. Perhaps it’s a mix of feng shui, good luck and superstition.” Meanwhile, Mr Kith Meng has his own take on good fortune: “Luck is about intelligence and timing.”
Mr Kith Meng’s workplace may be modest but he does have some flashy tastes. His oversized Cartier gold watch is overshadowed only by his diamond ring. He also has a penchant for luxury cars, owning a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley. He has no plans to settle down. “I’m single because when you’re a workaholic you don’t have time for that,’’ he grins.
Mr Kith Meng’s meteoric rise has drawn a mix of envy and disdain from some rival businessmen.“I can assure you that he has plenty of enemies here,” says a local financier. But he denies feeling threatened, describing his bodyguards as assistants who are “just here to support me”.
He makes no qualms about taking a different stance from the local elite, which tends to close ranks rather than open its doors to foreigners. “I [make joint ventures] with international companies, not Cambodian ones,” he says.
That openness may stem from an adolescence spent in Australia in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime (see below). However, despite having Australian citizenship and maintaining a home there, Mr Kith Meng has “mixed memories” from his youth in Canberra. “In the late 1980s, Australia was a very discriminatory society,” he says. “I think that society has now changed completely.”
Now, Royal Group’s most important Australian connection is its joint venture with ANZ bank. Meanwhile, its telecoms business is a partnership with Luxembourg-registered Millicom International Cellular. Mr Kith Meng also has exclusive distribution rights in Cambodia for a gamut of multinationals, including Canon, Siemens and Motorola, as well as the restaurant chains Pizza Hut and KFC. Mr Hanna is among a dozen English-speaking executives working for the group, including a team of former bankers from Macquarie, hired to set up an investment bank for the sprawling business empire. “We, as Cambodians, need outside expertise,” says Mr Kith Meng.
Unsurprisingly, he likes to monitor any international news or report relating to Cambodia.
He cites reading as a favourite hobby, although he has to check with an assistant for the exact title of the book he is currently enjoying. “Hey, what’s the name of that book that I’m reading, that you bought for me?” he shouts across the room. “ Don’t Sweat the Small Stuffby Richard Carlson,” comes the answer. Wise advice, perhaps, but probably something Mr Kith Meng worked out long before starting the first chapter.
------
‘All this suffering has made me see that I had to be somebody’
As builders erect shopping malls and residential towers around Phnom Penh and chauffeurs wait for businessmen outside trendy restaurants, it is hard to believe it used to be a wasteland – the consequence of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Like most Cambodians born before Pol Pot took power in 1975, Mr Kith Meng experienced the repression first-hand. He calls it “the painful story about my life”.
Because his father was a provincial landlord and businessman, his family was an obvious target. They were forcibly separated and both his father and mother starved to death. In 1980, after the Vietnam-led overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, he was reunited with some family members in Phnom Penh. They then travelled as refugees to a United Nations camp in Thailand. From there , they emigrated to Australia, returning to Cambodia in 1991. As the long-postponed trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders is about to judge its first case, some younger Cambodians have questioned its value. But Mr Kith Meng is adamant that “justice must be given”.
His intransigence leaves little doubt that his past has shaped him. “All this suffering has made me stronger, made me see that I had to be somebody,” he says.
The massage brings a smile to the face of a man who seems to find it hard to wind down. A self-confessed workaholic, the 39-year-old cannot imagine ever retiring or selling his Royal Group conglomerate because, he says, “this business is my passion”. He adds: “If I don’t work, I get sick. I don’t like to take it easy, I like to get things done.”
Such energy and intensity set him apart from the more relaxed attitude of the average Cambodian.
Mr Kith Meng has been at the forefront of Cambodia’s transformation from a backward, war-torn country into one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, averaging 9 per cent growth a year over the past decade. Royal Group’s businesses include the country’s biggest mobile phone company, its first broadband provider and a bank that pioneered ATMs. It is about to launch phone banking.
Such activities have put Mr Kith Meng on a very different path from his fellow ethnic Chinese, who have tended to build family businesses in traditional sectors such as farming, mining and logging.
“We are going into every sector we can because Cambodia needs every sector to grow,” he says. “After that, we’ll see in what industry we want to be an Asian player.”
With such ambitions in mind, he has already started touring financial centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong to see how and when Royal Group should widen its presence in the region as well as list the equity of a company that has already made him a billionaire. (He refuses to value his assets precisely.)
Mr Kith Meng also has casino interests in Cambodia and one of his recent trips abroad was to Macao, the world’s largest gaming centre, accompanied by western bankers. His conclusion is unambiguous, and typical of a man who believes Cambodians must shed their inferiority complex towards other Asians. “Macao is already so crowded,” he says. “I think people in Macao should be looking here, not us looking there.”
Although he has so far confined his activities to his homeland, his ascent has started to draw comparisons with more renowned and far-reaching Asian tycoons, including Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai businessman and ousted former prime minister. Mr Kith Meng scoffs at that particular comparison, insisting he has no desire to use his wealth as a political launchpad as Mr Thaksin did in Thailand, where he created his own political party. “I am a businessman and just don’t have any of that [political] ambition,” he says.
In fact, insiders say Mr Kith Meng’s allegiance to Hun Sen, Cambodia’s long-standing prime minister, has been crucial to his success. Royal Group’s meeting rooms are adorned with pictures of the Hun Sen family, confirming what he describes as “very good relations with the government”.
Mr Hun Sen was returned to power in a landslide electoral victory last month with the backing of a business community that has benefited from strong growth and political stability after decades of war. Still, the government’s record has continued to be stained by international corruption studies that rank Cambodia among the most corrupt nations in the world. On that topic, Mr Kith Meng echoes government officials, emphasising the billions of dollars of foreign investment that have poured into Cambodia in recent years as vindication of Mr Hun Sen’s efforts to guarantee a fair and transparent business and legal environment.
“From outside, people can make any statement they want, but those [investors] who actually come here realise that Cambodia is a place where they should do business,” he says.
Even though he also holds the honorific title of Okhna, the Cambodian equivalent of a British peerage, associates and some other local businessmen say he steers clear of fellow Cambodian high-flyers. While Royal Group is set to build one of the skyscrapers that are redrawing Phnom Penh’s skyline, the company’s headquarters are in a nondescript office block and are entered via an electronics dealership with peeling walls.
Asked about this surprisingly low-key location, Mark Hanna, his Irish chief financial officer, says: “It might seem strange but I don’t think he’ll ever move from here. Perhaps it’s a mix of feng shui, good luck and superstition.” Meanwhile, Mr Kith Meng has his own take on good fortune: “Luck is about intelligence and timing.”
Mr Kith Meng’s workplace may be modest but he does have some flashy tastes. His oversized Cartier gold watch is overshadowed only by his diamond ring. He also has a penchant for luxury cars, owning a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley. He has no plans to settle down. “I’m single because when you’re a workaholic you don’t have time for that,’’ he grins.
Mr Kith Meng’s meteoric rise has drawn a mix of envy and disdain from some rival businessmen.“I can assure you that he has plenty of enemies here,” says a local financier. But he denies feeling threatened, describing his bodyguards as assistants who are “just here to support me”.
He makes no qualms about taking a different stance from the local elite, which tends to close ranks rather than open its doors to foreigners. “I [make joint ventures] with international companies, not Cambodian ones,” he says.
That openness may stem from an adolescence spent in Australia in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime (see below). However, despite having Australian citizenship and maintaining a home there, Mr Kith Meng has “mixed memories” from his youth in Canberra. “In the late 1980s, Australia was a very discriminatory society,” he says. “I think that society has now changed completely.”
Now, Royal Group’s most important Australian connection is its joint venture with ANZ bank. Meanwhile, its telecoms business is a partnership with Luxembourg-registered Millicom International Cellular. Mr Kith Meng also has exclusive distribution rights in Cambodia for a gamut of multinationals, including Canon, Siemens and Motorola, as well as the restaurant chains Pizza Hut and KFC. Mr Hanna is among a dozen English-speaking executives working for the group, including a team of former bankers from Macquarie, hired to set up an investment bank for the sprawling business empire. “We, as Cambodians, need outside expertise,” says Mr Kith Meng.
Unsurprisingly, he likes to monitor any international news or report relating to Cambodia.
He cites reading as a favourite hobby, although he has to check with an assistant for the exact title of the book he is currently enjoying. “Hey, what’s the name of that book that I’m reading, that you bought for me?” he shouts across the room. “ Don’t Sweat the Small Stuffby Richard Carlson,” comes the answer. Wise advice, perhaps, but probably something Mr Kith Meng worked out long before starting the first chapter.
------
‘All this suffering has made me see that I had to be somebody’
As builders erect shopping malls and residential towers around Phnom Penh and chauffeurs wait for businessmen outside trendy restaurants, it is hard to believe it used to be a wasteland – the consequence of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Like most Cambodians born before Pol Pot took power in 1975, Mr Kith Meng experienced the repression first-hand. He calls it “the painful story about my life”.
Because his father was a provincial landlord and businessman, his family was an obvious target. They were forcibly separated and both his father and mother starved to death. In 1980, after the Vietnam-led overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, he was reunited with some family members in Phnom Penh. They then travelled as refugees to a United Nations camp in Thailand. From there , they emigrated to Australia, returning to Cambodia in 1991. As the long-postponed trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders is about to judge its first case, some younger Cambodians have questioned its value. But Mr Kith Meng is adamant that “justice must be given”.
His intransigence leaves little doubt that his past has shaped him. “All this suffering has made me stronger, made me see that I had to be somebody,” he says.
21 comments:
I suspicious why Kith Meng didn't refer any concerned about his elder brother Sophan Kith, In fact when Sophan came back to Cambodia from Australia he started and controlled every business by himself. Kith Meng at that time was his assistance. When Sophan died from unknown and mysterious reasons all Sophan's businesses falled to Kith Meng.
"Mr Kith Meng also has exclusive distribution rights in Cambodia..."
= Here are the key words that can make any Cambodian businessmen or businesswomen a millionaire overnight and by having "exclusive distribution rights" is the only way to achieve it!
I agree with Kith Meng that Cambodians do need outside expertise but at the same time even if Cambodians do have expertise and no Cambodian people or Hun Sen government would not recognize the Cambodian expertise because of the so called Cambodian inferiority complex! I had been to Cambodia and I had observed the Cambodian people in the city and the rural and I can assure that every Cambodian house have a Chinese writing label pasted to their front door or entrance as if they have some form of connection with the Chinese people to avoid looking down from being too Cambodian? I am not surprise that even Kith Meng still has Cambodian inferiority complex because he still stress his Chinese connection for being a successful businessman! Why is it that when any Cambodian people became successful they always claim that they are something else rather than Cambodian?
I believe Cambodia can create more millionaire and even billionaire in the future if only if Cambodia government creates a fair level playing field and create more opportunity for all Cambodian people! But so far the current corrupted Hun Sen government is too restricted in dealing with Cambodian people by allowing only Hun Sen family members, a few elite government officials, and highly selected group of Cambodian people to deal with Hun Sen government while denying million and million of dirt poor uneducated Cambodian people of economic opportunity!
I hope with time Cambodia will change to be very unique places in the world where successful Cambodian people don’t feel shame to be Cambodian!
it takes guts to be successful in cambodia. congratulations, mr. kith meng for your work ethics.
Nobody should envy his wealth and success. That he has close ties to the governing party is only normal, just like in any other, also Western, country. He has the savvy and the guts. Good job.
1:40AM
Thank you for sharing your open minded and insightful comment.
There are not just many fair buisiness people in cambodia could not get opportunity, BUT many intellectuals can not utilise their knowledges unless they can fit themselves in corrupted scheme.
Neang SA
For your information...
The reason why Kith Meng has a close connection to Hun Sen is that sooner or later he will married to the daughter of Kampong Cham governor.
And guess who is the governor of Kampong Cham?
Khmer Canadian
Intelligent man, but has to be smart to know when to call it quit when he is still ahead in the game.
Ukha Kith Meng,
Congratulation!! You have done great job!
Anyway, be careful in every step you go, especially with the people around you!! and don't stay so close to Hun Sen and his family!!! You can give them whatever you can but don't take whatever they give you!! Otherwise, the disaster will come to you one day!!
Thanks
Sincerely Friend
To poster 1:40 AM, I applaud you. You hit where the money is. I just hope values and understanding isn't lost in this time of change. He's successful, yes. But to give credit to him because of their corruption, that's not good. IF it's any sign, Khmer society is about to turn for the worst again. Realize this before it's too late.
1:22am, Maybe Kith Meng himself killed his own brother, looks how happy he is, now, all bizs are belong to him, and the only soul owner!
Just like Hun Sen, the second prime minister, in order to be the first prime minister he must be ousted or killed the first prime minister.
Karma will give his brother justice. His brother's soul will haunt him and make him suffer even more than before. The money and the power will became useless when that time comes. I wish him with all the bad lucks due to his cruelty.
Whoever distant himself as being Khmer should not have the priviledge to become a millionair from Khmer's economy. It sounds to me that all the Khmers with chinese ancestry are ashame of being Khmer. The article shows that he is so proud of his chinese blood. If he is so admire of his chinese blood, he should build his business in china and stay in china. We don't need a leach like this one to suck up Khmer's blood, abuse khmer's girls, and all the cruelty he has done to Khmers for his benefit. Since his admiration of his chinese ancestry, he needs to be with the chinese. He sees Khmers as being worthless, our blood is no comparsion to his chinese blood.
Karma for his ruthless attitude towards family members and associates has caught up with him. Kith Meng is probably in the advance stage of HIV or commonly known as AIDS. He is undergoing medical treatments, possibly blood tranfusion and/or taking immune system boosters in Thailand on a monthly basis. The upside of this is he's not being deniable for bringing jobs to the country.
I support poster 9:32AM comment that this Animal Kith Meng has his karma turned on to him for his wild determination to get rich for the expenses of many poor families who have lost their lands through his development in Phnom Penh. He will leave from this world with nothing( no descendents) very soon. At present he has rich without a single family member to live around him. That how a person is getting rich by getting closer to Hun Sen /
I support poster 9:32AM comment that this Animal Kith Meng has his karma turned on to him for his wild determination to get rich for the expenses of many poor families who have lost their lands through his development in Phnom Penh. He will leave from this world with nothing( no descendents) very soon. At present he has rich without a single family member to live around him. That how a person is getting rich by getting closer to Hun Sen /
I have never heard of this Kith Meng dude before. He doesn't look normal to me. He looks like a gangster or a loanshark or a pervert. Since he is holding an Austrian citizenship, why does he not invest in his adopted country??? What does he want in Cambodia anyway? He should go back to Australia and make a name for himself there. Why is there too much competition over there? What do the ordinary people benefit from this "company" anyway? I simply dislike his arrogance. I will never have anything to do with his business. Hahha.
Kith meng is just an impolite man in Cambodia. He was created by a powerman in government and he will disappear one day.
Let's see together.
Mr. Meng, congratulations for your health, wealth, and success.
However, remember, today your acquaintances in the government and business sectors are applauding and congratulating your success, yet you should not be oblivious that tomorrow these same people will condemn you, that is when you'll Ineluctably meet your demise.
Khmer farmer
A person with strong social justice and with good education wouldn't work with Hun Sen. Only mafia style people would work with this killer Hun Sen.
FOR EVERY RICH AND POWERFUL MAN/WOMEN THAT ARE WEALTHY IN CAMBODIA; IT'S ALMOST CERTAIN THAT CAN EITHER CONNECT THE DOT OR TRACE THEIR FOOTPRINT TO THE CORRUPTED GOVERNMENT.
IT'S LIKE A STOCK MARKET,..... SOMEBODY'S GOT TO HAVE THEIR SHARE!
I despise any Khmer that are rich in Cambodia. Like 10:32 said 'For every rich person in Cambodia, they somehow connected to the corrupted government."
You don't want to know how they get there. Am I jealous of rich people? No! I envy them as I did with Bill Gate or Donald Trump, but how does one get so rich that it surpassed all the poor of the poorest. I could be wrong, but until he (Mr. Kith Meng) start donating to the dirt poor Cambodian and verified that he has no ties to the corrupted government,..... then and only then, I can congratulate him and offer my apology. Until then, it is what it is!
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