Pua Khein Seng, the USD31 billion dollar man
It has been reported, from various sources, that:
Pua Khein Seng, 34 is a Malaysian who invented the USB pen drive / thumb drive and helped Taiwan, his adopted country, to make USD31 billion in the process.
He could not even get into a local (Malaysian) university, so went off to study Electrical Control Engineering at Chiao Tung University, Taiwan in 1993. He stayed to complete his masters in 1999, worked for 6 months in a local company, then decided to set up Phison Electronics Corp with 4 fellow university-mates in November 2000.
Within six months they had came up with their first invention – a USB storage device called Pen Drive, the first company in the world to do so.
It was launched in June 2001.
By August 2001, they’d broken even.
From September 2001 onwards, the profits rolled in.
He is currently president of the company.
What I found most amazing is when he said he used to work 15-17 hours a day, and that is the norm in Taiwan. Where most people would hang out and relax in mamak stalls at night in KL, in Taiwan most people would still be working! He said that he works less hours after starting a family, but it’s still a big amount: more than 10 hours daily!
Wow, with people like these I think international background checks should be relaxed.
Source
The Star, 16th June 2008
