Rags to Riches: Lee Myong Bak (S.Korea President)

The chief guest for this Republic Day

Last updated on: January 26, 2010 09:00 IST

The 'Bulldozer' is in India this Republic Day. The man credited with overhauling South Korea's fortunes will witness an emerging superpower's might and its diverse culture when he takes the high seat among millions of Indians on January 26.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, whose rags-to-riches story is cited as case study across the world, is the chief guest at the 60th Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi.

Being in the vicinity of a 'rogue' and unfriendly Kim Jong Il (North Korean dictator) isn't easy. Despite the threat of an attack looming, the South Korean President has gone about transforming South Korea into an economic giant.

As a young employee at Hyundai in the 1960s, Lee buried the once polluted Cheonggyecheon stream under an elevated highway that would carry about 168,000 cars a day into the heart of the city.

Later, as Mayor or Seoul, he went on an overdrive and remodelled the haphazardly developed city.

He added rapid transit buses to the city's transportation system, laid the foundation of the green cover, which the city now boasts of, and landscaped the banks of the Cheonggyecheon stream to create a 5.8-km-long, $360 million piece of urban watershed.

Lee grew in poverty and went on to make millions. Born in the Japanese city of Osaka in 1941, his parents couldn't afford his education. He was the fifth of seven children they bore. However, he put himself through high school -- working through the day as a labourer and then studying at night.

In Lee's words, "The chronic poverty that haunted my family never disappeared until after I was in my 20s." After graduating from high school, he enrolled in and graduated from Korea University, at one point, working as a garbage collector in order to pay for his tuition.

Armed with a degree in Business Administration, he joined Hyundai Engineering and Construction as an entry-level employee. It was here that he earned the nickname of 'Bulldozer'.

He soon worked his way up the Hyundai hierarchy, becoming the CEO of the auto giant in 12 years. Fifteen years later in 1988, he took the plunge into politics.

Lee entered the Korean National Assembly as part of the Democratic Liberal Party in 1992, and went on to be elected as Mayor of Seoul in 2002. But his big moment came in December 2007 when he was elected as the South Korean President.

The two pillars of Lee's diplomacy was bolstering relations with the four major regional powers -- the US, Japan, China, and Russia -- and intensifying the diplomatic drive for a stable supply of oil and other natural resources.

However, his primary attention was on North Korea.

On becoming President, Lee vowed to link additional inter-Korean economic projects to progress in the six-party disarmament process. Talks with North Korea are, however, still in a deadlock over Pyongyang's provision of its list of nuclear programmes.

Lee supports the reunification of Korea, although he believes that political differences between the two Koreas create an enormous obstacle to reunification.

In his initial years as President, his policies came under severe criticism. So much so that his popularity ratings nosedived after he inked the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and then over the resumption of US beef imports to the country.

However, Lee stood his ground. Eventually, South Koreans came around to accept him. According to the Wall Street Journal, Lee's plan to privatise public companies was an "important step" towards Seoul's reform.

Lee is the first businessman-turned-President to run Korea. A strong supporter of free trade agreements with foreign countries, Lee is expected to hold talks with New Delhi in this regard during his visit.

Lee's trip will be the first by a South Korean leader to India since 2004. Following his meeting with the Indian leadership, Lee will ink memorandums of understanding on inmate repatriation, information and technology cooperation, and partnership in space exploration.

He may also visit South Korean firm Posco's proposed plant site in Orissa where the steel major will set up 12 millions tons per annum steel plant at an investment of Rs 51,000 crore. Also on the agenda is a civilian nuclear deal with New Delhi.

Media reports said earlier this week that South Korea's state-owned Korea Electric Power Corporation is keen to sell its reactors to India at very competitive prices. KEPCO, with its installed capacity of 17716 MWe as of the end of 2008, also ranks sixth among world's nuke powerhouses.

Meanwhile, even as he went about powering Seoul's financial and infrastructural growth, Lee never sacrificed environment at the altar of development.

His efforts to restore the Cheonggyecheon stream earned him the distinction of being a 'Hero of the Environment' from the Time magazine in 2007.

He told Time, "When the Korean economy was just trying to get back on its feet after the war, having parks was a luxury. But now we try to achieve a balance between function and the environment, and we try to put the environment first."

Finally, for your information, the South Korean President has a declared personal fortune of 35bn Won ($37mn or Rs 169 crore).

Source: Rediff.com

Nepali billionaires

During the Soviet era, Russians were not allowed to own private property. Fifteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow has nearly as many multi-millionaires as New York. And some of them are Nepalis.

Knowledge of English and Russian as well as prior exposure to the free market allowed Nepali students in the Soviet Union to adjust faster to the consumer boom in the post-communist era. So they got married and settled down here. Not even in that bastion of global capitalism, the United States, has the Nepali diaspora struck it as rich as it has in Russia.

Jiba Lamichhane came to Russia to study engineering in 1986. He used to be a dealer for Sony, LG and Samsung in Russia. "There would be long queues even before we opened the stores, we sold goods worth hundreds of thousands of dollars every day. There was just so much pent-up demand the profit margin was 35-40 percent," recalls Lamichhane of the period just after 1990.

The Nepalis thrived because locals lacked the business acumen in banking and exposure to the outside world. But now the Russians have learnt fast, and the business is more competitive. Lamichhane is managing director of Techno Trust, a company manufacturing the Elson brand LCD tvs for the Russian market.

There are more than 150 Nepali entrepreneurs and more than 36 business conglomerates in Russia and the CIS countries which are Nepali-owned. From Moscow to Minsk, Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, St Petersburg to Volgograd, you will find successful Nepali traders dealing in electronic goods and appliances. Even the newly-arrived are doing well. Dile Lama came here not to study but to do business. He now runs the Tibet and Jhomolungma restaurants in Moscow and Minsk.

But by far the most successful Nepali in the CIS is Upendra Mahato, who did a PhD, and after 1990 set up a business empire spanning electronics, oil, real estate, banking and heavy machinery. Mahato now has 12,000 employees, 50 of them Nepali. Starting off as an electronics trader, Mahato now owns a television factory in Voronezh, 400 km south of Moscow, making one million sets annually. And he owns the outlets to sell them: a huge electronics mega mall in Gorbushka which sees 80,000 customers a day. He is building a 26-storey $50 million apartment block in a prime residential area in Moscow.

Russia's Nepali millionaires are now reaping the rewards of the hard work and struggle of their early days here. Most have dachas in the countryside, children attending the most expensive schools in Europe or the United States. They commute to work in limousines.

But the success is tinged with the fear of violence from extortionists and skinheads.

Source: Nepalitimes.com

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For an entrepreneur, sky is the limit: Ambica Shrestha

Like every entrepreneur, Mrs. Ambica Shrestha gets thrilled when she sees young aspiring entrepreneurs trying to make an impact on our society despite the depressing scenario of the country. She finds them as a light at the end of the tunnel, the gleaming hopes of New Nepal.

Shrestha believes if we could change the conventional mindsets of our youngsters from being job seekers to job creators, we would not find so many young people going abroad which is why she asks young people to come out of universities not as employees but as entrepreneurs. Perseverance, imagination and positive attitude which are the essential qualities of a successful entrepreneurs have to be instilled in them. “Employee mindset tends to make your vision limited whereas sky is the limit for entrepreneurs”, shared Mrs. Shrestha in the latest episode of Last Thursdays Entrepreneurs Speak. “Besides it’s very hard to find a job these days. So instead create a job of your own, be it small but be innovative and imaginative”, she adds.

To enforce her point she provides with the examples of Min Bahadur Gurung, who opened a one-room road-front shop selling cheese, curd and bottled drinks in Bhatbhateni in 1987. Fast forward two decades and you find a giant multi-storied supermarket with a large parking lot employing hundreds of people with a brand name that has pervaded most of the households as the smartest department store in the city.

According to Mrs. Shrestha one lesson aspiring entrepreneurs have to learn from the successful ones is that hard work & determination are essential to success. Want of instant gratification not only ruins their chances of succeeding but also their life. Riches don’t come overnight neither does success. One needs to love their work invariably if she really wants to succeed.

Hospitality, IT, Travel and Tourism are some of the areas she finds rewarding and worthwhile for investing time and resources. The blessings Nepal has received from nature in the form of exquisite landscapes, the variety of species and artistic and cultural riches bequeathed by our ancestors make Nepal a heaven for tourism in her opinion. “All of that and in just within the range of ninety kilometres, Nepal is like a sandwich,” opines Shrestha.

Spain which was quite poor until a few decades ago founds its riches by promoting the things they had i.e. beaches, islands and their rich culture. Low labour costs spearheaded the transformation of Spain from a poor country into a highly industrialized economy. “Nepal can also benefit from its cheap labour and its natural resources,” says Mrs. Shrestha.

In a time when it’s hard to find someone who does what s/he preaches, these wise words come from a person whose actions speak more profoundly than her words. Mrs. Ambica Shrestha is the figure behind Dwarika’s Hotel, which is perhaps the world’s only hotel to be constructed for the express purpose of preserving the unique architecture and art of its culturally rich environs.

Mrs. Shrestha, educated in Kalimpong, Darjeeling, caused quite a stir with her modern ideas after she was married into the orthodox family of Dwarika Das Shrestha in 1955.Having been studied with nuns, she was too restless to fit inside mundane daily chores and stay home. She came out of her home started teaching for a monthly salary of Rs. 80, worked with USIS in 1959 and then as Managing Director of Kathmandu Travel & Tours, one of the first travel agencies in Nepal, which was started by her husband.

The travel agency proved to be a successful venture but even better venture was to come out of Dwarika Das Shrestha’s entrepreneurial mind. It all started with a jog. During his run one day back in 1952, the late Dwarika Das Shrestha passed carpenters cutting up intricately carved and engraved wooden pillars, which only hours before had been part of an old building, demolished to make way for a contemporary structure. What’s more, bits of centuries’ old carved woodwork, destined for firewood, lay amidst the rubble. To Shrestha, this was not only the destruction of something fine and beautiful, but of his and all Nepal’s ancient culture, as well. On impulse, he convinced the workmen to exchange the damaged pillars for money plus new lumber. Thus began a quest to protect his nation’s wooden heritage.

He not only bought the carvings but also hired some carvers to restore these carvings and found some young boys to work for them as apprentices. Very soon the couple found it hard to find money to pay the carvers continuously.

The duo had an American lady friend who was doing her M.A. who asked them if they could provide her with a room to sit down and write her thesis. So, Mrs. Shrestha made a room for her friend at the top of her cowshed. Her friend loved the room and was highly impressed by the old carved window that was used in the room. She invited her friends to view the carvings and soon the word of mouth spread the news. Soon, many people were visiting the room to watch the carvings. Someone suggested the duo why not build more of such rooms and hence preserve the carvings and make money as well. Mrs. Shrestha took the suggestions and let her cows go and built 5 rooms in the cowshed and her garage. Things took off and more people started coming which made the duo leave their home and rent a place for them and convert their home which had 5 rooms into a lodge. They found a Swiss lady to work as a manager.

By 1981, four years since they started the lodge, the business was successful enough for them to add another block of ten rooms. In 1991, another ten rooms were added to their lodge.

The hotel was doing extremely well when a tragedy struck Mrs. Shrestha’s life. Her beloved husband passed away in 1991. Undeterred Mrs. Shrestha plodded on to fulfil her husband’s dream, to use all the artefacts and build a huge hotel. Kudos to her efforts, today Dwarika’s hotel portrays itself as a mansion of artefacts, carved windows and our traditional arts allowing guests to live among the architectural and artistic beauty of the past. She preserved all the carved woods and worked hard towards the fulfilment of her dreams. When people saw her keeping the rotten woods and working too hard, they remarked telling her that she was mad to be doing so. Undeterred she worked even harder, struggled even more and travelled all over the world marketing her hotel. Her daughter was her companion during the hardship.

“We established Dwarika’s in that way. And we are very happy with what we have done. It’s now so fruitful to us. It’s not that Dwarika’s is not known all over but what satisfies is we started dachiappa”, says Mrs. Shrestha. “Dachiappa” is our traditional way of making carved bricks. Mrs. Shrestha also found innovative ways to prevent any damages to the traditional structures from earthquake. “I feel proud when I see people using dachi appas. We are rediscovering our traditions. People are now using such bricks to build their houses,” says Mrs Shrestha proudly.

Mrs. Shrestha remembers her struggling days to have been very difficult especially because of the male-dominated Nepalese society and encourages young girls of today to work very hard and break the glass ceiling society imposes on them. She believes young ladies really can succeed if they work really hard. She shares her experiences of being an outcast for revolting against an orthodox family. Mrs. Shrestha was shunned by her family for going out of home and working. But after years of working, their attitudes had softened towards her. Her mother-in-law, who had vehemently despised her for leaving home and working, later forgave her daughter in law.

Besides her hotel, Mrs. Shrestha currently works towards helping women. She has founded an international organization which helps women of over 83 countries of the world in various ways. In third world countries it works towards women development. Women are empowered through Literacy, skills enhancement and loans for starting their own ventures. She praises Mr. Mohammed Yunus who started the system of micro-credit which has sprawled numerous success stories for his act of transforming the life of millions of poor women.

As a message to the young entrepreneurs, Mrs. Shrestha repeats “For an entrepreneur, sky is the limit. Work hard, you’ll surely succeed!” in an encouraging tone.

When asked her opinion about the present culture of frequent strikes and bandas and their impact upon survival of hospitality industry, Mrs. Shrestha opines it’s the young people and all the stakeholders who should unite and protest against such strikes. She believes it’s the inaction of the good people that’s letting the strikes go on. She is surprised at how a handful of people easily hamper the daily life of the others by blocking the roads and traffic. “Don’t expect and wait for the government to set things straight. It’s your life and your country. Stop them from ruining your life,” she appeals to all of us. Shrestha states that hospitality business doesn’t just profit the top level entrepreneurs only. The profit and benefits trickle down to all the participants of the business regardless of their level. A vegetable grower or a transport service provider benefits equally like hoteliers if hospitality business grows.

Mrs. Shrestha believes young people should also work towards creating positive news about our country as today’s media seems to be obsessed with pessimistic views and news about Nepal.

When inquired, after creating one of the finest hotels of Nepal, if she has any plans of expanding it to encompass other locations and cultures other than Newari, Mrs. Shrestha jubilantly expresses her excitement about expansion. She is enamoured by the Tharu and Gurung culture and wants to create a hotel that represents their culture and arts. “But only if the situation of our country stabilizes”, she adds with a sigh.

Her concern is genuine given the fact that instability in the country has hit the young people pretty hard. Most of the young population is abroad studying or working and very few of them wish to return to the country. “But there is hope”, says Mrs. Shrestha, “If tourism develops, our country will develop and there will many employment and earning opportunities. When it happens our young people will surely return. What’s happening in India can also happen in Nepal.”

She believes tourism development isn’t possible without encouraging domestic tourism. Locals are the best resources for tourism. She proves her point with the example of Manakamana Cable Car which has been highly successful and profitable catering to the local religious devotees. There are many wonderful places for tourists outside Kathmandu, which is too dirty and terrible these days, she opines.

Mrs. Shrestha suggests clean food; clean place with originality in nature is the model that works for hospitality business. Various business models have already been tried by many and Nepal has seen many of its prominent hotels close down after the slack in number of tourist arrival. “Regardless of anything, a tourist always wants clean food and clean place to stay. “, shares Mrs. Shrestha.

Source: www.samriddhi.org

Rags to Riches: Justin Parker

Justin Parker tells the story of pain that helped him build his life and become a successful businessman. Simon Eroro reports on Lae’s rising star.

PAPUA New Guinea turned 35 years old on Thursday. Lae businessman Justin Parker is 38 years old this year. That three year gap is the essence of this story.
Parker believes he knows the pain the country is going through because as a child he experienced the same pains, evolved around those hardships, addressed the issues that affected his life and has come full circle to be a successful businessman.
Parker believes with foresight and strong leadership, our country can achieve the stability that every Papua New Guinean dreams off.
While the country celebrated independence with fun-filled events and feasts, Parker, now the owner of Golden Valley Enterprise, reflected on his own experience of growing up in PNG.
Parker’s story is not an ordinary rags to riches one. It begins in colonial era Papua and New Guinea, in the highlands of PNG, where the rule of the white man was slowly being eroded by the awakening of the politically hot headed Bully Beef Club.
Parker is the offspring of a liaison between a white father and a Chimbu mother. He was born in Minj on August 28, 1972.
His mother migrated to Minj with her grandparents during the colonial days where his grandfather worked for a government bulk store.
Parker said he hardly knows his Australian father besides the fact that he came to PNG in early 1970s as coffee buyer and worked with Sigmill coffee factory in Minj and later married his mum.
Parker stayed in Minj until on his sixth birthday and moved with his grandparents to Warawau Tea Plantation now owned by WR Carpenters where he started school at age seven at Kagamuga Community School.
He returned to Minj and did his grade two and three at Minj, and then to Fatima High School where he did his grade seven before returning to Minj to complete Grade 10.
It was during these formative years that he realised that everyone treated him differently because of his fair complexion although he tried his best to blend in with his fellow Papua New Guineans.
The hurt from this rejection made him believe he had to rise above his skin colour, to show he was a truly “pikinini man blo PNG” and Parker believed the only way he was going to win the affection of his people was through innovative hard work.
After high school, he attended Popondetta Agriculture College now University of Natural Resource and Environment - Oro Campus but did not last long.
Parker left school after six-months and returned home where he later found a job with Plumes and Arrows Hotel as a waiter.
He joked: “I had asked for a tea boy’s job.”
Parker said his life beyond that was miserable but he was tenacious in his belief that one day he would succeed.
“Everyone saw me as different because I was white-skin ... regarded me as a mixed-race, although I did not see myself like that. My peers thought I was different but at no time did I think I was different,” he recalled.
He said this did not discourage but it was so much for him then.
Parker says: “I remember going to high school with a pair of shoe and clothes and can also recall ... I wore the same many times.”
“But I had a dream that one day I wanted to live a quiet life on my own, have a stable marriage life and raise my children away from the life I grew up with better education and give them my utmost love,” he said.
Armed with that dream, Parker resigned and with his K500 finish pay, started selling beer at black markets. “No one knew what I wanted to be,” he said.
He started buying gold and coffee and looking after pigs and today with the little he saved, he is now a well established businessman.
Asked how he wants to be in future, he said, “I have a dream to operate my own mining company.”
“I was born two years before PNG gained Independence but I see myself having matured this far together the difficulties I have faced in my life as an individual and seen PNG as a country struggling to develop, encourages me to put 10 steps ahead in everything I do.”
He has three beautiful girls and two boys. Four go to school in Australia while one is in Port Moresby. He loves residing in Lae but dislikes the potholes and is an avid bike rider who likes the rough terrains in the Markham Valley.
His company buys gold and exports cocoa and is based in Lae with branches in Wau, Bulolo, Tabubil, Ningerum and Wewak .
He is now setting up office in Madang and Port Moresby. Parker is also into small scale mining.

Source: www.postcourier.com.pg