Saleh Fareed
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Young Saudis who attended the Jeddah Economic Forum 2014 on Wednesday were given an insight into the life and experiences of a dynamic and world-class business leader who realized his dream with sheer dint of hard work and determination.
Tony Fernandes, CEO of the world's best low cost airline AirAsia, proved to be both an intellectual powerhouse and laidback master speaker. He immediately had his audience here in Jeddah sitting up on their seats and listening to his successful journey as a young entrepreneur.
“I don’t care about failing because I do not want to sit down in my older years and say, ‘How come I didn’t try?’ So we did and Malaysia is the country which allowed four Malaysians to go out and make their dreams come true,” Fernandes said.
He said, “Nothing is impossible to achieve as long as there is determination.”
He turned around an unprofitable and small airline company with only two airplanes to one that now has a 160-strong fleet of aircraft in only 12 years.
Speaking to young Saudis, he added, “You can do anything you want as long as your mind is in it.”
According to him, he sees people as the “key asset” of any business and hopes to help develop their full potential, passions and dreams. His business offices have no walls and he seeks ideas from his staff.
As a child, he dreamed of three things: Running an airline, owning an English football club and owning a Formula One racing team. He built AirAsia and that success story spawned other successes. Now he owns a football team in England, an F1 car racing team and is a major supporter of Asia’s biggest mixed martial arts sport, the One FC.
“Twelve years ago we started our airline with 2 planes, had only $5,000 with no experience but we had ideas to implement,” he said.
Fernandes invests in and excels in marketing. He said: “If you have a great product but no one knows about it, it’s history.”
He also believes in using digital technology for his businesses and he asserts that, “Technology is the key to success.”
Fernandes said: “In AirAsia we consider ourselves basically a dream factory. We deliberately decided that we wanted a company where people can pursue their passion and we wanted to make use of all the talent that we have in-house.
“The culture that we have stems from the fact that we want openness and we want people to be creative and passionate about what they do. In order to do that, we’ve got to inspire them.”
He indicated that he hires people with passion. He is exceptionally passionate, not only about his firms, charities and employees, but also about sports. His ownership and interests in various sports indicates his passion.
