Nelson’s corn-in-cup is a homegrown Malaysian brand that has gone global. The founder is Datuk Seri Nelson Kwok who pioneered the concept of eating corn in a cup in 1994 as opposed to the conventional way of eating corn on the cob. Simple as it was, no one seemed to have thought of it as marketable franchise till he came along. There are now more than 80 outlets in Malaysia. According to its website, it has hundreds of outlets in Saudi Arabia and almost 100 outlets in Kuwait under Master franchise holders. It also has franchisees in Indonesia, North Africa, China, England and Europe.  

Where does the corn supply come from? Datuk Seri...

Berjaya Group Berhad (“BGroup”) founded and controlled by Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun effectively holds the worldwide Kenny Rogers Roasters (KRR) franchise following BGroup’s acquisition of KRR International Corp, USA in April 2008. In Malaysia, Berjaya Roasters (M) Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Berjaya Food Berhad is the master franchisee of KKR restaurants here. KKR was originally set up by popular Country and Western singer, Kenny Rogers, and a former Governor of the state of Kentucky, John Y Brown Jr. In August 1991 KKR opened its first restaurant in Coral Spring, Florida, USA and since then expanded internationally to many...

Youtiao or yao char kwai in Cantonese is a common street snack in Malaysia. No one thought of franchising it until Jeffrey Leong and his partner Lim Gnian Liang came along and started it. They couldn’t get the local youtiao hawkers to part with the recipe but they found someone who had learned in Hong Kong how to make the youtiao. They branded it as I love Yoo! The first outlet was opened in Pavillion, Kuala Lumpur in November 2007. The outlet was very popular and the partners made enough money to convince themselve to roll out more I Love Yoo! Outlets in malls via franchising. The menu goes beyond youtiao and soybean drinks, soy dessert...

KK Super Mart has more than 300 outlets mainly in the Klang Valley, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, KLIA2, Malacca and Seremban. Founded by Datuk Seri Dr. KK Chai in 2001, the first KK Supermart occupied the ground floor of a shop lot at Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park in Kuala Lumpur with the initial capital of only RM60,000.00. Today the 24 hours convenience store chain is still expanding at a rapid rate. The KK Group of companies has stated that they have plans to grow the chain to 1000 outlets by 2023. KK Super Mart offers 9,000 variety of daily essential products including its own KK house brand at competitive prices. Its outlets also offer other...

Mercearia Grocer, founded on the neighbourhood grocer concept of providing fresh market and grocery items, is run by MAHSA Grocers Sdn Bhd, a private company belonging to its founder, Tan Sri Dr. Hj. Mohamed Haniffa. Tan Sri Haniffa started the MAHSA educational group in 2004 at Pusat Bandar Damansara with the Diploma in Nursing course. MAHSA stands for Malaysian Allied Health Sciences Academy. Over a decade, he has successfully built up MAHSA into a University with its own 48 acre campus in  Bandar Saujana Putra. Today MAHSA University has students from 75 different countries. 

Tan Sri Dr. Haniffa chose the name Mercearia, which in...

Ah Cheng Laksa started as a stall in 1960 in Simpang Empat, Alor Setar, Kedah by a couple whose children eventually took over the business and started franchising it. One of the children is said to be named Ah Cheng. In 2014 Ah Cheng Laksa won The Star People’s Food Awards for the “Best Asam Laksa Category”. Ah Cheng Laksa also offers curry laksa, pan mee, nasi lemak with ayam rendang or ayam goreng, herbal chicken soup with rice, keropok lekor and more. It has more than 20 outlets in the Klang Valley.  

Ah Cheng Laksa’s central kitchen has been certified halal by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department. Goh Chun Hiang, a director...

The Starbucks coffee chain in Malaysia is operated by Berjaya Starbucks Coffee Company Sdn Bhd, which is part of listed Berjaya Food Berhad. Berjaya Food is part of the Berjaya Group which is founded by Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun. Starbucks was not a franchise but a partnership between the Berjaya Group and Starbucks Coffee International Inc on a 50:50 basis when the first Starbucks was opened in KL Plaza in Kuala Lumpur on 17 December 1998. On 18 September 2014 Berjaya Food acquired the 50% stake of Starbucks Coffee International for RM279.52 million (US$88 million). So Starbucks Malaysia is now 100% operated by Berjaya Food.  

As...

Singapore-based Shopee is a mobile e-commerce app which was launched in 2015. It is now a leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Shopee is part of SEA Ltd, the biggest online gaming company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. SEA has also a digital payments and financial services provider under SeaMoney which includes products offered under brand names AirPay, ShopeePay, ShopeePayLater and other brands tailored to countries in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.  

Founder of Shopee, Forrest Li, 42, holds an engineering degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. He is the Chairman and...