Dr. Ngau Boon Keat from Dialog Group Berhad
Date: 18 April 2014
Executive Chairman of Dialog Bhd Dr Ngau Boon Keat delivered an inspiring talk at UTAR Perak Campus on 18 April 2014. The hour-long entrepreneurial talk entitled "My Journey in Life and Entrepreneurship".
The China-born speaker began imparting his words of wisdom by first reminiscing his childhood days, from the struggle from the sharp vicissitudes of the family's fortune during the early communist period to the bold but wise decision made by his mother to migrate to Malaya to seek a brighter future for her off-springs. "Despite my mother not being fully literate, she had values, and those values contributed to her decision-making back then. Her decision of taking the risk to bring me to Malaya was the greatest move that influenced me," said Dr Ngau exultantly, who also likened his mum to Chinese philosopher Mencius' mother, who moved residence thrice in order to seek for a proper environment to raise her child.
"My mother's expectations were very simple - to study hard, to never give up in difficult times and to be brave enough to take risks," continued Dr Ngau in fluent English, who also shared with the audience his sheer determination in learning and his versatility to adapt to a completely new environment back then. "It was challenging for me to learn in school back then because back in China, everything was in Hakka. However I told myself that I would take night classes to improve myself. It was from the night classes that I bonded with those from other races."
This prompted Dr Ngau to strongly encourage students to do their best and find opportunities to mix with people from different backgrounds. "The experiences of learning from different people allow me to tell myself that I could handle difficult situations." Dr Ngau also stressed the importance of being knowledgeable and receptive to new ideas. "The more knowledgeable you are, the further you could see and go with the things you do. Your working experience will help you to refine your knowledge and the way you perceive things," he advised, sharing that despite being good at Maths and Science, his interests in History and Geography as well have also brought him closer with people from all over the world.
Impressed by UTAR's conducive study environment and beautiful campus, Dr Ngau also encouraged students to remain close with their lecturers. "Your lecturers will be your best advisors and I have always looked up to them for advice," said the Mechanical Engineering graduate who also proceeded to share his career path with the students. Dr Ngau worked with Mobil Singapore Pte Ltd in 1972 and then with Petronas where he started off as the first petroleum engineer and eventually establishing Dialog Bhd, which recently welcomed the first vessel carrying fuel to the company's Pengerang Independent Terminals Sdn Bhd for oil storage. "Despite being a mechanical engineer, it was humility and the willingness to learn that allowed me to thrive in areas related to upstream and downstream of the oil, gas and petrochemical industry," said Dr Ngau.
"Malaysia is blessed with sufficient sunshine and rain, natural resources like petroleum and others. The duty of the future generation is to equip themselves with the "know-how" knowledge to bring out oil to be extracted. This is our advantage compared to many other nations and we just need to work on this and add value to it," he told the students.
Before winding up his speech, Dr Ngau also shared with the audience MyKasih Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by him and his wife to aid the less privileged. "When you are successful, you shouldn't forget your neighbourhood." said Dr Ngau. The successful entrepreneur also mentioned that he was indebted to his kind neighbours in China who gave him food during times of trouble. This inspired him to start MyKasih out of his visceral gratitude to the kindred souls he had met throughout his life and also to commemorate such act of kindness of helping the less fortunate. "Whatever you do, be passionate and don't give up easily" he concluded.