By Sherilyn Goh
Brought up in humble beginnings by a family of recyclers, Seah Kian Hoe of Heng Hiap Industries vowed to prove those who looked down on the family wrong, and to bring pride to an industry he holds close to his heart.
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Seah Kian Hoe comes from a family of humble beginnings. His family is in the recycling business, and Seah and his three siblings have been actively playing their parts by helping their parents from a young age.
His family started a sole proprietorship in 1982 collecting scrap metal and other recyclables, and subsequently incorporated it as Heng Hiap Metal Sdn Bhd in 1987. As the business scaled up, they started supplying local steel mills, including Megasteel, Lion, Southern Steel and more.
In 1993, Heng Hiap Metal started expanding to KL and got involved in the paper business, Heng Hiap Paper was subsequently started.
“When we first started out, it was a very small affair. We couldn’t afford to employ workers so it was purely a family affair.
“We were very involved because my parents were out collecting scraps. In order to help my dad, my mum had to be a truck driver too. In the house, we took care of our school work, house work, and then whenever we were free, we helped sort out all those materials in the backyard,” said Seah.
Second among four siblings, Seah gained early inspiration throughout his involvement in the family enterprise, which had at times been scorned by people around them since he was a child. Those years, he said, were very profound to him personally.
At just 12 years old, Seah heard things which had hurt his family’s feelings.
“We had people who said very nasty things to my parents in front of us. They actually embarrassed my father by saying: ‘You are already a recycler. Now you bring your wife to become a recycler as well. And then you actually bring your kids as well.’
Seah Kian Hoe
“For them, it’s a shameful act, but for us, being able to do it together with my siblings… When we talk about those times, we still enjoy it, because of the togetherness, how it helped keep the whole family together, working together towards one thing; that was frankly quite amazing,” Seah told KINIBIZ in an exclusive interview.
Another encounter, recalled Seah, was when he and his siblings tried to challenge the person who was taunting them, but with little success.
“And one of the profoundest moments was when we confronted one of the guys who was insulting our parents in front of us and we said: ‘Hey, how could you say that? This is hard-earned, honest money’, and then we have this Chinese proverb which goes ‘there are topmost masters in every profession’. So how could you say that?’
“And the guy said, ‘that’s true, but show me a successful case from your industry.’ And of course being young at that time, we couldn’t. And so we dug a bigger hole.”
Like any other parents who aspired towards better things for their children, Seah’s parents did not want him and his siblings to continue to be in the recycling business, which they did not have any pride in.
Seah recounted that whenever the family truck was parked in front of the porch, his father would put a plastic canvas over the vehicle because he was ashamed to let their neighbours know that they were recyclers.
“Growing up, my parents have always asked two things of us: number one, get a degree, any degree; number two, never become a recycler.
“The reason being, they were saying that regardless of how you make your hard-earned money, your honest money, you will never be respected,” he recalled his parents’ words.
But little did they know, the younger Seah had greater ideas in mind. Not only was he not embarrassed by the family enterprise, he wanted to be a successful example, the one who excels all the rest in the industry.
“To me that was the first time that actually triggered the passion in me, I told myself, ‘I want to be in recycling, and I want to do something with recycling. That’s where we slipped, and why don’t we stand up from here and do something differently, so that the hard-earned, honest money we made will be recognised and respected? That was the part which remains important until today,” he said.
Seeing potential in plastics
A mechanical engineer by training, Seah had continued to be involved in the family business of recycled metals – which over the years has operated at a bigger scale, and of which both his elder and younger brothers are in charge of today – for two years upon completing his degree from the University of Oklahoma under a scholarship.
Admitting that metals are bulky, cumbersome and difficult to export, it was at this point in which Seah, who is keen on international trade, saw an opportunity in the fragmented recycling industry and the unlimited potential of plastics which are light, flexible and malleable in nature.
“Both of my brothers as I see them are very good businessmen, and soon enough I found out that they could capture the whole Malaysian market share (in the recycled metal industry) on their own, hence there is no need for all three of us to be in the metal business.
“Also, because metal scrap is a controlled item, we cannot export it unless it is some processed special-grade scrap, then you can export it with some special permit. Otherwise it’s a controlled item that should be always confined within Malaysia.
“I’ve always wanted to do international business and I thought that factor would be too limiting,” he explained.
Resolved to transform the fragmented recycled plastics landscape, and to bring pride to the lifelong family enterprise, he further pursued his MBA in international business and supply chain management in the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
Upon his return from the US for the second time, the Fulbright scholar wasted no time in starting his first business at the age of 29.
“I noticed that the recycling landscape of plastics was very fragmented. So the idea was that if I could somehow think of a way to integrate this, then I thought it would, at that time, be a so-called new blue ocean, a new frontier for us,” said Seah.
Inheriting the name of the family enterprise and a responsibility to uphold the integrity of the family business, Seah named his business Heng Hiap Industries. Heng Hiap means vibrant industry in Chinese, a name shared by several other business divisions of the family – Heng Hiap Metal and Heng Hiap Paper.
“I wanted a business of my own so I can be crazy and attempt different things,” said Seah.
With a start-up capital of RM1 million sourced from family funding and borrowings from financial institutions, Heng Hiap Industries Sdn Bhd commenced operations on Feb 17, 2003, in its old factory in Masai, Johor.
All three brothers including himself hold equal share in Heng Hiap Industries, but Seah is the one who runs the show in the plastics business.
Tomorrow: Moulding his own plastics empire
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