Tan Sri Tony Fernandes

As everyone knows ,Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is a famous Malaysian entrepreneur. He is one of the many entrepreneur that I choose to present in my blog.

Background

He studied at Epsom College, UK, and the London School of Economics and qualified as an Associate Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in 1991. He became a Fellow Member in 1996. He was admitted as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in 2008."

Tony has been the Group CEO of AirAsia since December 2001. Prior to AirAsia, he was the Financial Controller of Virgin Communications London before joining Warner Music International London in 1989. He was promoted to Managing Director, Warner Music Malaysia in 1992 and to Regional Managing Director, Warner Music South East Asia in 1996. In 1999, he became the Vice President of Warner Music South East Asia.

Tony's many awards include: Honor of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire, conferred by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 for services to promote commercial and educational links between the UK and Malaysia. In 2010, the French government had conferred on him the award of Officer of the Legion d'Honneur, the highest award that can be conferred on a non-French national.

He was named as one of the world's 100 most creative people in business for 2011 by New York-based business magazine Fast Company, and awarded the Inaugural ‘Travel Business Leaders Award’ winner by CNBC.

Renowned Malaysian entrepreneur, Tan Sri Dr. Tony Fernandes of AirAsia was awarded the top title at the 1st Malaysian Achievement Award at the prestigious Double Tree by Hilton, along Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. He was recognized for his efforts in flying the Malaysian entrepreneurial spirit on both local and global fronts.

 History

Talks about the ‘how’s’ of his success. He was sent overseas to study when he was 12 and fund that he had to fend for himself from the time he arrived at Heathrow, and says “The great thing about being thrown into the deep end is you either sink or swim”. Even then his interests were music and F1 cars, and he has built those likes into businesses. When he wanted to come home during half-term, flying was too expensive to be affordable, so he set out to make it possible for ‘everyone to fly’. Air Asia was born from that and next Tony is determined to enable people in the Indian sub-continent to afford to fly cheaply instead of spending days travelling from one city to another. “You have only one life; live out your dream” he says.

From starting his humble airline company with a mere two planes several years ago, Tony has proven time and time again that the determination to create a world class airline brand and ultimately making his mark in the aviation industry is possible when one is determined to work hard, explore international collaborations and to even do business with one’s once ‘Business rival.’

He states that Malaysians rely on the Government too much and people don’t want to do it for themselves. Air Asia did not rely on the Governments and Tony says that he hopes its successes will inspire others to do the same. “There are no short cuts in life. Remove the crutches” he said.

In August 9, 2011(The Star Newspaper) , Tony shocked Malaysia where he announced that he was going into allying with Malaysian Airlines (MAS), through his latest business undertakings landmark share swap deal worth just over RM2bil which will turn the long-time bitter rivals into collaborating partners. But at the end the partnerships officially terminated. Although the share swap has to be unwound, the collaboration over the past eight months has brought MAS and AirAsia closer together .

AirAsia airlines was established with the dream of making flying possible for everyone. Since 2001, AirAsia has swiftly broken travel norms around the globe and has risen to become the world’s best. With a route network that spans through to over 20 countries, AirAsia continues to pave the way for low-cost aviation through our innovative solutions, efficient processes and a passionate approach to business. AirAsia’s mission “Now Everyone Can Fly” animates the Allstars. They know that AirAsia’s low fares make it possible to bring families together, improve businesses and enable people to explore and have new adventures.

Again, in our perspective, Tony’s achievements abroad had always marveled the Malaysian minds, especially the young and thriving entrepreneurs, where he had brought the AirAsia brand global, and through uncanny feats like wanting to fly long haul on low cost, to trying to get AirAsia’s brand on the FIFA World Cup jersey, to sponsoring Manchester United and having them flew on our Malaysian carrier and many more daring entrepreneurial examples.