Tony Fernandes was born April 30, 1964 in Kuala Lumpur. He was recognized
for his efforts in flying the Malaysian entrepreneurial spirit on both local
and global fronts. Tony Fernandes's father was a physician,
originally from Goa and Portuguese-Eurasian mother,
Ena Dorothy Fernandes of Malacca, Malaysia.
At a young age, he used to follow
his mother, a businesswoman, to Tupperware dealer
parties and conventions. He was educated at The Alice Smith School in
Kuala Lumpur. He graduated from Epsom College,
UK, London School of Economics in 1983.
Tony Fernandes worked very briefly
with Virgin Atlantic as an auditor,
subsequently becoming the financial
controller for Richard
Branson's Virgin
Records in London from
1987 to 1989. Tony Fernandes was admitted as Associate Member of the Association of
Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 1991 and became Fellow Member in
1996. He is currently a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in
England and Wales (ICAEW). Upon his return to
Malaysia, he became the youngest managing director of
Warner Music (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. He subsequently became the South East Asian regional
vice-president for Warner Music Group from 1992-2001.
When
Time Warner Inc announced its merger with America Online Inc., Tony Fernandes
left to pursue his dream of starting a budget no-frills airline. However, his
application for a license from the Malaysian government was rejected. He
never give up and until he came to meet with the Prime Minister, Tun Dr.
Mahathir Mohamad in
October 2001 through Datuk Pahamin A. Rejab, the former secretary-general of
the Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry. Instead of starting
from scratch, Mahathir advised Tony Fernandes to buy an existing airline.
AirAsia, the heavily indebted subsidiary of the Malaysian government-owned conglomerate, DRB-Hicom,
was losing money. Tony Fernandes mortgaged his home and used his personal
savings to acquire the company, comprising two Boeing 737-300 jet aircraft and debts of US$11 million (RM40
million), for one ringgit (about 26 US cents), and transformed
it into an industry player. One year after his takeover, AirAsia had broken
even and cleared all its debts. Its initial public offering (IPO) in November
2004 was oversubscribed by 130 per cent.
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Tony Fernandes biggest achievement has been to turn the AirAsia airline into an international
carrier. Before the creation of AirAsia, countries in the region did not have
open-skies agreements. In mid-2003, Tony Fernandes lobbying pushed Dr Mahathir
to raise the idea with the leaders of neighbouring Thailand, Indonesia,
and Singapore.
As a result, those nations have granted landing rights to AirAsia and other
discount carriers. Tony Fernandes opened up the budget carrier sector in the
region.
Tony
Fernandes's many awards include honoured by the King of Malaysia with
the title Tan Sri, Dato' Sri and
also by the government of France with the Legion d'Honneur Order.
In 2011, according to a Team Lotus press release, Tony Fernandes was awarded a CBE or Commander of the Order of the British Empire
"for services to promote commercial and educational links" between
Malaysia and the UK. 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.
Sources:
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