To say Malaysian entrepreneur Tan Sri Dato' Seri* Dr Jeffrey Cheah FCPA has staying power is a bit of an understatement.

He chairs the Sunway Group, a diversified conglomerate of companies that he created from a small tin mining concern he acquired in 1974.

The business went through rocky times during the deep recession of the 1980s.

He rode the recession out, regrouped and expanded his concerns to include, and expand into, higher education, civil engineering and construction; property development and investment; building materials; trading and manufacturing; leisure, entertainment and hospitality; information technology; quarrying; and healthcare.

And, then in 1997, the Asian crisis hit. Bankers who had previously lent on no funds or little collateral came calling, as did opportunistic buyers. Cheah's Sunway empire was in trouble. It must have seemed like the last straw, but he was undaunted at the time.

'People wanted to buy a controlling stake in my business, but I didn't let them,' he recalls. 'I said, 'I've created this conglomerate, let me continue to manage and grow this monster'.'

He had some sad decisions to make, including divesting non-core businesses and selling the quarry business, one of the driving forces behind the group's original fortunes. But he was determined to keep true to his vision of continuing to create diverse and forward-thinking property developments, rather than sell off his empire piecemeal or compromise with quick and easy developments.

Then the Singapore Government Investment Corporation stepped in and took over a 48 per cent stake in two components, leaving Cheah the controlling shareholder. 'They are very happy,' he says. 'Their investment has grown many, many times.' Today Sunway shareholders' funds are worth RM1.5bn (A$496m) and the group's revenues are in excess of RM4.5bn (A$1.48bn).

Jeffrey Cheah's back story is interesting. Born to poor parents in rural Malaysia in Pusing, in the state of Perak, he was educated in Australia at the Footscray Institute of Technology (now Victoria University) in Melbourne.

The decision to go to university in Australia was a fluke, as was the choice of the course: accountancy. 'Although, I don't think biology would have helped me read the accounts in my businesses, but accountancy certainly has,' he says wryly.

'My parents couldn't help guide me [on my career]. They were very poor and illiterate. But one of my friends decided to go to Melbourne to study, so I decided to go too. It was a very good time for me. I was quite playful,' he adds mischievously.

Cheah made the most out of big city life, and played drums in a rhythm and blues band with fellow Malaysians.

Cheah returned to Malaysia and worked as an accountant in a motor assembly plant, but was never going to be satisfied with that. 'After a couple of years I decided that wasn't my cup of tea,' he says. 'That's when I bought the tin mining company.'

The venture was a combination of luck and opportunity. Cheah says: 'It had been mined by the British but when they pulled out  and I was able to buy this land for a very small price – RM100,000 –  and they gave me very good payment terms.'

A passion for work is perhaps why Cheah believes entrepreneurs are born and not made. Cheah's right-hand man and Sunway president, Dato' Chew Chee Kin, agrees. He remembers standing with Cheah in 1980 on a derelict mining site while Cheah enthusiastically explained what a great spot this would be for a town.

'He doesn't think three to five years ahead, but 15 to 20 years,'  Chew says of his chairman.

This scarred piece of land became the group's flagship development. Bandar Sunway is a fully integrated resort township and is arguably one of Southeast Asia's best-known tourist destinations. The township has won many international awards, including being judged the world's best leisure project by  the International Real Estate Federation  (FAIBCI) in 2002.

Cheah has collected some accolades during his career. In 2005, he received Asia's most innovative Chinese entrepreneur award. Recently, Sunway Holdings became the only Malaysian company on Hewitt Associates' top companies for leaders 2007 list, ranking sixth in the Asia Pacific  list.

'I enjoy seeing things being built and managed well. Work is like my hobby. In fact, people do call me a workaholic,' he says quite happily.

It is part of Cheah's and Sunway's philosophy to give back to society, and in 1986 he came up with the idea of starting a further education college. 'It was a time of deep recession. It was becoming very expensive for people to send their children overseas [for education] because of the depreciating ringgit,' he explains. 'I've always been very keen to provide education to young people. Talent is crucial for any successful organisation or country.'

Sunway  University College is now an educational success story, with more than 10,000 students. 'And 3000 of them come from 63 countries,' says Cheah.

In 1997 he decided to transfer all his personal shares from the university college into a trust. This was to ensure that all profits derived from the university college (now fully owned by the trust) and its share of profits from the 70 per cent Sunway owns in a co-venture with Monash University Malaysia, are ploughed back into the upgrading of facilities and staff. The trust also presents students with scholarships worth more than RM3m a year.

To date, more than RM37m worth of scholarships have been granted.

So what of the future? Does he believe he is starting a dynasty, especially as two of his three children work for the Sunway Group as executives. 'They are being put through the mill,' he says. 'If my children are able to grow the business then it's good to have the children running it. But if they are not capable there is no point. [On my developments] I've walked every inch of the ground. I tell my children that they can't manage a business from a chair, they need to get out and walk the ground.'

Out of hours

How do you relax?
I have a Lamborghini and I love to drive quite fast. I also enjoy fishing at my boathouse and drinking wine from my cellar, a natural cave.

Who inspires you?
On the educational front John Harvard (the original benefactor of Harvard University).

In business I admire Li Ka-Shing (Hong Kong businessman and Asia's richest man) and Robert Kuok (Malaysian businessman). They are not in the gambling businesses. I have been offered two casinos during my career but I would not make money out of businesses that cause heartache to families.

Reference: November 2007, volume 77:10, p. 23-24