En Shaharuddin Rahmad's meteoric rise to success as an entrepreneur is traced to his childhood. As one of 10 children growing up in a Felda settlement, he assisted his parents in various odd jobs to make ends meet. These challenging times sowed the seeds of desire to be successful, and instilled a deep rooted ambition to succeed in life.

Alam Maritim Resources Berhad, the brainchild of Shaharuddin and 2 of his associates, commenced operations chartering 3rd party vessels to service the needs of the oil and gas companies in 1998. Now the company is the proud owner and operator of 16 offshore support vessels with 9 more vessels to be delivered.

Alam Maritim started operations during the recession, facing stiff competition from many established players. Today, Alam Maritim is among the largest integrated marine offshore support providers in South East Asia - a feat achieved in a relatively short span of 9 years. It also operates in the Middle East and has a clientele comprising most of the leading large oil and gas players.

Shaharuddin has not forgotten his roots and regularly visits FELDA settlements to give career talks and provide encouragement to youth on the pursuit of success. @ Sept 07

Y Bhg Dato' Haji Ameer Ali Mydin obtained his Masters Degree in International Management from the United States. In 1989, he left a budding career in banking to orchestrate the turnaround of his father's small retail and wholesale business then operating in the East Coast by opening a store in Kuala Lumpur. Since then, Dato' Ameer has evolved Mydin into a behemoth of 23 emporiums, 2 hypermarkets, 1 supermarket and 5 convenience stores with a significant presence in the Klang Valley. Dato' Ameer has driven the enterprise into head on competition with large foreign players and has emerged as one of the largest in terms of retail trade among hypermarkets in Malaysia - an achievement in itself for a homegrown business.

With a value proposition of benefiting communities through highly competitive pricing, largely through direct purchasing from manufacturers rather than middlemen, Mydin has passed enormous cost savings on to its wholesale, retail and household customers. Many small retail customers have survived and developed by leveraging on Mydin's purchasing strategies. It also operates in territories hitherto shunned by most major competitors.

Dato' Ameer contributes significantly to the poor and to natural disaster victims and has aided many aspiring entrepreneurs. @ Sept 07

After graduating from Canada with degrees in Computer Science and in Psychology, Mr Peter Ng founded UCSI in 1986 at the age of 24. Awarded University College status in 2003, UCSI today boasts students from over 60 countries and branches as far a field as New Zealand and Bangladesh.

UCSI (previously known as Sedaya College) had grown from its initial concept as a computer-based training centre to a full-fledged tertiary education institution offering a wide array of programmes from Engineering to Business, Medicine, Multimedia and even Music. It has also entered into collaborative agreements with universities in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the US and Canada.

Peter's passion for helping young people grow in knowledge and maturity is reflected in UCSI's innovative approaches to learning. Its Co-Op programme allows students practical industrial training as part of their coursework. The institution also has an active Centre for Research Excellence which has successfully secured research grants from MDec and MoF coupled with in-house research being commercialised via its Centre for R&D Commercialisation. All these add up to an evolving Malaysian academia.

Despite his hectic schedule, Peter still finds the time to teach and train; contribute to, and participate in social causes, charitable and humanitarian organisations; and sporting activities. @ Sept 07