Education        : University of Texas, Austin, 1983–1984

Occupation      : CEO and founder, Dell, Inc.

Net Worth       : Above $12.3 Billion (2009)

Religious         : Judaism

Spouse(s)         : Susan Dell

He’s Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Computers and one of the greatest entrepreneur of this generation. At 40 years old he’s built one of the most successful companies in the world and he’s one of the world’s youngest billionaires. The company has grown to $32 billion in 18 years. In fact, great leadership is what makes him so highly successful, not technical brain. He was at number 18 on the Forbes’s list of richest people in 2002 and 2004 respectively; while in 2003 he was on 24.

The PC business is full of rags-to-riches stories. But perhaps none is as dramatic as the rise of Dell Computer. He started off his company from his room at the University of Texas with less than $1,000. After being one year at University, he dropped out as his part-time computer business took off.

He was born on February 23, 1965. In 1984, the 19-year-old Michael Dell had a simple idea. Why not sell custom-made computers directly to customers? At the time, computer manufacturers sold their machines wholesale to retailers, who marked up the price for consumers. With about $1,000 and an unprecedented idea in the PC industry, Dell found a way to bypass the middleman and sell custom-built PCs directly to customers. Dell assembled computers from cheap surplus parts, and then created the machines to the specifications of his customers.

What makes Dell Computer unique is not what it sells, but rather how it sells it. Dell was first in the PC industry to pioneer the direct-selling model, a method that competitors such as Compaq and Apple Computer are only now starting to embrace. By cutting out the intermediary and creating a direct link between manufacturer and customer, Dell was able to provide customers with computers that cost less and that were more apt to meet customer needs. Prior to this there was absolutely no aspect of customization of the PC. Buying computer invariably involved the presence of a middleman. He also pioneered the industry’s first service and support programs.

Twenty-one years later, the simple idea is considered a revolution in the technology world, and it still working. Dell’s still doing essentially the same made-to-order computers directly to customers but on a scale that now brings in $18 billion a year and employs 25,000 people. Dell’s breathtaking success made him, at age 27 the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history, and Fortune magazine named his company one of the most admired firms in America, following General Electric, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft. Dell has offices in over 34 countries and a presence in more than 170 countries. The company’s business clientele includes almost all the companies in the Fortune 500.The company manufactures its PCs in six locations: Texas, Tennessee, Brazil, Ireland, Malaysia, and China.

The next frontier for Dell has been the Web and once again the computer giant seems to be holding its place as a leader in the PC industry. Dell is acknowledged as the largest online commercial seller of computer systems, with $50 million per day in online sales. The value of Dell’s stock is reported to have risen almost 70,000 per cent over the past decade.

It’s important to point out that Michael Dell’s parents wanted him to stop playing with computers in college and get into medical school. But Michael Dell followed a different path. He is today credited for inspiring millions of entrepreneurs to pursue their dream of creating new innovation and not simply do what you are told to do. It’s important that we listen to ourselves and follow the path that we desire. People around us have great intentions, but many times they don’t understand the life and goals of the entrepreneur. Believe in yourself.

There are two key reasons for his continuing success. Dell Corp. is renowned for its ability to drive down prices. The products are affordable because of the company’s hold over their vendors. The other reason is that Dell has been able to leverage the power of the Internet to great advantage. Dell is the largest supplier of PCs over the Internet. He is an IT governor of the World Economic Forum and is a member of the U.S. Business Council. He is also a member of the Computer Systems Policy Project, serves on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Dell has been honored many times for his extraordinary leadership capabilities, earning the titles of “Entrepreneur of the Year” from Inc. magazine, and “Man of the Year” by PC magazine. He constantly heads the list of the world’s youngest billionaires.

Michael Dell can be painfully shy, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t charismatic. Rarely has a bad word been uttered about his personality. As ‘a visionary, leader, entrepreneur, boss, person, and manager, Michael gets nothing but praise. For good reason too; he proved that a college dropout can fulfill his dreams and succeed. Our advice though, is that unless you have visions of grandeur where you want to build a multi-billion dollar company, stay in school.

Michael Dell explained his secrets of success in an entrepreneurs’ conference in Texas, when he said “First of all, don’t start a business just because everybody else is doing it or it looks like it’s a way to make a lot of money. Start a business because you found something you really love doing and have a passion for Start a business because you found something unique that you can do betty’ than anyone else. And start a business because you really want to make a big contribution to society over a long period of time.”

This is an opportune time for business owners to seriously consider investing in commercial properties, most notably shop houses, office lots and factories, as a means of expanding their operations, utilizing surplus funds or simply to diversify their investment portfolios. Investment in private real estate such as houses for rent may also help positively diversify investment portfolios.

Commercial properties are a good buy at this juncture because business owners can capitalize on the significant drop in mortgage rates which was preceded by some national bank’s cutting of the overnight policy rate to an all-time low of 2% per- annum in February 2009. Borrowers will be able to enjoy the prevailing low rates and save substantially on interest payments by leveraging on the low mortgage rates and lock in at this level for the tenure of their loan.

For risk conscious investors, current alternative investment instruments may prove to be beyond their risk profile in this bearish environment. To mitigate risk, investors should balance their portfolio with a selection of differing investments. As such, some banker and investor believe that commercial properties offer a more stable rental yield. As the latest property induces have shown, demand for commercial spaces has remained relatively constant and unabated compared to other investment vehicles. Properties continue to be excellent assets to hedge against inflation when prices start to rise on the heels of an economic rebound.

While it is ideal for investors to buy at the right time, the right place, and at the right price, most of the time it is all about striking a balance. An estimated 3 million square feet of office space as well as another 3 million square feet of retail space will be added to the Kuala Lumpur landscape this year as a result of launches from the past couple of years. Investors will have ample opportunity to select from diverse locations and types of spaces, and also reap the benefit of numerous freebies offered by developers ranging from free legal costs to discounts in prices. They will also be privy to an array of financing schemes.

Business Mortgage One Account (BMOA) is specifically designed for SMEs and business owners who in the course of their operations will have periods of surplus funds. The BMOA provides a very smart solution for business owners to enjoy savings by using cash in their current account to shorten their loan principal amount, with the added benefit of redrawing with no penalties charges from their surplus payments.

In situations where the SME wishes to ensure his funds are fully optimized for the operating cycle of his business, our SMI One Account is the perfect business mortgage solution because he gets the best of both worlds — funds in his operating account can generate interest credits for the benefit of his business mortgage outstanding.

While we are mindful that property purchases are long-term investments and being fixed assets, are not as liquid as investments in equity; the return on property investment may not be lower than equity investments.

Died    : April 5, 1992 (aged 74)in Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.

Occupation      : Former Chairman, Wal-Mart

Net worth        : US$58.6 bn (1992 Forbes 400), $128.0 billion (2008), according to Wealthy historical figures 2008.

When a person from Berryville, Arkansas, began opening discount stores outside towns where Sam Walton ran variety stories, he saw what was coming. So, on July 2,1962, at age 44, he opened his first Wal-Mart store, in Rogers, Arkansas. Discounting had hit America in a big way.

Once committed to discounting, Walton began a fight that lasted for the rest of his life. That is to drive costs out of the merchandising system wherever they lay – in the stores, in the manufacturer’s profit margins and with the middleman – all with a view to reducing the prices down, down, and down. Using that formula, which reduced the prices drastically, Wal-Mart sales grew at a relentless pace. Walton hit the road to open stores wherever he saw opportunity. In fact, he would see the layout of the places in his low-flying airplane. When he found the right place in intersections he would touch down, buy a piece of farmland and order up another Wal-Mart store.

As the chain began to take off, Walton made major adjustments to manage the growth. Meanwhile, as early as 1966, when he had 20 stores, he attended the IBM Computer School in order to hire the smartest guy in the class who would computerize his operations. He understood the need for computerizing his merchandise control. Today, Wal-Mart’s computer database is second only to the Pentagon’s in capacity, and though he is rarely remembered that way, Walton may have been the first true information-age CEO.

To his great delight, Walton spent much of his career largely unnoticed by the public or the press. In fact, hardly anyone had ever heard of him when, in 1985, Forbes magazine determined that his 39 per cent ownership of Rd Mart’s stock made him the richest man in America. After that, the first wave 01 attention focused on Walton as a famous retailer. His extraordinary charisma had motivated hundreds of thousands of employees to believe in what Wal-Mart could accomplish, and many of them had traded the company’s stock to wealth. It was truly the American Dream.

Sam Walton was born on March 29,1918 to Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, they owned and lived on a farm until 1923.The Walton family then decided that the farm was not profitable enough to raise a family on. So, Sam and James (Sam’s younger brother born in 1921) had decided they would go back to being a Farm Loan Appraisers. Once this job started the Walton family moved out of Oklahoma and moved from town to town in Missouri. This would traumatize most children but for the Walton boys, it was no big deal. This could be seen when Sam was in 8th grade at Shelbina he became the youngest boy in the state’s history to become an Eagle Scout and this was only a stepping stone to his journey of accomplishments.

As Sam Walton grew up he was always an ambitious boy. He had to help support his family, along with his father and brother because money was lacking due to the depression. Sam’s job was to milk the family cow, bottle the milk, and then deliver the surplus to customers. He would go off to deliver newspapers afterwards. When he graduated from high school he was voted the “Most Versatile Boy” in his class. During this time it would have been easy for Sam to just give up on school and go to work full time. Seeing how his family was struggling to make ends meet, he decided he was going to stay in school and attend the University of Missouri.

As Sam grew up and anyone could see how determined he was to succeed and as time passed he went from being a poor town boy to the richest man in the world. Sam Walton had instituted 10 rules for success, and the 10th rule explains how he achieved all this. It says, “Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody is doing it one way, there is a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly the opposite direction.”

Watson did force a lot of people to change the way they made a living. His use of informational technology to cut costs quickly traveled to all kinds of companies; and his pioneering retailing concepts paved the way for a new breed of  “category killer” retailers like Barnes & Nobles.(Category killer is a term used in marketing to describe a product that has a distinct competitive advantage that competing firms find it almost impossible to operate profitably in that industry.) This wave of low- overhead selling continues to accelerate. The Internet, in fact, is its latest addition. One can only wonder what a young cyber Sam would set out to accomplish if he were just getting started now.

The company went public (1970), and thanks to a unique decentralized and Sam’s charismatic leadership and celebrated hands-on management style, it grew faster in the 1980s. In 1991 Wal-Mart became the nation’s largest retailer with 1700 stores, and he was reported by distribution system Forbes to be the richest man in the country. He was president and chief executive officer until 1988 and chairman until his death. The family business empire included Arkansas and Oklahoma banks and newspapers. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom shortly before his death in 1992. In 1999 Wal-Mart took over the ASDA group (the second largest super market chain) in the UK.

A clear violation below its neckline support at RM0.60 may see a downside breakout with a potential target to RM0.37 as measured from the distance between the recent high of RM0.825 to the neckline support. However it must overcome its strong support at RM0.47 which corresponds to a classical support and the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement from its Oct 2008 low to its recent June 2009 high. Immediate resistance now is at RM0.66 which also coincides to its 50-day moving average followed by a stronger resistance at RM0.715.

A successful scholarship at the California Institute of Technology was followed by a Masters from Stanford University and a stint at Apple Computer. It was while he was there that Sabeer Bhatia found something that would sooner than later transform his life and revolutionize the world of internet: The Hotmail had arrived!

Frustrated by a corporate e-mail system which did not allow them to communicate privately, Bhatia and his college friend and colleague Jack Smith hit upon the idea of a simple, free and secure way of talking on the net. They called it Hotmail.

Before Hotmail was launched, Bhatia worked for Apple Computer, and then a start­up company, FirePower Systems. Jack Smith, his founding partner at Hotmail, was his colleague and buddy at the two firms.

The idea for a free email company did not come out of the blue, Bhatia explained. For over a year Smith and Bhatia toyed with the idea of a Web based database server and tried to interest venture capitalists in their first venture, JavaSoft. However, realizing that the response was lukewarm, Bhatia and Smith were looking for another idea when they hit upon a Web based email server rather than a database server.

Sabeer was only 27 when he decided he was not going to work for others. He said he was making ‘money‘ when he worked for others, but he wanted to make much more than that by working for himself. He was also aware of the advice someone gave him that the biggest risk in life was not to take a risk at all.

He feared that had he continued working for others, he might not have had the guts to start something of his own. So, with Jack Smith, he decided to chase what many people in the Silicon Valley thought was a crazy idea, a free email service.

Together, the two men raised about $300,000 for their venture. While soon other free email services jumped in, Hotmail remained at the top because it was markedly different from competitors. One didn’t need to download software and install it in the computer to access the email.

It was so revolutionary that in less than two years of founding it, Bill Gates, who’s Microsoft, had its own email service, and wanted to buy Hotmail. The prudent Sabers, who had as a school boy sold sandwiches to make pocket money, took his time on the initial $160 million offer and then closed the deal at a cool $400 million.

Selling his company to Microsoft was yet another gamble for Bhatia. And, getting out of Microsoft and planning yet another venture is another daring step. While it took America Online over six years to build up its customer base, Hotmail grabbed over 11 million subscribers in just two years. “Our strength was we solved the problem that other companies created,” he had said in an earlier interview.”We did not restrict people to access their email from just the computer on which the software was installed.”

“And because we were not restrictive, there was global access for Hotmail account holders. They could do it as easily in India as here in California or any other country in the world.” Even in the digital age, someone had commented, the American Dream lives on.

Sabeer Bhatia’s innovation brought an unshakable belief in the transforming power of technology in his home country, India. No wonder, then, that 30 per cent of the software engineers in US corporations hail from India. The Times of India daily recently named him as one of the Indians of the Century, a honor which, he shares with the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad All Jinnah and Sunil Gavaskar, the famous cricketer of yesteryears.

He was raised a Hindu and in a way he was one, but he does not believe blindly in destiny. He tries to make his own destiny.”In the long run, it boils down to a simple fact,” he says, “How much of faith does one have in oneself.”

With his Ferraris and an apartment overlooking San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Sabeer Bhatia had it all. Work hard; play hard seemed to be his motto. 18-hour days in the office were complemented by a frantic social life: he told one newspaper,” from 6 p.m. Friday until Sunday, I’ll be partying in New York.”

“I don’t want to be branded Mr. Hotmail for the rest of my life”, he said recently and there is no doubt that his dynamic blend of East and West will make itself known again sooner or later.

He was chosen for the ‘Entrepreneur of the year’ award (1977) by the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and named to the “Elite 100″, the Upside magazine’s list of top trendsetters in the New Economy. He was also the recipient ofthe”TR100″award, presented by MIT to 100 young innovators who are expected to have the greatest impact on technology in the next few years, and selected by the San Jose Mercury News and POV magazine as one of the ten most successful entrepreneurs of 1998.

Thus a correction may be expected at any point of time for IOI Corp. If there is a break below the recent low of RM4.42, there are chances to see a slide towards its next technical support of RM4.00. Resistance is at its recent high of RM4.86 and a break above it may see IOI Corp resuming its uptrend towards its next target at RM5.15.

To some poor investors, the markets actually started to crack in early 2008 and then “changed” rapidly in the second half of 2008. But then you thought had a good, solid mutual or unit trust fund managed by a big institution with other great products printed on their glossy brochure. The equity fund you bought at the peak in the previous Bull Run was a solid investment you thought it could do no wrong.

Well, you thought you did everything right and you subscribed the popular buy-and-hold mentality. You didn’t believe that the buy and hold mentality benefits the fund institutions that manage the assets and the sales agents more than you. So the expert who is paid to take care of your investment failed to spot the downside despite all the red flags because he or she was stuck comfortably in the world of decoupling and you watched the fund slide into darkness, even buying more units on the way down to average down your losses.

When the dust finally settled for a while and even with the dead cat bounce you have seen so far, you are still stuck with about 30% losses and part of it belongs to your retirement funds. Suddenly, even your private banker who had lost all the credibility isn’t as confident or brash as he normally is. Your financial planner has also been avoiding you.

You have learned that you need several disciplines in place to improve your long term investing performance. Managing downside risk is one important trick to learn. You have realized that you need to be truly diversified by investing in different asset classes such as equities, commodities and currencies on the planet using different investment styles.

More importantly, you have realized that getting the big picture right is critical. How do you diversify when all asset classes are moving, in tandem? This was a key many faced at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, when all asset classes were collapsing together, but is a concern that remains today whether we like it or not.

Any of our clients who have benefited from our valuable advisory services over the years will tell you that we have long held concerns over the increased tendency for the values of different asset classes to move up or down) in the same direction at the same time regardless of all the beautiful fundamental stories hyped by the shill in the brokerage industry.

We never subscribe totally to long-only or traditional investment positions for our client investment strategy. We know from past experience that alternative investment strategies with low correlation equities and bonds can add tremendous value to any investment portfolio ranging from conservative to aggressive (different investors have different risk tolerances, investment horizons, etc).

Many geniuses in town have continued with play down the role of alternative investments as a true diversifies for any global portfolio at any time to the extent of labeling them as purely speculative.

Client interests should always come first d we have no choice but to grow up. Local investors on the street have been brainwashed for decades that the stock market and traditional investment vehicles are the only realistic ways to build wealth. To invest all your wealth in the stock market either directly or indirectly, that is foolishness, in my view.

I know that there is still a lot of skepticism about the alternative stuff mainly due to lack of exposure. To some institutions that are a little behind the curve, alternative investments should not be viewed as pure imams and a threat to their traditional business models.

The recent global stock rebound was just another dead cat bounce. Never believe in everything that is written here. You should have your own sense of the markets and your own opinions oldie kinds of opportunities you’re looking for. To the mind of this financial writer, global stock markets will chart new lows over the coming months. This is based on our own work. I’m far for being perfect and I may not be right about everything, but I’m willing to hold and defend my independent view.

To some traders, markets have continued to move mysteriously. At the time of writing this missive, the stock markets have continued to deteriorate technically. However, China seems to be an exception in this – for now. I could offer all sorts of other predictions, but what’s the point.

Investors should always look through a different lens, and ask if there’s anything positive we can take away from another round of turmoil? As for long-only equity strategy, it’s not all gloom. Selectivity is going to be important. Are profits guaranteed? Of course not!

In the financial game, there are always the markets are heading next as our usual game plan is to be able to make money regardless of economic and market conditions at various risk levels. I think that the next few weeks and months will not only be very interesting, but also very important. Patience is a virtue as markets could remain trapped in a trading range for weeks before the next big move.

So what? Although action by governments around the world has ensured that the global economy will stay in business, the reality is markets and environments will continue to surprise you on the downside and the upside.

Warren Buffet is famously quoted as saying, “Only when the tide runs out do you see who’s been swimming naked.” It is always better to anticipate risks than to ignore them. Informed caution is our area of expertise and our strong absolute performance in 2008 is a testimony of our hard work.