LIVE & INSPIRE: Dato Seri' Abdul Wahid Omar

For the past half year or so, Live & Inspire has changed many human beings lives be it an overnight inspiration to something in which it can be use in a long-run. A team of young Malaysians who founded this whole idea of Live & Inspire by accident who now finds purposes in what they do.

Thus, every Thursday night for a short stint of one hour or so, they bring you bite size content, interesting and interactive sessions that add value to human potential and personal growth. The session focuses on the examples of ordinary people who have lived the extraordinary.

Thursday, 14th January 2010
Dato Seri' Abdul Wahid Omar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Maybank

Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid bin Omar is the President and CEO of Maybank, Malaysia’s largest banking group, since May 2008. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) and a Member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Maybank is the third large organisation that he has led as CEO. Prior to joining Maybank, he was Group Chief Executive Officer of Telekom Malaysia Berhad from July 2004. He was formerly Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of UEM Group Berhad and UEM World Berhad as well as Executive Vice Chairman of PLUS Expressways Berhad.

Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid had also served at Telekom Malaysia Berhad as Chief Financial Officer in 2001. Born 9 out of 11 children in the family, Dato Seri' had a tough beginning in his life. Prior to his acceptance in Maybank, he was with Telekom Malaysia. He added that "Leaders are not born and it applies the same to me. Each and every one of us . . . even you have a chance to become a leader."Of course every leader would have his / her visionar(ies) but Dato Seri' noted that "A visionary, an inspiring person, knowledgeable, a person open and prepared to learn from team members.

Growing together with Maybank

Since the inception of Maybank on 31st May 1960, the group grew from a local community bank with only 30 branches to 1,750 branches all across South and South East Asia alone. Back in the 60s, Dato Seri mentioned that Maybank was more of a "Kopitiam bank" which was pretty much not alien to many of us. Banking wasn't a trustable tool by many. They're afraid that the bank will cheat their longterm savings and it took a long time before the peole are convince to save their monies in the bank. He added that "No corporation can claimed to be a Regional Leader if their home base is not stable." This is very true especially if Maybank wants to be top in the region, they have to first convince their locals.

Q & A Session with Dato Seri' Abdul Wahid Omar

Question 1
Q: What sparked your interest in finances?
A: I come from a poor background, so money was an issue. One time he asked his mother RM 10 to buy the scouts uniform. Unfortunately they could not afford it and it was then he wanted to create changes so that they didn't live in poverty anymore.

Question 2
Q: If you have a chance to turn back the clock 20 years ago, what would you do to correct your mistakes or what you would have done that you really want to do?
A: I have made mistake before but what is important is for me to learn from them. Some of them are personal in nature and some of them are from my career. I don't have any regrets. I'm so blessed in my life.

Question 3
Q: Looking at the poorer education system in the country, it has changed trumendously over the years, how are we convince to send our younger generations to study with the current education system?
A: I went through a government education system. Many of my management colleagues went to local universities. There are challenges, however I don't think we should generalize that the local educational system are bad. I think we should stop complaining about how bad the school system is here, and do something about it ...to make it better.


To end the night . . .

It was an eventful night of many people from all walks of life including a Senator attending the talk to young entrepreneurs who are the backbone of the future nation. Dato Seri' Abdul Wahid Omar concluded that "I learn a lot of my leadership skills on the job I've been blessed to work with a lot of inspiring people."

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