Wong Weng Yew
Managing director, Extreme Broadband Sdn Bhd
(Technology)

A visionary with his tech-centric strategy, Wong Weng Yew started Extreme Broadbank Sdn Bhd from the attic of his house in 2005. He has led the company that provides next-generation telecommunication services to its stellar success today.

Wong, managing director of Extreme Broadbank, grew up in Kampar, Perak, in a family of government servants. Despite having a partial scholarship to obtain his university degree in the UK, his parents struggled to pay other half and he had to work long hours in a Chinese restaurant to pay for his own living expenses.

“The tough life in the UK has taught me to persevere and this has prepared me for the challenges of starting a business,”  Wong said.

After graduating with an engineering degree, his first job was with Newbridge Networks, founded by Sir Terence Hedley Matthews, a successful techno entrepreneur and Wales’ first billionaire.

“Sir Terence Hedley Matthews is my role model. He is the guy to benchmark with,” Wong said.

The turning point was in 2001, when he was posted to Taiwan to help the local telecoms operator on one of the most aggressive broadband rollouts in the world.

The life-changing experience gave him a glimpse into what is to become the future of Malaysia’s telecoms landscape and propelled Wong to try his hand at launching his own startup.

It was difficult initially for him to win contracts in a competitive and cut-throat industry characterised by the “Goliaths” with deep pockets such as the large government-linked companies and public-listed players.

“Nobody believed we could make it,” Wong said. He proved them wrong.

He assembled a team of highly committed executives and focused the team vigorously in delivering customer expectation and product differentiation.

The breakthrough came when he won the contract to deploy his flagship integrated campus-wide broadband — Unified Campus Network — at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih campus in Selangor.

Soon the solution was replicated in six other local universities. This provided the necessary funding for Wong to deliver other new products — Dedicated Internet Access and Collocation Service.

Together, these products have boosted Extreme’s double digit growth to 60% per year over the last seven years.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on Nov 26, 2012.