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COVER STORY
WORK TO MAKE
DREAMS COME TRUE Dato’ Dr Ir Haji Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah or Dato’ Karim as he likes to be called, is the founder and Group CEO of Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd and its group of companies. Serba Dinamik is an international, integrated energy service provider that provides a multitude of engineering services and solutions ranging from operation and maintenance, engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning and other supporting products and services. He talks to Sharmila Valli Narayanan about the impact the lessons learned in childhood has on him, why he decided to join forces with PIKOM for its annual dinner and the importance of having dreams in one’s life. Photos By YC Chu
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ato’ Karim, a selfmade billionaire. was relatively under the radar of the Malaysian media until Forbes listed him at No. 40 in its annual 2019 Malaysia’s Richest with a net worth of USD345 million. A big part of the source of his wealth was when his company was listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia in 2017. The listing was done at a time when the O&G industry was still reeling from the 2014 oil rout. The initial price offering of the share price was RM1.50 and it closed at its highest price this year at RM4.56 (at the time of writing its share price closed at RM4.36). In an article on Dato’ Karim in the Malaysian Reserve, the paper estimated his worth based on the number of shares he held to be RM1.56 billion. “Serba Dinamik had grown its revenue base over the past four years from RM755.77 million in 2014 to RM3.28 billion last year, and had become among the top
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performing O&G companies in the country,” it reported. “Investors have been delighted with the company’s performance, pushing its market capitalisation to RM6.45 billion from RM2 billion when it first became a public firm.” Dato’ Karim leads a very hectic life. On the day of this interview, which was in the afternoon, he had been in back-to-back business meetings since morning. During the interview he shows no sign of fatigue of tiredness. He is soft spoken and articulate and one can sense a high level of energy emanating from him which is cloaked in an aura of almost zen-like calmness.
CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES THAT SHAPED HIM Dato’ Karim grew up in a small town in Kuala Berang, Miri, where the sight of pumpjacks (also known as oil donkey or nodding donkey) was common. He came from a humble background: one of five children born to a teacher father and a homemaker mother.
To supplement his income to support his family, Dato’ Karim’s father also grew watermelons. “Father needed labour to help him in his work. We were the labour – free of charge!” recalls Dato’ Karim with a smile. The children had no say in wanting to opt out. The work was hard and taxing. While other children would play, especially during the holidays, Dato’ Karim and his siblings worked in the watermelon farm. It was hard work and Dato’ Karim resented it, but as dutiful children, neither he nor his siblings rebelled against their father. He noticed his father was thinking of ways to improve the production of the farm to yield better fruits. When it was time for harvest, the children were happy to see their hard work had paid off as the fruits fetched a good price in the market. “My father’s earnings from the watermelon farm were much better than his salary as a teacher.” Over time, working in the farm became second nature to the