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This article first appeared in Corporate, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 27 - July 3, 2016.

FOR years, EY’s World Entrepreneur of the Year (WEOY) award programme has helped entrepreneurs around the world look beyond being just jaguh kampung (village champions) to compete on the world stage. This year was no different.

Now in its 16th edition, the programme helped Manny Stul, chairman and co-CEO of Moose Enterprise Pty Ltd, the fourth largest toy company in Australia by sales, open up and realise what he has accomplished.

Stul was recently named EY WEOY 2016 in a glittering event in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Fifty-five winners from 50 countries, including Malaysia’s Datuk Tan Say Jim, group managing director and CEO of Iris Corp Bhd, vied for the title.

“To me, it has been a fantastic experience, not just because of the win but also because of the whole process of opening up about myself through the interaction with people and making me realise what I have accomplished. I focus on the now and positive. It has made me appreciate more the sacrifices my parents had made,” Stul, the son of Polish war refugees, told a news conference during the EY WEOY 2016 gala dinner and awards ceremony on June 11.

Moose, a family-owned company Stul shares with his wife and director Jacqui Tobias and stepson and co-CEO Paul Solomon, produces toys such as Shopkins and Little Live Pets.

According to EY, Stul took over Moose in 2000, then a small toy company with 10 employees, having already founded and built Skansen Giftware, which listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1993. In his 16 years running Moose, Stul has increased sales by 7,200% and built a global business that is now the fourth largest toy company in Australia and the sixth largest in the US by sales.

Asked about the next generation, Stul said, “If you get sensational people on board [the company] and ensure that they are endowed with your [family] values, they will, in turn, attract other people and other people. That’s what is happening with Moose. I believe there is no limit to how big the company can grow. The future of the company lies with my son. I will stick around for as long as I am enjoying it and I can’t see myself getting out of the company for at least another 10 years.”

Iris’ Tan shared the sentiment. The 2015 Malaysian EOY awardee said he is already a winner by going on to compete for the world title in Monte Carlo.

“Besides wanting to win, I want my colleagues to see and feel for themselves that Iris is a technology company par excellence. We can hold a candle to international companies. I realised that not many of them are as confident as they should be. I am a lot more confident today, thanks to the EY award programme,” he told The Edge in the run-up to the awards ceremony.

Tan, together with executive directors Datuk Tony Lee Kwee Hiang and Chas Yap Hock Eng, founded Iris in 1994 with an initial capital of RM1 million. The company invented the world’s first biometric passport, also known as the e-passport. Today, Iris generates RM479.23 million in sales and is publicly traded on Bursa Malaysia with a valuation of RM335.13 million.

Tan owned a 7.08% stake in Iris while Lee had 7.05% equity interest as at Aug 18 last year.

Tan first took part in the EY EOY award programme in 2010 and won the EY Technology EOY Malaysia award. He went on to compete in the master category in 2014, which was won by Goh Peng Ooi of Silverlake Axis Ltd.

Last year, Tan vied again in the same category and bagged the coveted award. He attributed his success to luck.

“I was invited to speak at the EY WEOY conferences in 2014 and 2015, which did wonders for my self-confidence. I was rubbing shoulders with the top partners of EY and fellow entrepreneurs from around the world,” said Tan.

“That [confidence] is what’s lacking in Malaysian entrepreneurs today. The EY EOY awards were a huge confidence booster for me.”

According to Philip Rao, partner of Ernst & Young Advisory Services Sdn Bhd and programme director of the EOY Malaysia awards, often times Malaysian companies like Iris feel that they are just a jaguh kampung. “However, when they go onto the world stage and are able to hold their own among the world’s best, it gives a boost to their confidence ... a boost for Malaysia as well.”

On his advice to fellow entrepreneurs, Tan says, “I have the three Bs — be bold, be better and be benevolent. You are better than you think you are. You must be bold enough to think that you are actually better than you are.

“The government should assist, but not forever.” Iris suffered a setback when it lost a Home Ministry contract to Datasonic Bhd for the supply of MyKad and consumables in December last year.

“Iris was complacent and it lost the MyKad project to Datasonic. It took me five months [to get over it] because my bankers, shareholders and colleagues were worried. I think we have got out of it now. In life or in business, we should go into a crisis occasionally,” said Tan.

“Losing the contract is not going to bankrupt the company, but it serves as a wake-up call that we should not be complacent.”

On his part, Tan has brought in a new non-Malaysian CEO to strengthen the international team in the company’s trusted identification division.

“I have also reorganised some of the portfolios of our corporate directors. I am asking the technical people to become salesmen as well,” he said.

One thing is certain: Tan has no regrets and is not giving up. “[With our industrialised building system,] I want to build houses for the world. I want to make Iris a global name for as long as it takes and not to be shy about it. We are not selling the story enough. Come EY EOY’s 117th year, you will be interviewing Iris again.”

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