June 23rd, 2003, THE EDGE-To say that a crossword puzzle changed the life of Westport Malaysia Executive Chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam may sound rather cryptic, but ask him, and he'll tell you it really did.

Not many people know that Gnanalingam, the embodiment of a successful corporate leader today, once suffered straitened circumstances that threatened to nip his educational ambitions in the bud.

"My father passed away at the end of my first year in university. I had three younger brothers who needed to be educated and I contemplated quitting my studies to work in order to support the family". Gnanalingam recounts.

As luck would have it, the young undergraduate of Universiti Malaya chanced upon a crossword puzzle competition in The Malay Mail. He decided to participate, and what do you know, he won.

"I got a check for RM7, 600, which was a lot of money in those days [the early 1960's]. I took it to the bursar, told him to deduct my fees and return the rest to me". He was able to complete his studies and armed with a degree, he got a job that would pay him enough to help support the family. It is for this reason that he has a soft spot for the newspaper and for journalists in general.

Gnanalingam joined the Malaysian Tobacco Company (now known as British American Tobacco Malaysia after its 1999 merger with Rothmans of Pall Mall Malaysia Bhd) in 1968 as a sales representative after responding to an advertisement.

"I went because they paid RM60 per day to attend the interview and the interview lasted over three days," he admits unabashedly.

After a brief stint on the East Coast, he was brought back to the head office in Kuala Lumpur to head company's sponsorship division. At the time, the division's modus operanti was to wait to be approached by organizations looking for sponsorship for events. Gnanalingam revolutionized this approach; he mooted the idea that MTC should initiate sporting and other events and got its leading brands to sponsor them.

"Instead of waiting for things to happen, we made them happen. We brought in top golfers under the Benson & Hedges brand, organized a pesta bola in late 1970s… we also initiated TV programmes for Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and other festivals," he says.

Looking at Gnanalingam today- the epitome of quiet dignity and restraint- you would never imagine that a highly creative and caring mind lies beneath that respectable corporate façade. He has been responding for some of MTC's most creative sponsorship and advertising campaigns, which have changed the face of sports sponsorship in the country, and for innovative human resource development programmes that have endeared him to his subordinates in the organizations he has worked with.

In 1986, he helped entrenched Benson & Hedges in the minds of all Malaysians when he came up with the first animated commercial "Turn to Gold", in conjunction with the World Cup football tournament. His idea of sponsoring the World Cup matches on national television under the tobacco company's banner also won the hearts of football fans throughout the nation.

"People remember me best for this," says Gnanalingam in an exclusive interview with The Edge. Not many people know that the company that made the advertisement, Able Associates in the US, was the one that Steven Spielberg used in the making of the famous Roger Rabbit Cartoon movie.

"As a result of the ad, Spielberg saw their potential and got them to do the movie," he says. The ad, which was conceptualized by Gnanalingam, went on to win seven gold awards around the world.

When the ban on direct cigarette advertising in the media was passed by the government in the 1980s, Gnanalingam put on his thinking cap again and came up with the concept of parallel ads in with cigarette companies set up other businesses that would allow them to advertise.

'We [MTC] were the pioneer of this. We did it first before the other cigarette boys caught on," he says. Thus cigarette companies became advocates of non-controversial products like getaway holidays, apparel and the like, which allowed them to advertise their brand names.

Gnanalingam's aggressive advertising and marketing campaigns saw him rise rapidly in MTC and by 34, he had made it as its marketing director. Nine years later, however, he decided call it quits.

"It thought I'd better move on while I was young enough to start something new," he reveals. "I went to the MTC interview for RM180 and ended up staying there for 19 good years."

It was 1987, and the Benson & Hedges brand had became a household name after the World Cup. RTM had just privatized its radio station and TV3 had become the nation's hip-and-happening television station. Because of his work with RTM through MTC's sponsorship programmes, Gnanalingam was invited by the national radio and TV authority to collaborate on the repositioning of the RTM1 and RTM2 stations in the face of the competition.

It was 1987, and the Benson & Hedges brand had became a household name after the World Cup. RTM had just privatized its radio station and TV3 had become the nation's hip-and-happening television station. Because of his work with RTM through MTC's sponsorship programmes, Gnanalingam was invited by the national radio and TV authority to collaborate on the repositioning of the RTM1 and RTM2 stations in the face of the competition.

"I started GT Consultants and went into RTM1 and 2. The first thing I had to impress upon everybody there was that there were four TV stations: one, two, three and zero, meaning people had a choice of RTM1, RTM2, TV3 or to switch off their TVs. If a station is popular, the advertisers will want to piggy-back on it," he explains.

Based on research and customer surveys, Gnanalingam revamped the scheduling system for programmes on the two TV stations.

"We adopted a segmented scheduling system for programmes on the two TV stations. We adopted a segmented schedule where we had definite timing slots for definite program types to cater to different people at different times. For example, we had cartoons at six every evening and scheduled popular programmes before and after the news everyday so people would stay on and watch the news," he says.

Rescheduling, segmentation, catering to different target groups and bringing in the right programmes all contributed in drawing advertising, and RTM, which had lost some 50 per cent of its revenue to TV3, began to climb out of the doldrums in terms of income and rating.

"Within a year, revenue had climbed to RM100 million and in 1996, it hit RM386 million," says Gnanalingam.

He modestly brushes aside his role in RTM's spectacular improvement, saying instead that "it's all due to the girls" (his staff, which comprised more than 60 women). He adds that his years with GT Consultants were "the best".

"We were real pundits. The girls built up good relationships with the ad agencies and could go out and tell our clients exactly what they needed. They put up shows, entertained clients, took as people to Phuket, Medan, Perth… We had fantastic relationships within the company and outside.

"People referred to GT Consultants as Gnanalingam Team but I just called them the Girls Team because that's exactly what they were- a team of young, dynamic and energetic girls who knew the marketing game very well.'

One of Gnanalingam's most memorable moments in sports sponsorship was the 1989 Southeast Asian Games hosted by Malaysia.

"Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was the Minister of Sports then and he wanted it to be the best SEA Games ever. I worked well with him on the project because he was an excellent CEO and bought the idea that sponsors needed certain things to be fulfilled. I also told him that opening and closing ceremonies were the most important part of the games and I said we needed the participation of the people.

"We did ads to create the mood for the games. We organized the Larian Obor and got the (then) King, Sultan Azlan Shah, to start the run and pass the torch to business tycoons and other prominent Malaysians and the athletes…we got the people involved and whipped up nationalistic ferver.

"The run was from Penang to KL and it brought out the crowds. Malaysians lined the streets to applaud the runners and when the Games were on, the crowds came to a cheer and inspired the athletes to achieve new heights" Gnanalingam reminisces.

"Apart from creating nationalistic fervor, we also managed to raise RM 1.6 million from the Larian Obor. And our cost was just one torch."

Not surprisingly, for the first time in the history of the SEA Games, Malaysia became the overall champion. And the games succeeded in raking in RM16.5 million, far exceeding the RM5 million that the government had originally targeted. Gnanalingam became acknowledged as the guru of sports sponsorship in the country.

We did the best ever in the games because all of Malaysia got involved. What is sports without spectators?" adds Gnanalingam.

In the mid- 1990s, the twilight of terrestrial stations and Gnanalingam's company hovered in sight. Astro and NTV7 came into the picture and his staff was tempted to cross over- with his consent, of course.

"The sun was rising on cable TV, the prospects were there and I told my girls to move on because it would be good for them in the long run," he says, adding that it was a sad time for GT Consultants because the eight years there were some of the best years in terms of customer relations and marketing.

In 1995, Gnanalingam embarked on another love affair, one that continuous until today - Westport.

"All my life, I'll never know if it was Westport that pulled me or GT Associates that pushed me…" There is a time for everything, and being strong believer in astrology, he will probably admit that the timing was right. The planets and stars- the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad- conspired to ensure that it was Gnanalingam's destiny to head Westport and transform it into a world-class gateway port for Malaysia.

"The Westport project had been privatized and the PM was looking for a new team to take over. We were approached and asked to come up with a proposal,' Gnanalingam explains. In his inimitable style, the innovative entrepreneur opted for a simple but hard-hitting proposal that offered "25 reasons why you should use Westport."

"We enlisted the help of two professionals and did it Harvard Business School style. We did a lot of research on why our boxes were going to Singapore, what it's offering them and what our customers want. We had on a simple concept- that we could be competitive by showing customers how they could cut down on costs by using Westport," he adds.

Asked how Westport measures up to competitors like the Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Singapore, Gnanalingam says he doesn't see it as a competitor.

"PTP's business is 99 percent transshipment, meaning it deals with other people's cargo, while Port Klang is Malaysian cargo gateway. PTP is what shipping lines need as a base, but Port Klang is what Malaysian cargo owners need. We cater to different market niches," he points out.

Among the most memorable things Gnanalingam has done for Westport is to come up with a creative futuristic as- the Millenium ad- which created a furore when it was shown at a seminar held by the International Ports and Harbours Association in Montreal.

'I was asked to give a talk at the seminar about what the port industry would be like in 2020. I took what had happened in the past 20 years and projected it to the next 20 and I showed them the Millenium ad. They were impressed," he says.

Asked about the future of the port industry, Gnanalingam illustrates his answer with a question he asked his peers at a terminal conference in KL.

"I asked my colleagues at a luncheon talk what would happen if we ran an airport like a port. Then I asked them why ports can't be like airports," he replies. Therein lies the answer, he points out. He quips, though, that our ports will only change when our ministers travel by container!

Gnanalingam is modest about his role in the Millenium ad, and says matter-of-factly that it was born out of an assignment he gave "his boys".

"I gave them an assignment an asked them to describe what they want the port to be like in five years' time. I wanted them to get involved in the whole process of developing the port,' he says.

The result of their deliberation is the basis for the ad, which was conceptualized and created by 'our local boys in the MSC (Multimedia Super Corridor).

The predilection for getting his staff involved in the decision-making is something Gnanalingam has carried through all his positions.

'It's okay to have a vision but you must get your employees involved if you are to realise it,'he points out. He strongly believes in human resources development, a conviction that was born out of his days with MTC.

"MTC has a good development and training programme. I went on 16 different marketing and research programmes and I was learning all the time. Once or twice a month, the company would take 30 to 40 people, give them issues to be dealt with and get them to formulate solutions. This was getting people involved," he says.

He adds that as Westport's roll call rose from 200 to 1900 members of staff; it became necessary to filter its vision down to all the ranks. This was, and still is, done through interaction, brainstorming sessions and offsite training programmes.

It is through is own close interaction with 'his boys' as he calls them, that Gnanalingam became to identify all manner of ills that beset his employees. One of the major problems, he found out, was based on finances. He discovered that a number of his people were at the mercy of loan sharks and would do anything, even at the expense of the company, to resolve their debts.

"Sometimes they resorted to loan sharks because they needed money urgently. We found some employees had skipped work and had gone missing because they were avoiding the lenders" he says. Shocked that nobody was doing anything about the situation, he came up with the idea of employee loans to help get their finances in order.

"What we did at Westport was to set aside a RM500, 000 funds for employees to settle their debts,' he explains, adding that at the first announcement, about 180 people turned up to avail themselves of the offer.

Gnanalingam dismisses suggestions of philanthropy and says it is a practical measure born out of belief that a trouble-free employee is a productive one.

"It's not a 100 per cent giveaway. The fund is managed by employees themselves and those who borrow money have to get two colleagues to act as guarantors and pay it back with four per cent interest, ' he says. He adds that the loan shark menace is a legacy of the collateral banking system and can be overcome if banks set aside two percent of their loan portfolio for non-collateral loans like the type given to his employees.

In addition to loans, Gnanalingam also instituted a two-month salary advance for employees who had faced personal calamities such as accidents, loss of homes to disasters, and so on. And that's not the full extent of his interest in the welfare of his staff. During the course of his observation on the correlation between his employees' well being and their productivity, Gnanalingam realized that many of them spent a lot of money on medical attention for aged parents.

'We had many young employees whose parents had no health insurance. These old people had age-related disorders like rheumatism, diabetes and hypertension and many of our employees were taking time off to take their parents to India for treatment, ' he relates.

So what did their caring but prudent executive chairman do? Why, he set up an Ayurvedic centre, of course."It gave them cheaper alternative than going to India," he smiles.

The centre has since multiplied into two more- one in Tambun, Ipoh, and another in KL- and he and his wife Siew Yong, who sees the administration of their health business, plan to open one in Seremban.

Gnanalingam is reticent about Siew Yong, his two sons and daughter, preferring instead to focus on his work. Asked about his plans for retirement, he replies that, "You don't actually retire, you slowdown or delegate.' He says he has several subordinates who can take over when he does decide to leave Westport. When this happens, he will not look for "another new pasture" but is likely to concentrate on his Ayurvedic business.

It's clear though, that at the moment, retirement is far from his mind, which is brimming over with new ideas for Westport and "his people". He brushes aside suggestions about his creative and strategic thinking in the various aspects of his career, saying: "I'm not an originator, I'm an adaptor. I'm like blotting paper- I read and translate principles and take them one step further". Oh, yes, he turns them into gold.