2007

PERSONAL MONEYNovember 2007 Cover Julia Chong She made her first million as an employee, and then later chose to give a million away.

KANCIL AWARDSNovember 2007 Kancil Awards 2007 festival - Speak Series

HERVOICEVolume III Entrepreneurship A Truly Loving Company
JULIA CHONG is defying all the rules of business by running a company that donates 100 per cent of its dividends to charity.

ABWMJune 2007 Charity A Truly Loving Company
Julia Chong has decided to use her 30 years business experience in consumer goods to set up a new corporation where the profits will be distributed through dividends to designated charities.

MADAM CHAIR Volume VIII Cover It Must Be Love
Julia Chong gave up a top corporate job to start a company tat would give away all of its dividends to charity.

November 2007

JULIA CHONG

She made her first million as an employee, and then later chose to give a million away.

By ELAINE BOEY

Julia Chong took 22 years to work her way to the top of the corporate ladder. Starting out as a research associate in 1973, she rose to what many would consider as “the top” – managing director overseeing outfits in several Asian countrie for a multinational company. However, the road to her million was troubled by an unfortunate event – the death of her husband, which occurred a year after her daughther had entered medical school. “I had left all the financial planning to my spouse. After dealing with my grief, I had to open up all the drawers to look for documents to figure out what he had invested in,” she says.

As the sole income earner, she began saving and investing her income in the stock market and real estate. In both areas, she focused on the objectives, applied thorough research and paid attention to details. With her investments, she stayed emotionally detached but at her job, she was a tough boss. “But my heart was always in the right place. I cared for my staff's well-being and constantly reassured my daughter that I would finance her education,” she says.

Her stock picks were blue chips that were potential takeover targets. She also acquired financial copmanies that had over-delivered on their key performance indicators and plantation stocks with strong fundamentals. With her property investments, Chong looked at location and the developer's track record. “ I had no favourite location. It was all about the opportunity to make a return on investment,” she says.

Despite her struggles, she calls herself “blessed” because she is able to face and overcome challenges. So, at the height of her career last year, she was drawing a comfortable five-figure income and sitting on a net wealth of over a million ringgit. She decided to step away from it all to give her money and her time to the less fortune. Both her children had graduated, her son is an architect.Taking RM1 million of her personal savings, Chong, then 55, started The Truly Loving Compny (TLC), an organisation that makes household and personal care products such as body wash and body lotion, and dishwashing detergent. The difference with TLC's business model is that all dividends are given to registered charities like Hospis Malaysia, Rumah Aman and The Shelter Home for chidren.

“This is corporate social responsibility at the highest level. TLC is a professional profit-making venture but the shareholders are all charities. The whole idea is to give back to the less fortunate because I have been very blessed throughout my life,” says Chong. TLC, incorporated in July last year, has since lauched. 32 products. “The money used to start TLC is righfully my children's inheritance but both of them wanted me to start this initiative,” she says. She has no regrets about giving up her position as managing director of Reckitt Benekiser (M) Sdn Bhd, which would have given her “very generous bonuses and perks” and allowed het to work in a comfortable enviroment where retailers would open their door to her and employees would act on her instructions. “Now with a new, unknown brand, some retailers won't even answer my calls. Most of my weekends are spent at the supermakets selling TLC products to customer or checking stock in the warehouse. But I am comfortable with what I have and am very happy,” she says