Sir Martin does the Heng Hua community proud
KUCHING: From a school dropout to a successful businessman, Poh Sang Chung has done his Heng Hua community proud by receiving a knighthood from Britain.
Poh, popularly known as Martin among his peers and friends, is now Sir Martin Poh after he received the “Knight Bachelor” award, which carries the title “Sir”, from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, at Buckingham Palace recently.
He was among more than 1,000 people who were recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2017 event that was held last June, which also marked 100 years of the Order of the British Empire.
“To get this honour is priceless, I did not expect to get this award at all,” the Malaysian-born Poh, told reporters on Monday.
Born and bred in a tiny fishing village in Sungai Apong, here, he is now a citizen of Papua New Guinea (PNG) having built his wealth there.
Poh described the knighthood as an honour to the Heng Hua, a minority Chinese dialect group from Putian in the Fujian province.
He said that financial difficulty was the reason he dropped out of secondary school.
At the age of 18, he became a delivery boy at a wholesale pharmaceutical company.
“I was ambitious and wanted to land a sales job but with my limited English, being a delivery boy was the best I could do.
“However, I was encouraged by my superior to learn English and this led to a sales position.
“Along the way, I realised that I actually wanted to become a businessman and I knew that I had to work hard to achieve this goal,” he said.
After three years working as a salesman, he and four others started a company that focused on wholesale pharmaceuticals in Sabah and Sarawak.
Poh said that in 1996, a colleague suggested he look at the PNG market and explore opportunities there. They’ve never looked back.
Poh started Borneo Pacific Pharmaceutical Ltd in 1997 to become an agent and distributor of pharmaceutical products in PNG.
The company flourished and became a dynamic wholesaler supplying to markets in Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga and the Solomon Islands.
Today, the company is a diversified conglomerate supplying cost-effective, quality pharmaceuticals and healthcare products.
Poh became a PNG citizen in 2007 and despite his success and busy schedule running his business, he still found time to help those around him.
The suffering of people with kidney problems led him to set up PNG Kidney Foundation in 2009 and four years later, the foundation set up a dialysis clinic in Port Moresby General Hospital.
Poh is also involved in other charity programmes, donating to churches, NGOs and charitable groups.