Founder of Kenanga Investment Bank launches memoir
KUALA LUMPUR: Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd’s founder and adviser Tan Sri Tengku Noor Zakiah Tengku Ismail has released her memoir, which captures her journey and life stories as a Malaysian entrepreneur.
Launched in conjunction with her 93rd birthday celebration, the book titled “Tengku Noor Zakiah: Malaysia’s Pioneering Stockbroker” chronicles her many successes including co-founding K&N Kenanga Sdn Bhd in 1973 with Kamaruddin Taha.
Readers will also get to know all about Tengku Noor Zakiah’s efforts in transforming it into Kenanga Investment Bank, the largest independent investment bank in country as it is known today.
“When I look at Kenanga today, I see that, together, we have created something immensely wonderful and rewarding on so many levels, which I could not have foreseen when I first started working, let alone when I was still that little girl sewing her first baju kurung or making a profit from jasmine garlands,” she said.
The book details the origins of the company name, which was inspired by the Kenanga flowers that grew on the Mengkebang Estate managed by her father.
It also features her ventures into the stock market in the 1960s where she eventually acquired her stock broking license and co-founded the investment company she has become synonymous with today.
Airasia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes described the memoir as a truly remarkable book about a truly remarkable Malaysian.
Former International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz described Tengku Noor Zakiah as an inspiration to young women and men.
“Maybank chairman Datuk Mohaiyani Shamsudin commented that Tengku Noor Zakiah is truly an epitome of success, not just for being the first lady stockbroker in Malaysia but also for transforming the firm she started in 1964 into the independent investment bank it is today.
Published by MPH Group Publishing, copies of the memoir are available at MPH Bookstores nationwide for RM40 (softcover) and RM60 (hardcover).