Top 10 Malaysian Business Entrepreneurs & Billionaires in 2026

The telecommunications and media mogul behind Maxis, Astro, and the Petronas Twin Towers project, T. Ananda Krishnan is one of Asia's most enigmatic and powerful businessmen — a man who reshaped Malaysia's telecommunications and entertainment landscape in the 1990s and funded the construction of Kuala Lumpur's defining skyline monument. He is the country's second-wealthiest individual.

The chairman of the Hong Leong Group Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's largest conglomerates with banking, property, hospitality, and industrial manufacturing divisions, Quek Leng Chan has built a financial services empire that rivals any in the region. His Hong Leong Bank has become one of Malaysia's most profitable and digitally advanced financial institutions.

Malaysia's most prominent Malay business tycoon, Syed Mokhtar controls a remarkable portfolio spanning ports, power, automotive distribution, rice milling, and media through his DRB-HICOM and MMC Corporation holdings. His acquisition of PROTON and his management of Port of Tanjung Pelepas make him one of the most consequential business figures in modern Malaysian economic history.

The co-founder and CEO of Grab, Anthony Tan transformed a Harvard Business School case study into Southeast Asia's most valuable technology company, building a super-app that serves hundreds of millions of users across eight countries. His family background in automotive distribution provided both capital and commercial instincts that proved decisive in Grab's early years.

The founder of the Berjaya Corporation empire, which spans retail, lottery operations, fast food franchises, property, and the ownership of Cardiff City Football Club in Wales, Vincent Tan is one of Malaysia's most colourful and controversial business figures. His acquisition of Sports Toto, McDonald's Malaysia, and 7-Eleven franchises in the 1980s created the template for Malaysia's modern conglomerate class.

The founder of IOI Corporation and IOI Properties, Lee Shin Cheng built one of Malaysia's most globally significant palm oil and oleochemical businesses from a small rubber estate into a Fortune 500 company that supplies food manufacturers and cosmetic companies worldwide. IOI Properties' mixed-use developments have reshaped the landscape of suburban Kuala Lumpur.

The chairman of the Genting Group, which operates casino and resort businesses in Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, and the UK, Lim Kok Thay inherited and dramatically expanded the empire founded by his father Lim Goh Tong on the Genting Highlands plateau. Resorts World is now one of the most recognisable hospitality and entertainment brands in Asia.

The generation of Malaysian technocrats and policy architects who designed the Digital Free Trade Zone, the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint, and the My Digital ID framework have been as consequential to Malaysian economic development as any single business titan — creating the regulatory and infrastructure environment within which the country's tech ecosystem has flourished.

The founder of JobStreet, Southeast Asia's largest online job portal before its acquisition by SEEK for USD 524 million in 2014, Mark Chang pioneered internet business models in Malaysia at a time when broadband penetration was under 10%. He remains one of Malaysia's most influential technology investors and advocates for the country's startup ecosystem.

The telecommunications and media mogul behind Maxis, Astro, and the Petronas Twin Towers project, T. Ananda Krishnan is one of Asia's most enigmatic and powerful businessmen — a man who reshaped Malaysia's telecommunications and entertainment landscape in the 1990s and funded the construction of Kuala Lumpur's defining skyline monument. He is the country's second-wealthiest individual.

The chairman of the Hong Leong Group Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's largest conglomerates with banking, property, hospitality, and industrial manufacturing divisions, Quek Leng Chan has built a financial services empire that rivals any in the region. His Hong Leong Bank has become one of Malaysia's most profitable and digitally advanced financial institutions.

Malaysia's most prominent Malay business tycoon, Syed Mokhtar controls a remarkable portfolio spanning ports, power, automotive distribution, rice milling, and media through his DRB-HICOM and MMC Corporation holdings. His acquisition of PROTON and his management of Port of Tanjung Pelepas make him one of the most consequential business figures in modern Malaysian economic history.

The co-founder and CEO of Grab, Anthony Tan transformed a Harvard Business School case study into Southeast Asia's most valuable technology company, building a super-app that serves hundreds of millions of users across eight countries. His family background in automotive distribution provided both capital and commercial instincts that proved decisive in Grab's early years.

The founder of the Berjaya Corporation empire, which spans retail, lottery operations, fast food franchises, property, and the ownership of Cardiff City Football Club in Wales, Vincent Tan is one of Malaysia's most colourful and controversial business figures. His acquisition of Sports Toto, McDonald's Malaysia, and 7-Eleven franchises in the 1980s created the template for Malaysia's modern conglomerate class.

The founder of IOI Corporation and IOI Properties, Lee Shin Cheng built one of Malaysia's most globally significant palm oil and oleochemical businesses from a small rubber estate into a Fortune 500 company that supplies food manufacturers and cosmetic companies worldwide. IOI Properties' mixed-use developments have reshaped the landscape of suburban Kuala Lumpur.

The chairman of the Genting Group, which operates casino and resort businesses in Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, and the UK, Lim Kok Thay inherited and dramatically expanded the empire founded by his father Lim Goh Tong on the Genting Highlands plateau. Resorts World is now one of the most recognisable hospitality and entertainment brands in Asia.

The generation of Malaysian technocrats and policy architects who designed the Digital Free Trade Zone, the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint, and the My Digital ID framework have been as consequential to Malaysian economic development as any single business titan — creating the regulatory and infrastructure environment within which the country's tech ecosystem has flourished.

The founder of JobStreet, Southeast Asia's largest online job portal before its acquisition by SEEK for USD 524 million in 2014, Mark Chang pioneered internet business models in Malaysia at a time when broadband penetration was under 10%. He remains one of Malaysia's most influential technology investors and advocates for the country's startup ecosystem.