Reference

1. wikipedia, Tony Fernandes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Fernandes

2. Wikipedia, low-cost carrier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-cost_carrier

3. Wikipedia, Tune Hotels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tune_Hotels

4. Wikipedia, Caterham F1

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterham_F1

5. Wikipedia, The Apprentice Asia

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apprentice_Asia

‘Making a mark in English football’

New owner of QPR Football Club

Tan Sri Tony Fernandes is a childhood fan of an English football club named West Ham United. After having so many success, he was involves in talks regarding a potential takeover of the club back in May 2011, at which stage it looked as if he was going to acquire a 51 per cent stake in the club. Former West Ham chairman Andrew Bernhardt even flew to Kuala Lumpur to try and finalise the deal, but the two parties failed to agree on the price. After he failed to buy West Ham United, on August 18, 2011 he manages to buy another English football team named Queens Park Rangers (QPR). An excerpt from BBC News dated August 18, 2011 had wrote “Everyone knows I've followed West Ham all my life but I've always had a soft spot for QPR. Rangers were one of the first teams I watched as a child at Loftus Road. I've always wanted to be involved in football and the appeal of a London club, like QPR, was too good an opportunity to turn down.” (Tony Fernandes, August 2011). During his reign as the chairman of QPR, he manages to bring in many star players such as Park Ji-Sung, Esteben Granero, and Julio Cesar. Now, QPR is currently playing in the 2nd league division of English football. With the help of Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, they are trying to be promoted to play in the Premier League with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool.

His CEO seat at the stadium

against local team, Kelantan

QPR players

‘His own reality program’

The Apprentice: Asia

Because of his success in the business world, he manages to have his own television reality program called The Apprentice: Asia. It is a reality competition in which a group of business people from all around Asia compete for the chance to work with him. He acts as the host of the dubbed the program as ‘the world’s toughest job interview’. In the show, he was helped by 2 of his partners which is Mark Lankester, the CEO of the Tune Hotel’s group, and Kathleen Tan, the CEO of Expendia Asia. The season started with 12 contestants, 6 females and 6 males who were divided into two groups. The females’ team was named ‘Apex’ while the males’ team was named ‘Maverick’. 1 person will be fired every week by Tan Sri Tony Fernandes himself until the contestants were left with one. At the end of the program he hire Jonathan Allen Yabut, a senior product manager from Philippines to win a one-year contract with an undisclosed six-figures starting salary at AirAsia. During the show, the audience can see how serious he is when handling his business in order to be successful. He is firm and decisive when it comes to business.

Introducing the contestants 

His reality show

With his trusted advisors

‘His next move’

After his huge success taking over AirAsia, he starts to plan his next step toward a successful business. As a result, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes started his own hotel chain named Tuned Hotel in 2007. Just like AirAsia that have a concept of no-frill airline, Tune Hotel is also a no-frill hotel. It is a limited service hotel chain with a tagline ‘5-star sleeping experience with a 1-star price’. The service starts with only the basic need and can be add-on as customers stay at the hotel. The add-ons include toiletries, 12 or 24 hours air-conditioning, TV and internet access. 

Tune Hotel, Johor Bharu

One of Tune Hotel's promotion

Besides, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes also is the founder of the Caterham F1 Formula One team. They start racing in 2010 as Lotus Racing but starting from 2011, they raced as Team Lotus. 

Lotus Team F1 commercial

Team Lotus F1's Crew

‘How he took over AirAsia’

The CEO of AirAsia

His early journey towards Air Asia begins in the early 2001 when he started planning to start a budget no free airline. A no frill airline is an airlines that offer low fares but eliminate all non-essential services, such as complimentary drinks snacks, in-flight entertainment systems, business-class seating. By using a no-frill airline, it is offers a very low cost that’ll made it possible for everyone to fly. Unfortunately, his application for a license from the Malaysian government was rejected. With help from Datuk Pahamin A. Rejab, the former secretary-general of the Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, he manages to meet the Prime Minister during that time which is Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on October 2001. He had advised Tan Sri Tony to buy an existing airline instead of starting from scratch. During that time, AirAsia is a heavily-indebted subsidiary of the Malaysian government-owned was quickly losing money. Tan Sri Tony manages to aquire the company and transformed it into an industry player. Amazingly, it only took him one year to break even cleared all its debts. Today, we can see that all his hard work had payed off when AirAsia is one of the biggest airline companies in Asia.

One of the plane models

AirAsia commercial video

AirAsia stewardess 

‘His early background’

His mother, Ena Dorothy Fernandes

Tan Sri Tony Fernandes or his real name, Tan Sri Anthony 'Tony' Fernandes was born on 30 April 1964 in Kuala Lumpur. His father is Indian who is a physician that has originally came from Goa, India, and a Portuguese-Eurasian mother named Ena Dorothy Fernandes from Malacca,Malaysia.  His education started at The Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur, Epsom College from 1977 to 1983. After that, he furthered his study at the London School of Economic. Starting at a young age, he has started to follow his mother who is a businesswomen to Tupperware dealer parties and conventions. We can see that he has started his business education at an early age. 

Young Tony Fernandes