Company Profile
www.parkworld-online.com
ONLY WORLD GROUP MAKING FUN IN MALAYSIA
There’s a knock at the door and one of his staff is let in to discuss plans for the new headquarters Only World Group is opening in a few weeks’ time. He reckons he can make substantial savings. It may just cover Koh’s BlackBerry bill.
Industry Expertise President of the Malaysian Association of Amusement, Themepark and Family Attractions (MAATFA) for the past nine years, Dato Richard Koh has been active in the industry since the early ‘80s, and he is now a familiar face at many international get-togethers, such as Asian Attractions Expo and other IAAPA events.
Fun, food and good living. These three things are key to the business of the Only World Group, a stalwart of the Malaysian amusement industry. Ahead of Asian Attractions Expo in Kuala Lumpur, Park World editor Owen Ralph catches up with the man dubbed “Malaysia’s theme park king”
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t was a business trip to California back in the ‘70s that convinced Dato Richard Koh to enter the amusement industry. “My manager took me to Disneyland,” recalls
the Malaysian entrepreneur of Chinese descent. “It was the first time I had ever been to Disney, but it gave me the idea I would like to do something like this in Malaysia. I was always looking for opportunities.” Koh, who was awarded the honorary Malaysian title of Dato, founded World Equipment in 1973 as a supplier of office equipment, later diversifying into car care and automotive upholstery. Today, the Only World Group, of which World Equipment is part, boasts an even more diverse portfolio. Thanks to its theme park consultation, design and installation services, the group is well connected throughout the industry in Malaysia, as well as operating its own food and beverage business, three waterparks, a handful of children’s play centres, roller skating rinks, a spa and waterfall resort. Koh serves as chairman of the group, which employs around 1,000 staff, including Jean, his loyal wife and chief operating officer.
As we sit down to chat at the couple’s large Kuala
Dato Richard Koh and wife Jean outside one of Only World Group’s many restaurants
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Lumpur home, Dato offers us a selection of local fruit. The chikoo is delicious, but for this businessman it’s a fruit of a different kind that keeps him going throughout the day. Richard Koh is a BlackBerry addict. It’s late in the evening, but business doesn’t stop.
His company began designing and building family fun centres and roller skating rinks throughout Malaysia, as well as operating kiddie rides in local shopping malls. After supplying a selection of rides, including a Pinfari Cyclone coaster, to the Johor Safari Park, he decided to open his own amusement park, Taman Subang Ria Park, 20km west of downtown Kuala Lumpur in Subang Jaya. “That was our first big park,” remembers Koh. “All the other parks had old equipment.” Both the safari park and the amusement park have since bitten the dust as, “developers wanted to build houses on the land” (where have you heard that before?). Nevertheless, Koh had succeeded in bringing a little amusement park magic into Malaysia. Years after his visit to Disneyland, he had been bitten by the “Mouse” and, as we all know, once infected it’s hard to find a cure. World Equipment continued to supply and install rides and attractions to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and India, representing several Western ride suppliers. In Shah Alam, not far from Koh’s first park in Subang Jaya, offices and factory premises were established.
Asia’a biggest uphill water coaster, installed by World Equipment at Desa Water Park
JULY 2010
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