Principal Director

Suraj Andrew

Suraj is a founding equity stakeholder and the Principal Director of Capital Hive Group. Incorporated in Singapore and Malaysia, Capital Hive provides sustainable forest management and Agritech consulting services. It is strategically positioned for sustainable forestry investments in South East Asia.

Its core plantation team currently operates in West Malaysia where sustainable forestry investment is in its infancy. Suraj’s passion for sustainable forestry, agriculture technology and environmental / social impact programs have led to numerous partnerships and ventures.

Through its associated company, Anjung Solaris, it operates a tissue culture laboratory specialising in high grade planting material and seedling nurseries that supply numerous sustainable timber plantations. It has notably supplied forest concessions, a state forestry department and urban landscape nurseries.

Suraj was also the Principal Director of Capital Hive Ltd. in Labuan, a fully licensed fund manager up to 2020.

Prior to setting up Capital Hive, he owned and operated an Information Technology service business and a Sports Management and Consultancy company giving him diverse experience in the operations and marketing of a variety of products and services.

The sports management consultancy he co-founded, Actio Sports, owned and managed “The Cage”, the largest indoor soccer facility ever housed in a retail mall in Malaysia. Under his direction, Actio Sports provided consultancy and project management for the setup of indoor soccer facilities, financial modelling for the setup and operation of indoor soccer facilities and sports complex management including computerised booking and tracking, formulation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), reporting processes, customer profiling databases, and customer relationship management. Actio’s clients constituted government institutions, government linked companies, all major telecommunication companies in Malaysia, numerous multinational corporations, international and local banks amongst others.

Suraj was also the Business Development Head at Carey Real Estate headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. His primary role was to develop and implement new business strategies and create new income streams as well as work closely with the project team on new and innovative real estate investments. During his tenure at Carey Real Estate, Suraj built a comprehensive network of consultants in the areas of Property Development and bespoke Property Management, the establishing of cross-border business relations and working with reputable hotel operators in the due diligence of local and international hotels and in the sourcing of good investment property for property funds.

Suraj’s formal studies are in the areas of Electrical Engineering and Software Engineering. He also completed the Certificate in Real Estate Investment Finance (CREIF) a multi-jurisdiction professional course developed by APREA (Asia Pacific Real Estate Association).

Director – Back Office Operations

K K Chin

Kerk Kwong Chin (K K Chin) brings a plethora of skills to our company through various avenues of his professional career. He began as a teenager in the family laundry and dry-cleaning business where his clients included Malaysia’s first Prime Minister, the Japanese Corporate Expatriate Hub of Bangsar and the expatriate community of Ampang.

In his early 20s, he was offered a position as Advertising Sales Executive at Utusan Melayu newspaper and for the next five years travelled extensively, meeting with potential clients.

In the 1980s he joined Cheq Point, where he advanced through a number of positions from Purchasing Manager, Credit Controller and Fraud Prevention and Investigation Manager, travelling throughout both East and West Malaysia.

After the economic crisis in 1986, Chin decided to try his hand at the newly regulated, emerging real estate market where future prospects seemed endless. He began work at Stanwells Realty.

During the last 30 years Chin has advanced through many roles in different agencies such as Sales Manager, Branch Manager and Head of Operations. His last position was as Senior Negotiator at the prestigious Carey Real Estate. He specializes in commercial, industrial and agricultural land, distressed property and Auctions. Chin has also planned and developed the execution of marketing campaigns for major property developments.

In the course of his career, he has personally invested in numerous real estate ventures, bought and sold retail units, shopping complexes and numerous auction properties, both commercial and residential.

He is the Managing Director of Wawasan Emas, a family investment holding company and Chairman of Synergy Commvest, an investment holding company formed by compatriots with a passion for investing.

His expertise in land acquisition and operations and his ability to “see through the fluff and get down to the meat” makes him an invaluable and integral part of our team.

General Manager, Singapore

Rozana Sahlan

With more than 20 years of experience in business management, Rozana is able to preside over the complete spectrum of business operations from administration to sales, and from running ground-level activities to speaking to industry leaders.

Rozana studied business marketing at Singapore University of Social Sciences and her strength lies in opening up markets. In the late 1980s, she introduced dimension stones from India into the Asian markets which are now widely used in the construction industry worldwide, and many of which still bear the brand names identified or created by Rozana. Her 25 years of experience in the dimension stones business included the management of a team responsible for marketing, branding and sales covering Asia, Australia, Europe and India. Her passion in education saw Rozana opening up the Malaysia market for various real estate investment and finance programmes created by the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA), where she was involved in the marketing and co-ordination of workshops for these programmes across Asia for four years. In a culmination of this wealth of experience Rozana has also founded her own branding agency, One Hill Tree.

Through her business and travels, and infectious personality, Rozana has won the friendships of many business associates, delegates, and other industry practitioners. She is an ideas person with a can-do attitude who looks upon obstacles as challenges and thrives under pressure.Rozana’s passion and experience brings to the Capital Hive Group an operations powerhouse, strong market intuition, and a vast international network.

Compliance

Uhmrigs “Rigs” Guna

Uhmrigs joins our team having left a multinational Investment Bank based in Kuala Lumpur where he gained more than four years of experience in investment banking and the capital markets.

Apart from being a flexible all-rounder, his previous role as an Equity Derivatives Trader specializing in selected Malaysian and Hong Kong listed underlying securities of diverse sectors has embedded critical technical and analytical skills in him. His main roles included trading and market making of warrants, exchange traded funds (ETFs), formulation and execution of delta hedging strategies, writing / buying equity options, and intra-day index futures trading.

He also gained in-depth knowledge of structured warrants and products such as Dual Currency Investment, Equity-Linked Investments as well as other exotic investment products. In addition, he possesses a keen and ardent interest in trading and is constantly wired to the global financial markets.

Besides focusing on trading activities, he undertook other projects for the benefit of the team and the organization. One notable project involved partnering with another colleague to manage the entire development, enhancement, and maintenance of the bank’s structured warrants website. This was the pioneer website in Malaysia in which users are able to extract comprehensive information of all structured and company warrants listed on the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange along with option calculators and payoff tables for investors.

Prior to being a trader, Uhmrigs was attached to Unit Trust & Asset Management as well as Private Banking & Wealth Management, when he began his career as a Management Trainee.

Uhmrigs holds the Malaysian Financial Markets Certificate (PKMC) from the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers which complements his MBA in Finance and B.Eng.(Hons.) in Mechatronics.

Uhmrigs’ drive and enthusiasm, coupled with his excellent and in-depth knowledge makes him a welcome addition in our efforts to green the planet.

Group Shareholder, Advisor & Investment Committee Member

Jagdish M Chanrai

Jagdish Chanrai is a Principal of the Kewalram Chanrai Group, serving on the management board of the holding company. Founded in 1860, the Group is family-owned and professionally managed. It has interests in supply chain management, textiles, real estate, agriculture, environmentally friendly products, and waste water treatment. The businesses span several continents, and are mainly focused in emerging markets.

The Group is well known for its community work especially in the field of healthcare and education for the underprivileged.

Jagdish in a shareholder in Capital Hive Group at the investment holdings level and is an advisor to the group and its funds under management. Jagdish sits on the investment committee of WoodCraft Fund. His vast experience in a wide range of synergistic businesses give him a somewhat unique perspective that adds a credible contribution to the team

Additionally, Jagdish has private interests in several companies, primarily in technology, and holds a number of directorships. He is also a member of the Malaysian chapter of Vistage International, the largest CEO organization in the world.

Jagdish has a Master of Science in International Accounting and Finance from The London School of Economics, a Master of Science in Management Studies from Brunel University, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Social Sciences from the University of Westminster.

SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY AND DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING EXPERTISE

Lau Boon Chong

Lau’s extensive experience in the timber industry spans decades since 1990 when he began in the downstream processing of timber with Taiwanese partners in 1990. They operated 2 mills producing laminated panels, decorative flush doors and timber moldings for the export market to Europe, Australia and the Middle East.

He incorporated Asiaprima Resources Sdn Bhd in 1994 to trade in wood products in the Malaysian and other overseas markets. This led to his landmark collaboration with IKEA where they jointly developed Acacia Mangium as a new species of timber for outdoor furniture. He proceeded to get involved in sustainable timber plantations to the production of Acacia sawn timber for the outdoor furniture. IKEA was a significant client.

Asiaprima, under Lau’s guidance went on to manage a 4,000 ha Acacia plantation in Pahang. He later on manages a 25,000 ha Acacia plantation in Sabah. Under his management, he obtained FSC certification for both the assets. The Sabah asset also has a 300,000 MT capacity chip-mill. The Sabah asset was owned by an American private equity fund and was then sold to an Australian sustainable timber private equity fund. Lau’s experience in the marriage of private equity funds and the wide scope of nurturing, growing and processing timber will be paramount in the success of similar projects undertaken in Capital Hive.

To date, Lau has been involved in the:

GROUP SHAREHOLDER AND CORPORATE ADVISOR

Colin Burton

Colin is a serial entrepreneur and investor. He enjoys co-investing with promising entrepreneurs, taking on a corporate advisor role in the companies and working towards building and establishing consistent cash flows.

Colin purchased a plumbing hardware manufacturing company (Barrcol) in 1994 and within 6 years sold the company for 6.35 times what he had originally paid.

Later, as Director of Sales for Canadian manufacturer Erico, Colin gained further experience in management and marketing from a global perspective and especially in USA.

He is a significant partner of Dreamtime Resorts in Australia. Colin has bought managed and built a decent portfolio of management right in Australia.

Colin has also held Australian Government positions in Financial & Business Administration.

His diversified investment and experience in the hospitality industry, management rights, luxury caravan manufacturing, trading, granite, mining, camel farming and so on give him a very unique perspective on business, risk and opportunity.

He has been a strong supporter of Capital Hive Group and one of our early investors.

GROUP SHAREHOLDER, DIRECTOR and CORPORATE ADVISOR

Anandaraj Somasundram

Kili Anandaraj Somasundaram or Anand has he is well known, has been involved in management and business development activities of a number of diverse ventures in his career. His scope of experiences ranges from plantation centric downstream added value businesses, commodities and logistics, and currently fintech.

In his twenties, Anand was a key force in the success of the iconic Betelnut Bistro.

Anand began his career working in the credit and leasing in The Cooperative Central Bank. He was involved in conducting credit appraisals for customers and recommending good candidates. He serves as Executive Director of Syarikat Pooram, a crude palm oillogistic  company in which Anand handles the ever evolving government regulatory and compliance framework. He has served in this role since July 1986, growing with the company and acquiring significant experience in this industry.

He was tasked as Chief Executive Officer of the public-listed company, Premier Nalfin Berhad, for more than 10 years. As a key part of the executive team, he steered Premier Nalfin in its Palm Oil Mill and Refinery operations, working on a range of downstream products and added-value processing of the Palm Oil industry waste. He worked at establishing marketing channels and relationship in more than 60 countries during his tenure. He was closely involved in the monetization of key assets and the successful exit of the business for its shareholders.

Anand is the co-founder of Instapay Technologies and is approved by the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) for digital payments and remittance. He plays an active role in the business development of this fintech.

In Capital Hive Group, Anand in a shareholder in numerous ventures. He is a licensed fund manager and a Director of Capital Hive Ltd (Labuan), a licensed entity governed by the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA). He has held this position since February 2016 and works closely with the Capital Hive executive team toward establishing a strong economic and environmental case for the development of Sustainable Timber Plantations in South East Asia.

As a member of the Capital Hive’s Board, his range of expertise on marketing, processes, compliance and other important oversight add a sensible voice of experience to the team.

Plantation Advisor and Soil Specialist

Dr Zainol Md Eusof

Dr. Zainol’s work experience spans more than 4 decades in the areas of agriculture, plantation and soil sciences. He is a Life Member of the Malaysian Society of Soil Science.

His career began in 1974 as a Research Officer in Soil Surveying, Land Use and Crop Management in the prestigious Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia, one of the world’s top leading research organizations in rubber plantations. In 1996 he was appointed Project Leader of Agronomy Research and later Head of Crop Management on 1 January 1998.

Since retirement, he has served as a consultant and senior executive in a number of businesses, most notable is Greenyield Berhad, a Malaysian public listed company in which he still holds the position as Independent Chairman of the Board.

Dr. Zainol has participated in national and international conferences and seminars throughout the world. He has published more than 72 papers on soil science, agronomy, integrated cropping and soil management. Notable presented papers were at the International Soil Science Congress in Hamburg, Germany (1986) and Acapulco, Mexico (1994) and at several other conferences throughout South East Asia

He has conducted joint research with institutes of repute such as the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), International Board for Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Under a commonwealth grant, he carried out post-doctoral research at Ohio State University (1989) and a study visit to the Agriculture Faculty, University of West Indies (1989).

Dr. Zainol has guest lectured on soil and water conservation for the Masters program on Plantation Management (Universiti Putra Malaysia) from 1998-2001. Other notable accomplishments:

MALAYSIA

Real Estate Finance

Razif Shah Halim

Razif has a background in Economics having completed his first Bachelor’s degree at the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom in 1998. He returned to the United Kingdom in late 2000 to pursue a Master’s degree in Business Administration at the respected University of Nottingham Business School.

His initial working years post university were related to media where he was involved in a start-up to develop the TV9 television station which is now part of the major Malaysian media conglomerate, Media Prima Berhad. It was in this position that he was first exposed and learned business development, finance and the preparation of banking documentation for fund raising.

However, in 2002, as a scholar he had to complete his public service duty and enthusiastically served as a Policy Analyst with the government regulatory body, Malaysian Communication & Multimedia Commission. His areas of responsibility were media, content and industry development. He gained invaluable experience especially in managing the diverse stakeholder and public policy discussions.

Razif’s area of expertise has been research, feasibility assessment, financial modelling and bench-marking. He had honed these skills further by serving different roles and senior positions:

• In early 2004 he served as Manager for Corporate Planning at the Selangor State investment holding company, Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad, which held numerous strategic state investments in water treatment and distribution, property development, educational services and information technology;
• He left mid-2006 to join as an Associate at a boutique advisory / strategy & consultancy company, Binafikir Sdn Bhd, now part of Maybank Investment Bank;
• In mid-2008, he joined Signforce Sdn Bhd, a local hospitality advisory and management company, as Head of Corporate Planning rising swiftly to Chief Operating Officer – Corporate Planning.

He also currently serves as a Partner at the boutique hotel advisory, consultancy & management company, Lumira Hotels & Resorts. His personal passion is property, carefully investing his earnings into a number of properties with the vision of an even larger portfolio heading into the future. In late 2010, he decided to pursue a number of endeavors using his personal vehicle, RS Mindwerks Sdn Bhd. on the road to fulfil his passion and vision.

Investor Relations (IR) Advisor

Mei Lynn Keow