This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 4, 2023 - December 10, 2023

Datuk Azmir Merican | Group managing director of Sime Darby Property Bhd

Resilience, a clear vision and the ability to build trust with a team are among the essential qualities of a CEO, according to Sime Darby Property Bhd (SDP) group managing director Datuk Azmir Merican.

“[Running a company] is a marathon … when you run an organisation, you don’t look at short-term results so much, you look at the long-term plan. Today, as a CEO, compared to 10 years ago, I take a much longer perspective. Problems arise because your perspective and horizon are not long enough. You try to fix the problems but nothing works,” the 52-year-old Penangite explains.

“Property development is an industry in which you need to have a longer horizon; for example, to build a high-rise project, from land acquisition, planning and design, approval and selling to completion, it will easily take seven years at least.

“I am not a very patient person, but you have to understand that [situation] and make sure every single part in those seven years is right. That’s why resilience is not only about being patient, but also understanding that you need to weather the storms and that you don’t see the outcome immediately. Sometimes, it doesn’t work so you need input from your team and often, they have solutions for you.”

Also, he believes that it is important to establish a company vision that involves and excites everyone in the company, as a company cannot expect a different outcome if it keeps doing the same thing. The vision has to be clear, as well as right for the company and its people, he adds.

Next, building trust is an important and a time-consuming process but there is value in doing so.

“When you have trust, you solve a lot of problems. I see many organisations go through a lot of unnecessary drama because the trust level is low, [and] a lot of time is wasted on situations that can be dealt with in a more mature way. For me, building trust both ways is important and takes time because we need to understand each other well. As leaders, we need to ensure team members have a sense of belonging and we need to help them in executing [their work].”

Azmir, who assumed his current position in April 2020, received the Outstanding Property CEO award at The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards 2023. This award is presented to CEOs or professionals who have taken their company to exceptional levels.

Under Azmir’s leadership, the developer launched the SHIFT25 strategy in 2021, which is set to transform SDP from a pure-play residential-focused property developer into a real estate company with multiple sources of income by 2025. The target is to broaden its income base to a 70:30 split between property development and recurring income streams.

The strategy brings forth the establishment of an industrial development fund, where the earnings contribution comes in the form of new recurring income streams such as fund management and development services fees.

In September 2021, a 51:49 joint venture between the developer and LOGOS SE Asia Pte Ltd was formed to develop a 177-acre site in SDP’s Bandar Bukit Raja in Klang, Selangor, that would create close to eight million sq ft in gross lettable area.

“In fact, we can even do a land fund and develop land without using our entire capital. We know how to acquire and develop land, then we can get investors, move the project forward and manage it. It is private equity and we have institutional investors come in. We can give them a yield and they will see a fund like this is not very risky. What we want to do is to apply this model to other parts of our business … it can be in almost every type of product. We believe it is important to create recurring income for SDP,” Azmir explains.

Also, he emphasises that as property developers deal with a finite resource — land — SDP needs to utilise it in a better way.

“Even though SDP has many land assets, our efficiency is not as good as others because we mainly build landed homes. That’s why our utilisation is very high and we have upped that in the last few years. So, from this year onwards, we will be very aggressive in launching high-rises and plan to launch such projects worth more than RM1 billion each year. It is a new thing, and it is about getting that business active,” he says.

The SHIFT25 strategy also encourages opportunities for experimental bets on new innovations and business segments, such as affordable landed homes. Azmir notes that large corporations normally do not want to take too many bets but he sees the need for organisations to do so.

“We agree that if something is interesting, we will look at it for a certain period … if it works, then well and good; if not, we move on. It is about being open and allocating the right resources. If it works, we have something new.”

With the SHIFT25 strategy in place, Azmir is optimistic about SDP’s growth ahead.

“We’d like to see the company growing and 2025 is the marker to see this growth. If the formula is right, we can even bring this overseas.

“It calls for discipline. For example, we can make fast money today but we say no instead and we will make the money in the next five years. It is a tactical decision we need to agree on.

“We are very Malaysia-centric, with only one project in the UK. For us to expand the business, we need to look at the growth markets and where SDP can be effective. We are looking at more markets abroad and are happy to do partnerships in other countries.”

Sustainability is also a priority for SDP, and a topic the team is passionate about, Azmir notes. Various ideas, such as wetlands and connecting parks, have been suggested and the developer is looking to execute some of these suggestions.

“As a company, we have the ability to do good things … we want to push for this very hard and I think we have the obligation to do that. Covid-19 made us realise that sometimes, if we leave nature alone, it has the ability to restore itself. What that means is that if we take a step back, we are able to design the township better [to connect to nature]. At the end of the day, we need nature but nature doesn’t need us. We also have a policy that we don’t deplete primary forest,” he says.

“The planet is so important today. We cannot trade it off and we have to do what is right. At SDP, when we develop, we try to restore the land to as healthy a state as possible. We also learn that when we do our parks, we want to connect all of them. I believe we are a value multiplier for businesses, people, economies and the planet … this purpose is very strong within us, and I think that’s why people believe in us.”

“I don’t like to keep doing the same old same old,” Azmir candidly declares, which is why the highly competitive CEO joined SDP. A business administration (finance) graduate of Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business, he started his career as an investment analyst with Maybank Group before moving on to become a manager in the financial advisory arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Azmir then joined CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, where he was part of the team that established the bank’s private equity business. Then, at age 36, he took on his first role as group CEO and managing director at AWC Bhd, a provider of engineering services and solutions and integrated facilities management in Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East.

He then joined UEM Group, where he held various positions, including a stint as managing director for property developer Faber Group Bhd — now known as UEM Edgenta Bhd, following the merger between Opus Group Bhd and Projek Penyelenggaraan Lebuhraya Bhd.

The stint at UEM Edgenta gave him a brief introduction to property development until the company’s exit from the industry in 2017 to focus on total asset management.

On his switch to the property development industry when he joined SDP at 49, Azmir recalls: “I was never convinced to join the property company because I used to think the industry is very competitive and at my age then, I thought it would be too late to join a new industry.

“There are many talented people in the property development industry and I didn’t think I would add a lot of value but subsequently, I met the board members who are genuine and have a lot of interest. They were quite persuasive and I thought we would work well together … that was important to me.”

The board of directors explained his role and how they would build a team to support him — all these moves made him feel he could work with them. Also, he reckoned it was time to move on to new challenges.

“We have a good board that really cares about the organisation and wants to make a difference. Especially when I first joined, there were people [from the board] who understand the industry, there were people who understand strategy. It is a highly involved board. It is the SDP story,” he says.

Azmir attributes the Outstanding Property CEO award to the team, as he says with everyone’s support, the company can do something wonderful and special.

Nevertheless, he agrees that his previous work experience has helped him in his current job as he has been involved in creating strategies and dealing with problems. Azmir notes that the fundamentals are the same. Understanding the business model and processes is also something that he appreciates.

“You need to know the business well. The more you know, the better you can manage the business. You need to fly 10,000ft high to understand the business but you also need to come down quickly [enough] to know the operations, tactical issues and implementation. There are different guidelines, issues and feedback,” he says.

“We are regulated, but in the end our success depends on whether homebuyers like our products. That’s good because you have the opportunity to be competitive, find a way to produce something that consumers want by understanding the market, get the right product and compete openly. We are not held back by monopoly and I find that is good. It really depends on your innovation and when you execute it, you can see the impact.”

He surrounds himself with a good team. Even though communication was hard when he first joined the company due to the Covid-19 outbreak, he met everyone online and tried to understand each business head’s role as much as possible. There has also been a lot of engagement with the employees.

Even with strategies in place, he believes in the power of a company’s vision, one that all its employees understand. With a clear vision, it is about how best to get the strategy executed.

While he enjoys solving problems, Azmir’s approach is to be open-minded and less formal.

“First, we need clarity on what we want to do and try to make it as informal as possible. Formality makes it difficult for people to work with one another. I also try to be practical and understanding in solving problems. The team here is collaborative, we loop everyone in when making decisions and everyone knows what is happening. The management team is critical and needs to be aware of what is happening. The board is also important because they have their input,” he adds.

Spending a lot of time at work, Azmir admits it can be difficult to juggle between professional and personal responsibilities and commitments.

“There are sacrifices, but I am lucky that my wife is understanding. We are a team. You need to be able to trade off because of the hours spent at work. I have responsibility as many people come to me for meetings and discussions. Also, as a CEO, you are the bottom line and need to be effective. I am still learning … it is demanding but quite  satisfying,” he admits.

“I have learnt to look at problems differently compared to 15, 20 years ago. In every problem, there is opportunity. I like problems because if you understand them, you can manage them better. A lot of the time, dealing with problems means dealing with people. When you solve a problem, clarity and alignment are important.”

In his free time, Azmir prefers to be home with his wife and three children. While he enjoys cycling and yoga, he knows he does not exercise enough due to his busy schedule.

“Sweating, for me, is good to get my energy working out. Also, I like to understand what is happening in general and a bit of networking is important for me. Generally, when I get the chance to chill, I make sure I spend as much time as possible with my family. Sports are important to me too,” he adds.

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