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You could call him a maverick. You could describe him as Malaysia’s “Father of Innovation in Creative Education”. You could say he is one of the world’s most creative minds. 

All of which he is.

The amazing story of the founder president of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Lim Kok Wing is thoughtfully narrated in “The Man Who Designed The Future”, a book that took fourteen years in the making.

And it was fittingly endorsed by the Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak when he came to declare open the ‘Malaysia: Innovation Nation’ national convention held at the campus on 20 July 2010.

Future man

Tan Sri Lim has an uncanny ability to ‘design the future’ because of his clarity of vision and gift to implement new ideas effortlessly. 

It is unwavering. It is uncompromising. It is uncommon.

His sense of contribution to humankind is rare, genuine and patriotic to the core and as usual the outcome is far-reaching – designing the future, one that affects millions.

The journey

The book describes the long and exciting journey that he traversed - his family, his school days, his cartoon overtures, his advertising career and his transformation from an entrepreneur to a globally respected educationist that he is today.

Although Tan Sri Lim has single-handedly created a global empire, he is very much a down-to-earth person shaped as he was by an upbringing of filial values that moulded him into a practical person with a mind of his own.

In his foreword in “The man who designed the future”, Dato Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak said Tan Sri Lim has a unique way of touching millions of lives by simply doing what is best, even if it may seem impossible to others.

“I have known Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Lim Kok Wing for many years. A creative thinker, he always responds with sincerity to assist the government to overcome many socio-economic issues. A strong supporter of ‘1Malaysia’ drive, he has always championed causes that promote national unity. I remember the cartoons he created called Guli-Guli that took humorous jibes at the common foibles of Malaysians. He did it without offending people, something that is not easy to achieve.”

Creative maestro

Tan Sri Lim comes from a humble family; his father was a carpenter and his mother a homemaker. He is the only son among four sisters and from the very beginning, he was determined to crave out a name for himself in arts, something he excelled at school, where his brilliant artistic abilities were gaining attention. 

In fact, according to the author who knows Tan Sri Lim well, when there was no art teacher available, he was called upon to teach the class. 

Soon he was teaching other classes as well and earning easy pocket money in the process. 

Here was a creative mind and an entrepreneur in the making but it served him well as a starter to make inroads in the creative industry.

Wings to fly

There is an interesting chapter in the book on his early years in the local advertising industry that traces his growth from an illustrator to creative director, the first Malaysian to hold such a position in an international agency. 

Tan Sri Lim went on to set up his own advertising agency aptly called Wings Creative Consultants. Thereon there was no looking back for this young man who soon started to tinker with plans to produce local creative talents for local agencies.

“There was never the fear or the concern that we would not be able to compete with the big boys. I wasn’t uneasy or afraid in the least when I started the business because I knew the business was there. I was determined to prove that local people could communicate better through advertising. My goal was to become the most creative agency in the country.”

Caring and sharing

A hard-nosed businessman that he is, Tan Sri Lim also has a gentle and caring nature that has endeared him well to many, especially underprivileged students. 

In him, they found a benefactor who provided them with full scholarships to get an education that has opened new pathways for them.

The Limkokwing Foundation for Creative Excellence has played a major role in the country’s education industry for many years now. 

Reaching out

This year alone, the Foundation has supported 700 new students with scholarships and bursaries amounting to RM15 million to undertake creative courses at the University ranging from multimedia technology to fashion and retailing to broadcasting and journalism among other programmes. 

To date, the Limkokwing Foundation for Creative Excellence has contributed more than RM100 million worth of scholarships through its various channels and private causes.

Tan Sri Lim’s generosity is also well known outside of Malaysia. He rose to the needs of the people of Bosnia and Palestine by coming up with campaigns and donation drives that sought to highlight the plights of these nations in the 90s.

Working with the leadership

Tan Sri Lim enjoys a unique distinction that not many Malaysians had the honour – he served the second Prime Minister and he is now serving the sixth who happens to be his son. 

Perhaps, his best moments were engaged in working with Tun Mahathir Mohmad and the book reveals a very interesting episode in Tan Sri Lim’s career that took him all the way to South Africa at the request of the former Prime Minister.

“Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Lim Kok Wing is among the people who shared my views. He believed, as I do, in the abilities of Malaysians. This enabled us to get along very well and to work together on the process of convincing the Malaysians and, in particular, the Malays that they can do what others can do and probably do it better. He espoused the belief in ‘Malaysia Boleh’ and helped to make it a credible slogan.”

Cover-to-cover discovery

The back book cover offers a hint of a great mind that Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Lim Kok Wing truly is, and after reading “The man who designed the future”, you too may form the same conclusion. 

This is what the High Commissioner to Malaysia for the Kingdom of Lesotho, H.E. Ntsebe Kokome had to say about one of Malaysia’s foremost minds in creative education.

“If I were in the committee of those who award the Nobel Prize, I would definitely recommend him. The presence of the Limkokwing University in Lesotho is like a miracle. He has changed the landscape of education in Lesotho.”

Lesotho honours Tan Sri

Tan Sri Dr Lim Kok Wing was recently awarded the prestigious Commander of the Most Meritorious Order of Mohlomi by His Majesty King Letsie of the Kingdom Lesotho for his vast contributions in creative education at a glittering ceremony in Maseru.

It was also to recognize the university President’s “outstanding contribution in instilling in the younger generation worldwide a culture of strategic creativity that maximizes technology and innovation to create content.”

“The Man Who Designed The Future” by Ambi Mathe is now available at all leading bookstores throughout the country; get your copy today and go on a fascinating journey into an incredible mind.