99 Pace Mart’s Southeast Asia 500 debut is the newest milestone for the corporate and its founder, a childhood polio survivor

With $2.2 billion in income, 99 Pace Mart generated sufficient gross sales to land it at No. 158 on Fortune’s rating of the biggest Southeast Asian firms by income. The corporate at the moment has 2,833 retailers and 20 distribution facilities throughout the nation, and plans to achieve 3,000 retailers by the top of the 12 months. 

However 99 Pace Mart’s story can also be as a lot a narrative about its founder, Lee Thiam Wah, as it’s in regards to the development of a comfort retailer chain.

Lee contracted polio at a younger age and subsequently misplaced the usage of his legs. He’s been wheelchair-bound for a lot of his life. “No one would rent me as a consequence of my bodily limitations,” he informed Forbes in a 2010 interview. In that interview, he quoted recommendation from his paternal grandfather: “In the event you don’t work arduous, what is going to you quantity to?”

Lee’s retail profession bought its begin when he began promoting snacks from a roadside stall. He then opened his first mini market in 1987 as a sole proprietorship, then established Ninety 9 Market in 1992. By 1998, he had a community of 8 mini markets, and established 99 Pace Mart two years later. 

Now, 99 Pace Mart is the biggest mini-market participant in Malaysia, based on its IPO prospectus. 99 Pace Mart holds 40% of the market in opposition to world competitors like 7-Eleven, and the chain additionally has an 11% share of the grocery market. 

The corporate raised $532 million in an IPO final September, Malaysia’s largest in seven years. The itemizing made Lee a billionaire, and one in all Malaysia’s richest males.

99 Pace Mart plans to make use of the IPO proceeds to fund its world enlargement. In an interview with Bloomberg after the itemizing, Lee stated he’s in search of “good alternatives” to go abroad, however has no “concrete plans” as of but. (99 Pace Mart briefly had an outlet in Singapore, earlier than withdrawing as a result of COVID pandemic).

Along with being the CEO of 99 Pace Mart, Lee additionally operates franchising rights for Burger King in Malaysia and Singapore, and is the third-largest shareholder of Alliance Financial institution Malaysia, based on Bloomberg. 

Shares in 99 Pace Mart are up 9.57% since September’s IPO. Malaysia’s benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index is down about 8% over the identical interval.