Kishu Tirathrai
Tan Sri Kishu Tirathrai is a prominent Malaysian businessman of Indian descent. He is best known as the chairman and managing director of the famous Globe Silk Store. He is credited with the consolidation and expansion of his textile family business into a household name. He presently leads the Tirathrai Group of Companies which have diversified from textile and apparel merchandising and retailing into manufacturing and real estate development.
Private sector
Tan Sri Kishu has served the Public Sector in various capacities :
- Director of Bank Negara Malaysia
- Director of the National Productivity Corporation
- Director of the Malaysian Industry – Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT).
- Founding Chairman of the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE)
- Exco Member of the Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation.
Tan Sri Kishu served as a director of the Malaysian Industrial Development Corporation (MIDF), Sampoorna Holdings Bhd. and the Kuala Lumpur City ASMIC Unit Trust Management Bhd. A bankruptcy notice was served against him in 2006.[1]
Smart partnership
As a firm believer in “win-win” business relationships, Tan Sri Kishu used the Globe Silk Store as the first example of a company practicing ‘smart partnership’ – a term which he actually coined. Tan Sri Kishu was one of the key players behind the first Langkawi International Smart Partnership Dialogue and has been an active participant and member of the Joint Executive Group (JEG) since, both in Langkawi and in Southern Africa.
He is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Management prestigious Court of Fellows and a patron of the Educational, Welfare & Research Foundation Malaysia. He was recently selected to be part of the high-level corporate advisory council set up to help steer the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) in south Johor.
References
- Companions Citation of CPTM
- Five ‘giants’ to look into Johor’s IDR, The Star, February 22, 2007.
- Advisers positive about project, The Star, February 24, 2007]