Company Achievements and
Role of the Entrepreneur

In 2017, Dato’ Sri Victor was appointed Managing Director of YKGI. He restructured the business model by divesting out the noncore and loss-generating business. He focused on moving the business into a more downstream segment of the steel industry and divested the loss-making coil business and focussed on operations in East Malaysia. With a downstream business which includes manufacturing and trading of metal roofing products, ASTEEL Group strengthened its position as a one-stop building solutions provider for roofing and walling, structural decking, and steel framing systems.

The divestment improved YKGI Group’s financial performance and reduced the need for high working capital. Today, ASTEEL, as a subsidiary under YKGI Holdings Berhad aims to be the leading building materials solution provider in Borneo and the region. In line with trends in the market, ASTEEL has strategically placed its focus on providing safe, strong, and reliable roofing, and building materials to its stakeholders.

Dato’ Sri Victor has played an instrumental role in steering the company towards attaining long-term sustainable growth, ensuring shareholder value creation, safeguarding ASTEEL’s corporate reputation, strengthening investors’ confidence, and providing employment to Malaysians, which are in line with ASTEEL’s 5-year Master Plan.

Dato’ Sri Victor leads a team of over 300 employees. The company aims to create 1,000 jobs by expanding its business operations. The rollout of their factories, branches and establishments of Envio concept stores would provide more employment opportunities to the local communities. As part of its expansion plan, ASTEEL has set up various branches across major cities and towns. With its headquarters in Kuching, ASTEEL has branches in Sibu, Miri, Bintulu, Mukah, Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Klang. There are plans to open more branches in the northern region of Sarawak, to offer rollforming services and supply roofing materials to local customers. They are also plans to set up a few more roll-forming factories in the greater part of the northern region of Sarawak as they foresee that the area has the potential to achieve rapid progress and development and emerge as a developed state.

A very important milestone for ASTEEL Group is the Group’s penetration into the overseas market, with the most recent one in Manila, Philippines. ASTEEL also has a branch in New Zealand and is set to launch one in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Dato’ Sri Victor introduced the ASTEEL Envio Concept Store in 1993 in major towns and cities in Sarawak and Sabah such as Miri, Bintulu, Mukah, Kota Kinabalu, and Tawau. The Envio concept store is a one-stop outlet specialising in building materials. ASTEEL Group has plans to open Envio concept stores throughout East Malaysia. As part of ASTEEL’s 5-year Master Plan, the Group has begun their Smart Manufacturing journey to leverage on technology. Smart Manufacturing will not only improve productivity, efficiency, and optimisation of resources to continue producing quality products but also open opportunities for upskilling of their workforce.

From its humble beginnings 25 years ago, ASTEEL Group now has 14 companies and diversified business ventures and expansion in Borneo. ASTEEL’s success is a result of its commitment to 6 pillars: Skilled and Talented People; High Quality and Reliable Products; Continuous Process Improvement; Regulatory Compliance; Innovation and Technology; and Compassion and Empathy. However, its success is not without challenges, the company has endured difficulties especially during the country’s economic downturn.