Dr. Ir. Beh Kooi Ho is the Chief Executive Officer of SD Associates Sdn Bhd (SDA), a company based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which provides customers with one-stop services varying from engineering, architectural design, quantity surveying, procurement and construction management. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, SDA also operates offices in East Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
SDA has been appointed to provide various services from project management consultancy to design and submission consultancy, GBI facilitation, as well as construction management services to projects ranging from energy hubs to power and process plants.
With projects valued at approximately USD3 billion and spanning across the globe, SDA has ensured projects were on track and within budget, while their team of experts worked together to ensure OHSAS standards were adhered to throughout the process and that their quality standards were delivered at every stage of the project.
With an impressive track record of past projects, SDA’s ongoing projects include the Tunisia Racing F1 City in Tunisia, a wave energy generation plant in Indonesia, and chlor-alkali plants in Uzbekistan and Tanzania respectively.
SDA has been recognized by many awarding organizations such as the Asia Pacific Top Excellence Enterprise Awards 2021, STAR Outstanding Business Awards 2020, SME 100 Awards 2020 and many others. They are possessing numerous industry certifications, including ISO9001:2015 (Quality Management System), ISO14001:2015 (Environmental Management System) and ISO45001:2018 (Occupational Health & Safety Management System).
Dr. Ir. Beh, who hails from Penang, holds a Bachelors in Engineering from National Ocean University, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Construction Management, as well as a Ph.D. in International Business Management. He is also a Registered Professional Engineer with a Practicing Certificate from the Board of Engineers Malaysia.
While growing up, Dr. Ir. Beh has always drawn inspiration from Sir Ove Arup, an English engineer who founded Arup Group Limited and was responsible for notable projects such as Kingsgate Bridge, Van Ginkle Footbridge and the Sydney Opera House. Known as the philosopher engineer, he believed better decision-making is sourced from solving problems via concept analysis. Inspired, Beh has since been drawn to embrace a more collaborative and open-minded approach in engineering industry as it leads to greater quality of work.
Another role model that Dr. Ir. Beh cites is Dato’ Dr. Ir. Ts. Mohd Abdul Karim Bin Abdullah, the founder and CEO of Serba Dinamik Holdings Berhad, a multinational corporation involved in the Oil and Gas industry. A true’ ‘zero to hero’ journey, Dr. Ir. Beh is motivated by Dato’ Karim’s tenacity and courage in facing the initial challenges of building his business to what it has become today. From his leadership, Dr. Ir. Beh has learnt that every Malaysian can achieve their dream, regardless of their background.
Describing himself as direct and straightforward in expressing his opinions, Dr. Ir. Beh’s idea of success does not stem from wealth or fame, but is rather measured in terms of personality and moral value. To him, respect is a virtue that he holds on to diligently, regardless of whether it is within or outside the workplace.
Dr. Ir. Beh is also a strong believer in leadership by example. In order to encourage his staff to enhance themselves continuously, he has personally taken the lead to arm himself with more qualifications and certifications, which he believes will enhance his life-long learning journey and contribute to business growth.
With the ambition to take his company to as many countries as possible, Dr. Ir. Beh currently enjoys his time as an entrepreneur, without attending to a nine-to-five job. Despite describing his workday as 24/7, Dr. Ir. Beh relishes the ability to work wherever and whenever he chooses to. His advice to budding entrepreneurs is “Embrace a ‘can do’ attitude even though there will be many telling you, you can’t.”
“Dr. Ir. Beh Kooi Ho is the kind of entrepreneur nations are built on. Far-seeing, transformative, unashamedly can-do, he has proven that he lives his advice of “Embrace a ‘can do’ attitude even though there will be many telling you, you can’t.”
Shanggari Balakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, MORS Group
