群联电子董事长潘健成的创业故事

The Malaysian who made 31 Billion

Name: Pua Khein Seng (picture above)
Age: 31
Hometown: Sekinchan, Selangor
Education: SJKC Yeok Kuan, Sekinchan; Pin Hwa
Independent school, Klang; Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Occupation: Engineer/ president of Phison Electonics Corp
Current base: Taipei , Taiwan
Years abroad: 12

At 19 years old, K.S. Pua left Malaysia for Taiwan with NT$120,000 in his pocket. From humble beginnings, he went on to become the president of Phison Electronics Corporation and the hero of a success story that holds lessons for everyone.

19岁，带著12万台币，从马来西亚来到台湾，从无到有，群联电子董事长潘健成的创业故事，告诉大家要为自己争气。

Pua’s grandfather emigrated from Fujian to Malaysia, where their family struggled to make ends meet. Starting at the age of nine, Pua spent his mornings working in the fields with his father. After finishing work one day, his father told him, “If a man is willing to work hard, he doesn’t have to stay poor forever.”

潘健成的爷爷是从福建到马来西亚的移民，他小时候家裡很穷，九岁开始，每天早上跟著爸爸去田裡帮忙，潘健成回忆道，有一次在田裡工作后，爸爸告诉他，「人不会穷一辈子的，努力做，自然就会有。」

In the 1990s, many Malaysians put a higher value on a Western education, believing that a Chinese-language education would not open many doors. While ethnic Chinese students from wealthier families chose to study in the United States, those with less financial resources studied in Taiwan. When Pua was 19, he came to Taiwan to study electrical and control engineering at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) with NT$120,000 that had been donated by the director of his Chinese school in Malaysia and his classmates’ parents. During Pua’s freshman year, he worked part-time at the campus store and library to help pay for his tuition and living expenses. Then in his junior year, Pua began doing research for one of his professors. And at the young age of 26, he and four students from NCTU founded the Phison Electronics Corporation. Two of those students were also overseas compatriots.

在1990年代前后，马来西亚崇尚西方教育，认为华文教育没前途，当时家境好的华人子弟都到美国唸书，家境差的就选择台湾，潘健成19岁时，带著马来西亚华校董事及同学爸爸捐助的12万台币来台，进入交大控制系（现在的电机系）念书，为了赚学费跟生活费，他大一就在福利社跟图书馆打两份工，大三开始跟著老师做研究，26岁的时候，他创立群联电子，另外四位创办人就是他在交大唸书认识的伙伴，其中有两人也是侨生。

In 2001, Phison developed the first USB flash drive controller chip and once even won the top spot on the emerging stock market, making Pua the youngest person in Taiwan to head a company holding the most expensive emerging stock. Phison now has a turnover of NT$31.8 billion and Pua is often mentioned in the same breath as Stan Shih, the founder of Acer, and Barry Lam, the chairman of Quanta Computer. Yet Pua still remembers all the people who helped him while he was still at the bottom rung of the ladder of success, and says that he would like to give back to society. He funds scholarships at his alma mater to help overseas compatriot students become young entrepreneurs. He believes in paying it forward — helping those in need so that they in turn can help others. He has even shared his experience at the Career Planning Seminar for Overseas Compatriot Graduates sponsored by the OCAC.

2001年，群联研发出第一颗USB随身碟控制晶片，一度登上兴柜股王，潘健成也写下台湾最年轻股王总经理的纪录，而他最感念的是一路走来遇到的贵人。

群联电子现在有318亿台币营业额，潘健成的名字总是与宏碁集团创办人施振荣、广达电脑董事长林百里连在一起。但他没有忘记在困顿时，贵人给他的帮助，不但如此，他希望「将善念传达出去」，他捐奖学金给母校、给侨生、拿钱资助年轻人创业，他认为，还恩就是要帮助需要的人，等到这些人有了成就，又可以再去帮助别人。他也曾应邀在侨委会主办的「侨生毕业职涯规划研习会」中，分享他的成功经验。

Marking Phison’s ten-year anniversary, Pua has published “Make a Name for Yourself,” in which he draws on his experiences at Phison to describe the difficulties that even the most successful entrepreneurs must face, including financing, lawsuits, and competition from international manufacturers. As a child, Pua never dreamed that he would one day be an entrepreneur or that he would have so much wealth. His story is a testament to the success of the Chinese education system in Malaysia. Despite naysayers, a Chinese education did indeed open doors for Pua and helped pave the way for his success.

在群联电子刚满十年之际，潘健成口述出版《为自己争气》一书，用群联为例，分享创业过程中筹资、官司、国际大厂相逼，种种在成功故事背后的艰辛歷程，潘健成说，小时候的他，从来没有想过将来会创业、会赚大钱，而现在，他有了成果，证明马来西亚的华文教育并没有失败，不是像大家想的一样没前途，反而可以让他的人生，走出不一样的路。