10 11today on sunday sunday July 10, 2011 today on sunday sunday July 10, 2011

A tough early life spurred conglomerate boss Mohamed Abdul Jaleel to set up a foundation for charity

He left school at the age of 14, taking

on odd jobs to supplement the family

income.

Dropping out of Whitley Secondary

was not a tough choice for Mr Mohamed

Abdul Jaleel to make back in the 1970s —

his father ran a sundry shop near Stamford

Road and, despite slogging long hours with-

out an assistant, his income of S$6 to S$7

per day was not enough to feed the family

of seven. The family did not own or rent

a place, sleeping instead on plywood or

table-tops at his father’s shop and bathing

in public places.

So Mr Jaleel, the only son out of five

children, took it upon himself to grow the

domestic kitty. He earned about $3 a day

serving tea, sweeping, and washing dishes.

He was without much education, but the

young lad knew he wanted greater things

out of life. “I told my father, ‘I don’t like to

be in the shop from morning till night, it’s

like a prison’. I wanted something moving,

something enterprising,” he said.

How his fortunes have turned. Through

sheer industry and the seizing of opportuni-

ties deemed too unglamorous by others, Mr

Jaleel is today founder and chief executive

of the MES Group, a conglomerate whose

businesses include the construction and

maintenance of foreign worker dormitories.

His break came soon after quitting

school, when he was hired as a car washer

by Sum Cheong Piling’s then-boss, Mr Low

Sum. Sum Cheong was involved in a project

near City Hall and Mr Low would park

his car near Mr Jaleel’s father’s shop. “He

blessed me with my first job,” said Mr Jaleel

of Mr Low.

From there, Mr Jaleel was tasked with

more “small jobs” like cleaning and mainte-

nance of drainage, cranes and piling equip-

ment. He wasn’t afraid of making mistakes,

as long as they were quickly rectified — a

philosophy that is still clearly displayed

today via inspirational posters pasted at the

reception of MES Group’s offices.

“The area I went into, I didn’t know

much about. I just went in without fearing,

with a positive mind, and that I should do

something different from what my father

did,” said the 53-year-old, whose compa-

nies last year had about S$100 million in

turnover in Singapore alone. MES Group’s

portfolio also includes logistics and com-

modities trading.

Asked how he diversified his business

from its early days of construction manpow-

er recruitment and sub-contracted work,

Mr Jaleel said: “No job was small for me ...

I thought, whoever doesn’t want to do (that

job), we should take up — whatever gives a

better profit margin. There’s nothing wrong,

as long as we’re doing an honest living.”

$1 MILLION DONATION EVERY YEARThese days, Mr Jaleel no longer works 16-

hour days. He heads to his Bukit Merah

office at about 10am and leaves at 7pm for

home at Jervois Road. One suspects, how-

ever, that he has lost none of the dynamism

of his early days.

Mr Jaleel opens all mail the company

receives. Letters like bills clue him in to the

company’s day-to-day performance, and

his staff know that “if anything goes wrong,

there’ll be a letter straight to me. So they are

very mindful of their work”, he said.

Weekends are reserved for community

and social work, and his appointments

include that of Bishan North citizens’ con-

sultative committee chairman and steer-

ing committee member of the President’s

Challenge.

Through this, Mr Jaleel realised the

need to help Singaporeans who fall through

the cracks. He has come up with S$1 million

of his own money for the new SM Jaleel

Foundation — to be launched by President

S R Nathan today.

His company will contribute an

additional $500,000 to the Foundation,

From earning s$3 a day to donating s$1million a yeardownload the free tag reader app for your smartphone from http://gettag.mobi and scan the tag, and you’ll be led straight to our video interview with mohamed abdul Jaleel.

‘I told my father, I don’t like to be in the shop from morning till night,

it’s like a prison. I wanted something moving, something enterprising.’

faceinthecrowdneo chai chin

todayonsunday@mediacorp.com.sg

which has earmarked 12 organisations including Mendaki,

Sinda, Assisi Hospice and Down Syndrome Association to

disburse funds to.

He aims to channel S$1 million of his personal wealth

to the Foundation annually. “I went through crisis in my

younger days and education was a problem because of school

fees, books and things like that. I felt this shouldn’t be suf-

fered by the younger generation (of today),” said Mr Jaleel,

who still favours Bangkok-bought “cheap” shirts over suits

and prefers chappal sandals instead of shoes as he prays

five times a day.

The Foundation is named after himself and his father,

Mr Sheikh Mohamed, who died in a traffic accident en route

to a job site in 1985. By then, Mr Jaleel’s business was already

taking off, but the tragedy was “a setback” nonetheless.

(Coincidentally, his mother also died in an accident

earlier this year when the family was on their way back from

visiting an aunt in Kuala Lumpur. The wound is still fresh, and

Mr Jaleel broke down during our interview as he recounted

the guilt of being in the same car as her, and having fallen

asleep in the front passenger seat at the time of the crash.)

He said: “My father and I were just like friends, we

worked as team ... He always disciplined me to be very

straight and very honest — no shortcuts in life, you have to

work for it. I think I was never wrong in his advice.”

No job too small

above: mr Jaleel and family. Below: a younger mr Jaleel. Photos By syaFiqah hamid