Open Risk Taker – Tony Fernandes

The risk is the possibilities that something bad or unpleasant may happen in the future. But as an entrepreneur, he or she must dare to take a risk. This is because who are afraid to take risk may lose some opportunity to success. Therefore, risk-taking is a very important part in the entrepreneurial life. Someone who wants to be a success entrepreneur must brave and willing to take the risk when making a decision. We can see that Tony Fernandes is an open risk taker.

Tony Fernandes is the co-founder of AirAsia Airline, which is a budget no fills airline, with a slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly”. Tony Fernandes was born in Kuala Lumpur on 30 April 1964. After he graduated his study, he had a fixed high salary paid. But, Tony was a person who had an appetite for taking risk. He was willing to leave his work and moved into the uncertain world of airline industry due to pursuing his childhood dream.

Tony want to open a discount carrier in his home country, Malaysia, but he could not get a license. Therefore, he decided to purchase AirAsia, which a near-bankrupt, stated-owned company with two jets and US$ 11 million in debt. He mortgaged his house and used his personal saving to acquire AirAsia. At that time, most lenders and industry analysts thought that he will fail and could be worse. Nevertheless, Tony did not shrink from this. This is because he think that “anything is possible”.

Tony proved that he was correct and the critics who said he will fail were wrong. AirAsia succeeded. In his lead, AirAsia miraculously broke even. He turned it into a profitable airline within two years. He reforming the airline as a short-haul low cast carrier, similar to those operating in foreign airlines. This makes AirAsia expanded quickly and now has steadily posted solid profit. Nowadays, AirAsia flies to over 20 countries around the world.

Tony Fernandes showed that if someone want to succeed, he or she must dare to take risk and try new thing. We must be confident when doing something, and must believe that nothing is impossible.