Foresight

Foresight can be define as an ability to predict or plan for the future, often termed “vision” in management or business context. The entrepreneurs have a good foresight to know about future business environment. In other words, they well visualize the likely changes to take place in market, consumer attitude and taste, technological developments, etc. and take necessary and timely actions accordingly.

Tan Sri Anthony Francis "Tony" Fernandes, popularly known as Tony Fernandes, presents an excellent example of business foresight. Tan Sri Anthony Francis "Tony" Fernandes, CBE (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., who introduced the first budget no-frills airline, AirAsia, to Malaysians with the tagline "Now everyone can fly". Fernandes managed to turn AirAsia, a failing government-linked commercial airline, into a highly successful budget airline public-listed company. He has since founded the Tune Group of companies.

It was through Datuk Pahamin A. Rejab, the former secretary-general of the Malaysian Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry that Fernandes came to meet with then Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in October 2001. Instead of starting from scratch, Mahathir advised Fernandes to buy an existing airline. AirAsia, the heavily indebted subsidiary of the Malaysian government-owned conglomerate, DRB-Hicom, was losing money. Fernandes mortgaged his home and used his personal savings to acquire the company, comprising two Boeing 737-300 jet aircraft and debts of US$11 million (RM40 million), for one ringgit (about 26 US cents), and transformed it into an industry player. One year after his takeover, AirAsia had broken even and cleared all its debts. Its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2004 was oversubscribed by 130 per cent. Fernandes says his timing was in fact perfect: after 11 September 2001, aircraft leasing costs fell 40%. Also, airline lay-offs meant experienced staffs were readily available. He believed Malaysian travellers would embrace a cut-rate air service that would save them time and money, especially in a tight economy. Fernandes estimates about 50 per cent of the travellers on Asia’s budget airlines are first-time flyers. Before the advent of AirAsia, he estimated that only six per cent of Malaysians had ever travelled by air.

As conclusion, all of these are already prove that Tony Fernandes consist of the entrepreneurial traits of foresight. This is because Tony Fernandes has an ability to predict or plan for the future, just like why he acquired the heavily indebted airline by only one ringgit. Hence, the result is the Forbes Asia valued Fernandes' net worth at $650 million, ranking him at number 28 on the Forbes list of Malaysia's Richest.

(Tan Sri Anthony Francis "Tony" Fernandes & logo of AirAsia.)