Vijay Eswaran

Vijay Eswaran
Personal details
Born 7 October 1960
Penang, Malaysia
Occupation Executive Chairman of QI Group of Companies
Religion Hindu

Vijay Eswaran (born 7 October 1960) is a Malaysian businessman,[1] currently serving as the Executive Chairman of the QI Group, headquartered in Hong Kong. He is also an author.[2]

Early life

Vijay Eswaran was born in Penang on 7 Oct 1960 to Pushpavathy Chinnaiah, a teacher and Vijayaratnam Saravanamuthu, who was with the MALAYSIAN Ministry of Labour.[3] Vijayaratnam's work with the Labour Ministry had the family moving to different parts of Malaysia during Vijay Eswaran's childhood.

Vijay Eswaran graduated with a socio-economic degree from the London School of Economics in 1984. Thereafter he stayed on in Europe for a year and did several odd jobs, including working on a construction site in Belgium, plucking grapes in France and driving a cab in London. It was in the UK that he was introduced to binary system marketing, and that prompted him to obtain a professional qualification from CIMA in the UK, followed by an MBA from the Southern Illinois University in 1986.[4] At this time he was involved in multilevel marketing (MLM) on a part-time basis while working for Synaptics in the U.S.. It wasn't until his return to Malaysia, where he was approached by the Cosway Group to start its Philippines business, that he began looking at MLM more seriously.[5]

QI group

In 1998, after his return to Asia, he co-founded a multilevel marketing company that would eventually grow and expand into what is today the QI Group, an e-commerce based conglomerate with businesses in travel, media, telecommunications, luxury products, wellness, training, and corporate investments.[6] The QI Group has regional offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and a presence in nearly 10 countries through a wide range of subsidiary companies.[7]

Speaker and author

Vijay Eswaran has spoken at management and business forums such as the sixth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in India,[8] and the World Economic Forum.[9][10]

His first book In the Sphere of Silence, was published in 2005.[11] It explains his personal life management philosophy and his habit of starting each day with an hour of silence.[12][13] Eswaran has also developed an interactive program called the Thought of the Day, or TOD Program.[14] His second book, In the Thinking Zone, a collection of thoughts and reflections on life, was released in May 2008. His third book, 18 Stepping Stones, was launched in 2010. On the Wings of Thought, a collection of his photography, was released in 2011.[15]

Philanthropy

Vijay Eswaran has also established the RYTHM Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of the QI group.[16] In Malaysia, Vijay Eswaran has established a charitable organization, the Vijayaratnam Foundation, which is named after his father.[17] Through these foundations Vijay Eswaran has initiated community programs, such as mentorship,[18] and has also made donations to individuals and charities.[19]

In the July 2011 issue of Forbes Asia, he was named as one of 48 'Heroes of Philanthropy' in the region.[20]

Awards and accolades

In February 2013, Vijay Eswaran was named in Forbes Asia's Malaysia's 50 Richest at Number 25.[21] In 2012 Eswaran was given the New Global Indian (NGI) award for philanthropy and business excellence at the Global Indian Business Meet (GIBM) in New York.,[22][23]

Controversies

In May 2007 The International Herald Tribune reported his arrest on an Interpol warrant.[24] A dispute in Manila, Philippines filed by two former partners of the original founding team was escalated to an alleged ‘offence’ leading to an Interpol Red alert listing of four directors. These included the two main founders, Vijay Eswaran, who was then Group Managing Director and Joseph ‘Japa’ Bismark, Founding Director. The case was fought out substantially in the courts of Manila and Jakarta. After three weeks, Indonesian courts released him; a Manila court dismissed the charge soon afterward.[25] His name features in the list of people against whom lookout notice has been issued by Mumbai police in India.[26] Recently his name cropped up among the names database leaked in the infamous Panama Papers.[27]

In the infamous GoldQuest scam case of 2008 in Chennai,India, where thousands of investors lost money, Vijay Eswaran, was charged as an absconding accused in the chargesheet filed by the police before the Magistrate Court.[28] In August 2013, a newspaper in India reported that Vijay Eswaran was being investigated by the Economic Offences wing in regards to Qnet, which he founded.[29] The Economic Offences Wing issued lookout notice against Eswaran and a few others, after he failed to appear before the authorities for questioning.[30] [31] Police have frozen six of Qnet's bank accounts in the country.[32] The Enforcement Directorate in 2014 registered a case of money laundering against Vijay Eswaran and his company Qnet.[33] Though there is a Red Corner notice pending against Eswaran, he is yet to be arrested and brought to India.[34] In an interview about the charges, Vijay Eswaran has denied any wrongdoing, and dismissed the claims as being indicative of corruption and poor journalistic standards in India. Qnet has also stated that Vijay Eswaran is neither director, nor shareholder of Qnet's Indian franchise(Vihaan Direct Selling Pvt. Ltd.).[35]

Personal life

He is married to Umayal Eswaran who is the Chairperson of the Vijayaratnam Foundation.[36]

References

  1. ↑ "Commonwealth Business Council: Peoples: Vijay Eswaran". Commonwealth Business Council. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  2. ↑ "Vijay Eswaran – In The Sphere Of Silence". Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  3. ↑ "About Mr Vijayaratnam". Vijayaratnam Foundation. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  4. ↑ "Vijay Eswaran: Home page". Vijay Eswaran. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  5. ↑ Vincent, Anne (October 2009). "Datuk Vijay Eswaran sets the record straight" (PDF). Business Today. vol 9 (issue 10). Malaysia. pp. 22–26. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  6. ↑ "Hong Kong's QI Group builds on Thai "destination" plans". Hong Kong Trade Development Council. 3 April 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  7. ↑ http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness.php?id=526679) BERNAMA – Qi Group's Sales Value To Surpass US$1 Billion By Year-End
  8. ↑ "India poised to become education hub, says Sibal". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 9 January 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  9. ↑ "WEF Contributor Profile". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  10. ↑ "Asian Netizens Are Changing The Face of Social Movements". Jakarta Globe.
  11. ↑ http://www.inthesphereofsilence.com/about-us/
  12. ↑ "Advice from the Top: CEO succeeds through silence". USA Today. 19 November 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  13. ↑ Maidment, Paul (22 March 2007). "Book Review: The Sound Of Silence". Forbes.com LLC. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  14. ↑ "The thought of the day". vijayeswaren.com. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
  15. ↑ On the Wings of Thought by Dato’ Vijay Eswaran Archived 26 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ "RYTHM Foundation supports Bihar flood rehabilitation projects". UNICEF India. n.d. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  17. ↑ "Vijayaratnam Foundation: About Us". Vijayaratnam Foundation. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  18. ↑ "Boosting child development". The Star.
  19. ↑ "Cheer for children with cancer". The Star online. 20 October 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
  20. ↑ "48 Heroes Of Philanthropy". Forbes. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  21. ↑ "Vijay Eswaran Forbes Profile". Forbes Asia.
  22. ↑ "Vijay Eswaran Gets Award From Indian Diaspora In New York". The Malaysian Times.
  23. ↑ "Malaysia's Gandhian Entrepreneur". Gulf News.
  24. ↑ "Report: Indonesian ex-president helps catch Malaysian businessman in fraud case". International Herald Tribune. 7 May 2007. Archived from the original on 12 May 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2010. (Sourced from the Wayback Machine.)
  25. ↑ Frazier, Donald (2012-10-24). Forbes Asia http://www.forbes.com/sites/donaldfrazier/2012/10/24/selling-a-better-life/. Retrieved 15 January 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  26. ↑
  27. ↑
  28. ↑
  29. ↑ "EOW makes first arrest in QNet case - The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  30. ↑
  31. ↑
  32. ↑ "Cops freeze 6 bank accounts of marketing firm - The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  33. ↑
  34. ↑
  35. ↑ "Vijay Eswaran denies fraud allegations". The Edge Financial Weekly.
  36. ↑ "Board of Governance". Vijayaratnam Foundation. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
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