AGROMATE Holdings Sdn Bhd, an integrated fertiliser manufacturer and distributor, turns 40 this year. Founded in 1979 by Raymond Tang, the company whose first office was a rented lot in Shaw Parade in downtown Kuala Lumpur has grown to become one of the largest fertiliser suppliers in Malaysia, supplying an estimated 25% of all fertilisers used in the country.

Raymond started off by working from the age of 15 for his father in Hoon Thai, a traditional commodities trader based in Kuala Lumpur, carrying heavy sacks of produce with a weekly wage of four ringgit. Raymond’s father, who migrated from Guangzhou to Singapore due to poverty in his homeland, had moved to Malaya after World War II and in 1965 set up his business in Kuala Lumpur.