Introduction to Entrepreneurship 2016

4. Visionary.

Definition of a visionary is having or showing clear ideas about what should happen or be done in the future or showing a powerful imagination. Visionary entrepreneur means a person must establish a specific direction in the future. The vision should be developed for both the run, whether short term and long term. Entrepreneurs who have the characteristics of a visionary is Tan Sri Anthony Francis or is better known as Tony Fernandes. He always has positive expectations about the future. An entrepreneur has often think that if they work hard they will have success. Entrepreneurs also need to have a vision for and creating goals clear and measurable accomplishment. He must be sensitive to their own abilities and identify internal and external barriers so that obstacles can be overcome.

He was born on 30 April 1964 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to an Indian father from Goa and mother of mixed Indian and Asian- Portuguese descent who had been raised in Malacca, Malaysia. Fernandes was educated at The Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur. Starting at age 12, he studied at Epsom Collage boarding school in English in 1977 to 1983. He matriculated at the London School of Economic and graduate with a degree in accounting. His father named Stephen Edward Fernandes, who is a doctor and her mother names is Ena Dorothy Fernandes who is an entrepreneur.

Although he was born into a well-luxury yet so he does not expect to even his own parents learn to become a successful entrepreneur with his mother. This is because, at a young age, she often followed her mother because her mother's remarkable ability to become an entrepreneur and from there he learned a lot from her mother.

His carrier began when he worked very briefly with Virgin Atlantic as an auditor, then as financial controller at a company owned by Richard Branson, the Virgin Records in London from 2987 until 1989. Upon his return to Malaysia, he was appointed managing director of Warner Music (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. While working in this company he managed to trigger a 'revolution' in ethnic music, nasyid and dangdut into the mainstream music scene. He served in this group from 1992 to 2001, lastly office vice president of the group for the Southeast Asian region.

Fernandes was admitted as Associate Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 1991 and became Fellow Member in 1996. He is currently a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in English and Wales (ICAEW)  in 2008. His career started with Warner Group executive in Malaysia, when he was appointed the youngest managing director of Warner Music Malaysia in 1992. He was the South East Asian regional vice-president for Warner Music Group from 1992 to 2001. When Time Warner Inc announced its merger with America Online Inc., Fernandes left to pursue his dream of starting a budget no-frills airline. In September 2001, Fernandes purchased AirAsia and became its chief executive.

One of the major challenges Tan Sri Tony Fernandes faced was the lack of experience of the airline industry. He had spent the majority of his past career in the music industry with WarnerMusic. When he left his previous job as Managing Director, he had completely no experience of the airline industry. Another challenge that Tan Sri Tony Fernandes faced when starting his own airline company was to obtain an airline licence. Unfortunately, his initial application for an airline licence was rejected by the Malaysian Government. He proceeded to consult then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who advised him to buy an existing airline instead of starting from scratch. Ultimately, it came down to a decision between buying Pelangi Air or AirAsia, and he made the latter decision. Upon acquiring AirAsia, AirAsia was heavily in debt and its assets only included two old aircraft. To make matters worse, AirAsia was struggling and making a loss. And to top it all off, Tony Fernandes had to mortgage his home and use his personal savings to acquire the company.

All the challenges faced above did not deter Tan Sri Tony Fernandes. His main idea of reforming AirAsia as a short-haul low-cost carrier was a major success. He had a clear mission and vision for his company; this is how the tagline ‘Now everyone can fly’ came about. Moreover, he was able to enlist some of the leading low-cost airline experts to restructure AirAsia’s business model. Another major factor was that during his time of acquiring AirAsia, September 11 had just occurred; this caused a reduction in aircraft leasing costs. It was also the perfect opportunity for them to offer customers a cut-rate air service, further saving them time and money

Upon acquiring AirAsia, AirAsia was heavily in debt and its assets only included two old aircraft. To make matters worse, AirAsia was struggling and making a loss. And to top it all off, Tony Fernandes had to mortgage his home and use his personal savings to acquire the company. All the challenges faced above did not deter Tan Sri Tony Fernandes. His main idea of reforming AirAsia as a short-haul low-cost carrier was a major success. He had a clear mission and vision for his company; this is how the tagline ‘Now everyone can fly’ came about. Moreover, he was able to enlist some of the leading low-cost airline experts to restructure AirAsia’s business model. Another major factor was that during his time of acquiring AirAsia, September 11 had just occurred; this caused a reduction in aircraft leasing costs. It was also the perfect opportunity for them to offer customers a cut-rate air service, further saving them time and money

Successful entrepreneurs will design and set the goals and vision of the business in line with the government's vision. for example, Tony Fernandes desperately trying to achieve its business goals and vision to enable him to make his business famous in the eyes of society. Entrepreneurs who have the vision and the goals shows that he also had dreams and ambitions that would be reached in the future. (Rosli Mahmood, 2010)

Fernandes has been awarded the following honours of Given the titles Tan Sri and Dato' Sri by the King of Malaysia, The Legion of Honour order by the French government Named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to promote commercial and educational links" between Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

Besides, Tony Fernandes also has received several awards for his achievements. Tony Fernandes is also known as a visionary leader and he managed to get awards like the "Visionary and Leadership Series" for her work effort in Air Asia. He also made a statement about his vision of a "dream the impossible, believes the unbelievable, and never say no to any answers."

Therefore, visionary allows Tony Fernandes becoming an entrepreneur who has dreams and high ideals to be achieved in the future. In setting goals and vision, entrepreneurs need a thorough research and study as well as efficiency in terms of thinking. They should be sensitive to the ability of the organization internally or externally. In conclusion, the visionaries are features that enable him to be a young and successful entrepreneur.