Tan Sri Koon Poh Keong co-founded and oversees one of Malaysia’s top companies, Press Metal. Established by Koon and his brothers, Press Metal started out as an aluminium-extrusion company that subsequently expanded into upstream aluminium manufacturing. Now it supplies globally to leading tech giants, automotive and aviation industries, and food and beverage companies.

Among the company’s big breakthroughs was its venture into China, where it established an aluminium-extrusion plant that had three times the capacity of its Malaysian operations, which paid off during the country's economic boom. Next came its first aluminium-smelting plant, also in China, and then in Sarawak—Malaysia’s first. By adopting Chinese technology in the smelting plants and signing a long-term deal for cheap hydropower in Sarawak, Koon has managed to also maintain one of the lowest operation costs in the region, giving Press Metal competitive advantage.

Koon foresees plenty of opportunity for growth, with his company only meeting 1 per cent of the world’s aluminium usage at the moment.