Steve Oh
Like his namesake Nehemiah in the Old Testament, a trusted official of King Artaxerxes, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah Lee builds walls for His King Jesus.
“Successful business people are common. But what is uncommon is one who puts principles before profit. This attribute led me to write about Nehemiah Lee, whom I met at a Christian writers’ conference organised by Asian Beacon in Cameron Highlands in 1981. We have kept in touch ever since.
On the day he was born, Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You) was the best-selling record in the U.S. The pop hit’s title sounded like a promise for young Nehemiah Lee Chee Hai. It became evident God was very much with him.
Founder of the patented Nehemiah Wall, a retaining wall system that can be seen on Malaysia’s network of highways, Nehemiah won the Star Soba Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2011 and was a top nominee for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2009 and 2010. In 2013 the U.K. Institution of Civil Engineers awarded Nehemiah, the first Malaysian ever, a gold medal for upholding “high moral principles”.
How he started
“I was facing a mid-life crisis at the age of 40. It occurred to me that if I were to meet God then, I would have nothing much to show for the life He gave me. Struggling with this fearful possibility, I resolved to produce a decent report card for Him. So I left my comfortable job as a general manager of a multinational corporation and plunged into something that I had no idea or training for. With a shoestring budget and no background in business, my only desire was that my business would be the salt and light of the world that people may see my good works and give glory to my Father in heaven. Matt.5:13-16 became my philosophy in business.
Against all odds and doomsayers, the business grew rapidly despite no business plan. I did not know how to prepare one anyway. All I hoped for was not compromising ethical principles and giving customers value for their money.
Cash flow was very tight. For the first six years, we lived from hand to mouth. We did not know how the business grew and why it grew. We just knew God must be pleased with it and hence blessed it. We survived the Asian financial crisis in 1998 and the Global financial crisis in 2008 unscathed. If it were not for the grace of God, the business would have died a thousand times.
Committed to Malaysia
Against the trend, when more than two million Malaysians have permanently left Malaysia’s shores, Nehemiah chose to stay. He made the pivotal decision to remain and serve the country he loves, not only once but twice.
He reminisced, “I did two years pre-university in National Junior College in Singapore. Though offered admission to the National University of Singapore, I chose to return to Malaysia to study at University Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. If I had studied in N.U.S., I might have settled down in Singapore.”
Singapore’s loss was Malaysia’s gain. After graduation and a stint working as an engineer with the Malaysian government, Nehemiah, who had always wanted to study abroad, found himself in the U.S. After completing further studies, he again had to choose between remaining in the U.S. or returning to Malaysia. Unwavering in his commitment to Malaysia, he recounts, “My professor offered me a fellowship to do my PhD in Notre Dame University (where I did my M.Sc. in civil engineering) and at the same time publish papers in technical journals with him to build up my credentials. It was an attractive offer. But I declined because I wanted to use my newly acquired knowledge and skill to serve my homeland.”
Marketplace philosophy
The unassuming engineer has helped build Malaysia while looking for appropriate global markets. With an analytical mind and uncanny discernment, his success story is not confined to making money.
In the dim environment where business ethics are constantly under stress, he has a business ethos often lacking in the usual sordid side of bribes and scams. Staying untainted by unethical practices is a constant challenge for Nehemiah.
He recounts, “We decided from day one that we will conduct business with integrity. That is the main reason why we started the company. Otherwise, I would still be a wage earner and be quite comfortable with that.
“Since bribery is not an option, we worked extra hard. We were prepared to walk away from deals no matter how lucrative. As far as possible, I try to run the business by hard work, perseverance, honesty, keeping promises, caring, humility.” But it was not always that way for him. He admits that he has not always attained God’s highest standards.
Where is God?
Death dealt him a hard blow early in life. Nehemiah lost his father when he was only eighteen months old. Death has a way of awakening the human spirit to seek for answers. In looking back, Nehemiah believes his father’s death had prompted him to find the answer to the proverbial question, “Is there God?”
He pondered, “Why am I here on this earth for? I began searching for God since my childhood days.”
Though his young mother remarried a Christian man, Nehemiah remained an agnostic. As a young boy, he attended his father’s Presbyterian church’s Sunday school. His mother, a school teacher, putting her children in Sunday school was her way of getting some free time from her seven young children.
Nehemiah’s childhood was austere. His step-father was a lumberjack who, through sheer hard work, later owned a small rubber and oil palm smallholding. Having chicken once a year during Chinese New Year was a family treat.
A sign of his financial prudence was how he earned money by giving tuition as a schoolboy. He saved money by staying at his teacher’s servant quarters with two other poor students. From being a needy boy in an obscure new village, Kahang, to head the board of a multi-million ringgit private company has been a long and arduous journey. Childhood poverty had not dimmed his desire for financial independence, but he determined he would not get involved in any questionable deals.
Turning point
Nehemiah’s long search for the truth culminated in 1973 when he responded to an altar call by Pastor Hugh Smith, a Southern Baptist Convention missionary from Missouri, U.S.A.
“I felt compelled to hear what this man had to say because he left the comfort of his home in America to come to a then backward country like Malaysia. Surely his message is worth listening to. The sermon that Sunday morning was about the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years. My search for God was similar. Wandering around fruitless for 20 years. I decided to take a plunge of faith and committed my life to God.”
Lord of all or not at all
Nehemiah, now 68, describes the start of a journey as one filled with struggles. The vicissitudes of the Christian life did not bypass him. He recounts, “The first ten years of my Christian life was a major struggle. I had a lot of doubts. I felt that I was giving up a lot, including my “little ambitions” in order to serve God. What if God is not real? Then I would have wasted my life. But God, in His grace and mercy, repeatedly showed Himself to me through many answered prayers. I reached a stage where I felt that I was being ungrateful to God if I continued doubting him. Worse still, I may anger God. From then on, there was no turning back. I surrendered my all to Him. There were still attempts to take back what I surrendered at the altar. But those occasions are not frequent.” Like the Apostle Paul, he confided he has not attained his goal but is earnest about clinching the victory that he can stand before God and proclaim, “I have surrendered all” with the hope that God will say to him, “Well done, my child”.
Business and family
Nehemiah reveals, ” I am a driven person, and it is easy for me to let work dominate my life. So I have to draw some boundaries. Firstly, I don’t bring work home. If I am too busy for the family, then I am really too busy. Then I need to cut down on work. If the business suffers, so be it. Secondly, I observe the Sabbath religiously – I don’t work on Sundays. I work hard six days and rest on the seventh.”
He attributes his success also to his wife Wendy, who is more calm and composed. She helps him with occasional legal advice and works behind the scenes giving him emotional support.
Work and pray
Beyond his business, he is involved in helping others. A social enterprise he co-founded with a group of friends called The Encubators seeks to transform the market by multiplying Biblical entrepreneurs. Presently, he is working with a group of like-minded friends to start a venture capital enterprise to help S.M.E.s (Small & Medium Enterprise) weather the tough times and grow their businesses to the next level.
All work and no pray makes a Christian worldly, so Nehemiah was for some years the “de-facto pastor” of a small Baptist church. Putting his love for God into action, he helped initiate free tuition and guidance in a poor village. He states, “Christians have extra responsibilities to love our neighbours. The have-nots suffer more than the haves in this pandemic. If within our means, give generously to those in need.”
Practical tips to business folks
Asked how his business success advances the Kingdom of God, he said, “People can see the grace of God in my life through my business. I have received favours upon favours from God, all undeserved. God has given me many opportunities to testify of His goodness and power through various platforms like radio, T.V., printed media, talks and forums. Hopefully, some are drawn closer to the Kingdom of God through my testimonies.”
Reflecting a sound biblical and practical engineer’s mind, he advises, “During this pandemic, tighten your belt. Watch out for cash flow. Work hard on collection and minimise cost. Be very careful not to get infected with covid19. Get vaccinated as quickly as possible for every staff in the company. Pay for the vaccinations if necessary. It is cheaper than getting infected.”
What of the future?
He says, “I am an unworthy servant, loved by the Almighty God who is worthy of my wholehearted devotion and worship. I pray I will stay healthy to enlarge my sphere of influence for the Kingdom’s sake, to make my life count till He calls me home. And not forgetting to enjoy leisure and family time, especially with the next generations with my three daughters, two sons-in-law and five grandchildren.
Vaya Con Dios! (May God Be With You)
Steve Oh describes himself as a servant of God, a ‘sinner saved by the grace of Jesus Christ.
