March 1st, 2009

MBG Fruit Shop has grown from strength to strength since it was first conceptualized in 2005. In a short
span of time, this first of its kind shop has sprouted from its humble beginning in the wet market on
Jalan Imbi to todays 16 outlets in the major shopping malls, eateries and bazaars around Klang
Valley,Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.A business that has been passed on to the 3rd generation now, MBG
Fruit Shop has attained a very strong and loyal support from its ever expanding customer base. This is
attributed to 3 key success factors:

Fresh & Premium Quality

Our tagline Everyday Fresh means that we are committed to maintain our fruits to its best quality and
freshness by replenishing the supply everyday in all our outlets. We have a team of procurement staff
that will wake up in the wee hours of the morning to source for various kind of local and imported fruits
in the wholesale markets as well as directly from growers across the country. All our fruits are then
carefully selected and checked at our distribution centre before being dispatched to the respective
outlets.

Value for Money

We strive to provide the best value of money for all our fruits, be it local or imported. Besides fresh
fruits, we are also selling cut fruits and fruits juice as well as providing extra services like fruit basket as
gift and home delivery. Our friendly staff at the outlets will be more than happy to share with you
regarding all our services and promotions.

Money Back Guarantee

That is what MBG stands for! We always believe that customers satisfaction is our no. 1
priority. Therefore, we vow to refund money or to exchange the returned fruit for another if you ever
have any complaint. No question will be asked and this is the guarantee from us.To enjoy and
experience the Everyday Fresh taste and Money Back Guarantee deal, you are most welcomed to
all our outlets near you.

And do feel free to visit our website from time to time to check out for the latest openings and news
update.Thank you.

About MBG
MBG means Money Back Guarantee, an unprecedented concept within the fruit business. It means every
customer who makes a purchase at MBGs outlets can be refunded within 7 days(with a receipt/proof of
purchase) should they be not satisfied with the quality of their purchase.
MBG is a Quality Value-driven leader in the Malaysia fruit shop chain that we promise quality as a priority.
MBG carries 250 varieties of fresh fruits including local and imported fruits.
We are also well-known for our fruit basket, fresh fruit juices and cut fruits.

Our Purpose
MBG stands for Money Back Guarantee.
We make sure every customer get the best products from us. We will also continue to improve the quality of
the products for the best benefit of our customers.

Our Culture
Our MBG-Culture is Honesty
Being truthful to our customers is our practice. You could count on our words. Thus, bring us on par to be one
of the best companies in the nation.

Our Principle
The Managing Director, Adnan Lee gives the company a sense of honor and a set of virtues that are equally
important in managing both business and life.
The Lee familys 3 Basic Beliefs: HYGIENE, EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE & QUALITY
PRODUCTS is strongly enforced into the business.

Our Operation
There are 34 outlets operating in Kuala Lumpur to date. More than 300 staffs are serving more than 4 million
customers per year. We provide healthy fruits to help in creating a healthy society.

MISSION
To offer Total Customer Services Satisfaction

VISION
To improve Quality of Life for MBG Staff
CORE VALUES
Honesty, Respect, Determination

Shop Concept
MBG has always place high priority in our shop concept. Quality has been our main focus thus our shop
design and products are carefully selected. More than just a fruit shop, MBG prides in its exceptional standard
in the fruit industry. MBG sells not only fresh fruits but a range of fruit orientated products as well.

MILESTONES
It all began when Adnan Lees grandfather emigrated from China and became a fruit seller in Petaling Street in
1950s. The business was handed over to Lees father, who started a fruit stall at a market in the Bukit Bintang
area where Lot 10 is located, in the 1990s.
It was 1994 that Lee officially took over. Then in 2005, he opened his first store in a shopping mall in Avenue
K, Jalan Ampang. He now has 17 outlets throughout the Klang Valley and Malacca and the number is still
increasing.
Year 1975
The first stall location was at Jalan Petaling which was formally known as Petaling Street an area renowned
as an early trading centre in Kuala Lumpur until today.

Year 1985
The business was later passed down to Mr. Lee Ying Cheong (Adnans father). He opened a fruit store in the
Bukit Bintang area where Lot 10 shopping centre is located (one of the capital citys famous landmark built in
the 90s).
Year 1994
The first small store was opened at Pasar Bukit Bintang when Mr Adnan Lee was 19 years old.

Year 2004
The business was given a new breath and grew by leaps and bounds under Mr Adnan when he took over the
business officially in 1995. His first success was the opening of the first MBG fruits outlet in Avenue K
shopping mall located at Jalan Ampang in 2004.
Year 2010
MBG subsequently expanded its outlet by opening in Klang Valley, Malacca and China (in Xiamen, China in
2010). Accolades and awards followed naturally.

Year 2011
MBG Fruits has 18 over outlets and Mr Adnan has planned to open more outlets within and outside the
country.
Year 2012
In 2012, MBG opened a new headquarter in Kota Damansara for better business operations and developed the
management team.

Year 2013
In 2013, MBG focused on staff development. Talent Community Club was the formed and first edition of
MBG Achievement magazine was launched.

Year 2014
In 2014, MBG launched Staff Transformation Entrepreneur Program (STEP) from franchise model.
Who would have imagined that the successful fruit chain MBG Fruits came from
humble beginnings?

DO you know what MBG stands for? I hear a deep voice ask as I stand by the
colourful spread at the MBG Fruits kiosk on the ground floor of Tropicana City
Mall in KL waiting for the owner to arrive for an interview. It is him, Adnan Lee.

It stands for money back guarantee, he says.

MBGs fruit business has flourished since its early days in the 1970s. Now with
16 outlets in the Klang Valley and one in Malacca, it caters to a wide clientele
which includes customers who purchase directly, order online and even
employees who receive fruits from their company as a form of staff benefit.

You may have seen these MBG booths which are typically located on the ground
floor of a shopping mall or commercial building. Branding has certainly done this
family business justice.

We believe in providing quality fruits. In fact, were so committed to that standard

The booths have two main sections: one for fresh fruit, and another for juicing. To
keep the juices healthy, no sugar is added.

The business really began in the 1960s when a family of mainland Chinese
immigrants were starting afresh in Kuala Lumpur. Family head Lee Foo, who was
struggling to make ends meet as a labourer, decided to sell fruits from a stall in
the streets of KL. It was a timely decision. Lees business prospered as local
residents responded to his friendly demeanour, and the better income helped him
and his wife raise their eight children in a squatter settlement in Jalan Bukit
Bintang.

Eventually, one of his sons Adnans father took over the business. He would
bring the children to help out at the stall during weekends and school holidays.
My kids could use a lesson on hard work and determination, hed decided.
Unbeknownst to him at that time, his eldest child Adnan dreamed of expanding
the business.
Ive always liked the arts such as interior design and advertising. Branding this
business has been a good avenue for me to channel my penchant and its also a
fulfilling challenge, says Adnan, who was just 25 when the vision came to him.

All we had was a small peddling business; not an empire for me to take over,
he adds.

Adnan, now 35, talks about hard work and farsightedness, a trait he feels is
lacking in many individuals.

SRP (now PMR) was the highest level of formal education I received but I
compensated by being focused even as a boy. To this day, that focus is
translated into my business. I decided that this will strictly be a retail business
and so far, we have managed to keep things systematic and under control
because of that focus.

Things have been happening fast in the agriculture industry in the past decade.
The (then) prime minister was promoting the agriculture industry and supporting
it by introducing high technology farming techniques. Fruit seedlings that
previously could not survive our climate now could. Thanks to that, our local fruit
base has broadened; we can now successfully plant our own dragon fruit, rock
melon, passion fruit and cherry tomato, Adnan says.

However, customers pay a premium price for MBG Fruits. Adnan explains that it
is because of the quality of taste and appearance, and the assurance of a full
refund not too much to ask of customers who have little time to spare. All they
need to do is simply place an order at the MBG website at a minimum purchase
of RM50. Delivery is on the same day or early the next at a charge of RM2.

We keep the delivery charge low because we want to encourage people to

MBG Fruits is not just about the food. We are supportive of young people being
a part of the fruit industry. And wed like to see our local fruit industry grow: its
beneficial for everyone, says Adnan.

MBG Fruits human resources manager Hasnie Sidek attests to this.

It was the same with 26-year-old Wan Ahmad. He started out as a stall worker
but diligence and good work ethics caught Adnans attention, and he worked his
way up to the position of marketing executive. The company considers personal
development of its employees as a sign of success.

And now it is venturing abroad. Last month, MBG Fruits opened its first overseas
outlet in Xiamen, China.

Weve been preparing for this the past six to seven years. The same concept
and system will be used. More than merely exporting our products, we want to
brand our system, Adnan says.

He takes his cue from another chain Nelsons. Many people didnt think that
you could possibly capitalise on corn but its evident how well Nelsons is doing.
Its big in Malaysia and has even gone into 14 other countries. Similarly, MBG
Fruits has come a long way and going international is just the beginning, Adnan
concludes.

Our Managing Director, has been interview by Petrina Fernandez, THE EDGE
journalist about the philosophies and practices that turned his business from a humble
stall in a market into a modern enterprise with a new regional footprint. Lets find out!

Strolling around a shopping mall, surrounded by all things sweet, salty and savoury,
an intriguing display of colours from the MBG Fruit Shop might catch your eye.
Bunches of grapes, bananas and longan are juxtaposed with fat dragon fruits, fragrant
mangoes and punnets of berries. In a glass case fronting the store, sliced papaya, pear,
kiwi, ciku and melon promise to please the palate. Apart from freshly squeezed juices
and generous fruit baskets, the store also carries healthy snacks and ingredients, from
raw honey andmangosteen nectar to dried fruits and seeds. You see, we take one
resource and market it in multiple ways, says founder Adnan Lee of the various
expressions of fruit his stores flaunt. We are in his office, a nofrills room above a
warehouse in Kota Damansara. The interior is crowded with delivery maps and
schedules, shift rotas, employee achievements and company goals pinned up. It is a
busy, overwhelming space with matching high energy. Lee drives much of the
informal tone here, slinging an arm over theshoulder of a colleague who walks him to
his office and exchanging cheerful banter with staff who pop their heads in through
his door. It wasnt always like this, he says,picking up the conversation where we
left off. In the old days, traditional fruit sellers used to only sell a single
product according to season langsat, duku or rambutan, or imported apples,oranges
and grapes when local fruitswere in short supply. They would be purchased
wholesaleand sold at markets such as Pasar Seni, Pasar Imbior, later, the Selayang
market.

The Lee family fruit trade started when the entrepreneurspaternal grandparents
migrated to Malaysia from China during World War II.They lived in a squatter
settlement in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.To earn a living, his grandfather worked
as a rickshaw driver, ferrying customers to Bukit Bintang and from Bukit Bintang to
the Pudu market, among the earliest and busiest markets in the area. As he watched
customers return with their purchases, he too began buying fruitsfor his wife to sell in
front of their house, where shespent her days looking after their seven children. So,
my fathers parents sold fruits and my mothers parents, who also moved here from
China, were vegetable farmers. It was inevitable that I would eventually go on this
path, I think, laughs Lee. In those days, children tended to just follow in the
footsteps of their elders, so all my grandfathers children went into the fruit business.
We built strong relationships with our suppliers and customers over the years. I
inherited some of the strength of that legacy whenmy turn came.

his uncles and aunts pursued their own interests but his father continued in the fruit
trade. Lee remembers him owning five stalls at various markets, overseen
byassistants.The food retail business underwent a shift in the early 1990s with the
emergence of supermarkets as investors brought in chains like Carrefour and Jusco.
Competition between the vendors at traditional markets and these glossy new retail
spaces was furious, with the latter quickly dominating the former in variety and
volume. I was running the stall at Pasar Imbi at the time, in 1994, recalls Lee. I
was 19, not long out of school. My parents were still active in the business then and
would continue to be so for the next decade. They taught me what to do and the three
of us would share the profits. I started with rambutan and made RM30 in sales on my
first day; my mother would pocket RM2,000 to RM3,000 in the same number of
hours.Lee was not one to be idle. He quickly learnt the ropes and in three years, his
sales figures caught up with those of his mothers before he began earning more than
her. My mum was running the stall at Pasar Pudu and I was then at Pasar Baru in
Bukit Bintang. Competition where I was was far higher, so I had to work harder and
smarter, he laughs. I also had the advantage of youth everyone around me had
been there far longer than I had and were very set in their ways. Keen to shake things
up, Lee developed a gamechanging strategy at the time by deciding to widen his
offerings.I went from just selling rambutan to carrying mangosteens and langsat too.
Customers began making larger purchases and I was selling out faster. I expanded my
physical space to cater for the demand and brought in more fruits. The highest amount
I made in a single day then was RM60,000, when I had almost 40 varieties on offer.
He continued introducing new rules to the game to the astonishment of the longtime
vendors around him. In 1997, he implemented measures that would be the precursors
to the practices at MBG employees were given uniforms he had designed himself
using his talent and interest in graphic design; a cashier system was introduced at the
stall so customers had to queue to pay; and he also designed a logo for the stall to
make it instantly recognizable. The brand was born.

Customers would always, always ask if the fruits were sweet and I would always
give the same answer:

If you dont like the fruit, I will give you back your money, says Lee. It is hard not
to like and respect him; though his English is slightly halting, he speaks with natural
authority and looks you straight in the eye. Thats where the name MBG comes from
it stands for Money Back Guarantee. And we live up to it. Such unorthodox
practices were bound to attract attention and in 2003, the owner of a shopping mall
approached him with the idea of opening a kiosk in his building. Always up for
experimenting, Lee agreed.

This proved to be the blueprint for MBGs success story, bridging the gap between
whole fruits sold at wet markets and supermarkets. Sliced, readytoeat fruits were hard
to come by in airconditioned retail spaces while traditional sellers of these mostly
operated in public spaces outdoors, offering a limited variety of cut fruits from small,
cooled cases. Lee brought a holistic, slightly upmarket touch to the scene with his
wellstocked displays and varied fruity expressions. Starting out in the markets also
taught me good customer service, says Lee.Supermarkets are selfservice and being
assisted in your browsing and purchases makes a big difference. I opened my first
store in a shopping mall and became known as a specialised fruit retailer with a
moneybackguarantee policy. In just over a dozen years, MBG has grown its
enterprise to almost 40 points of sale, ranging from shopping malls to hospitals and
LRT stations. Locations range from highincome to modest venues, catering for a wide
audience with its competitive pricing. Peoplemostly frequent shopping malls over the
weekend, so we draw good sales from those venues then while the kiosks at the LRT
stations see brisk business at peakhours on weekdays, the managing director reveals.

You need to recognise windows of opportunity, to go out and find your customers.
We know our market and our customers routines. At the LRT stations, for
instance,we see greater sales of sliced fruit and juices before working hours and
higher sales of whole fruits in the evening. We set up shop in venues people visit
regularly for a reason, which is why you wont see us at touristy locations catering for
oneoff customers. Executing the strategies he conceives is a team of over 100
employees. Lee goes to great lengths to keep them motivated and happy, recently
developing a fiveyear mission targeted at improving their quality of life.This is not
determined by money, he is quick to state. Rather, staff perform better and find
greater joy in working when they feel fulfilled, recognised and appreciated. Happy
staff translate into better customer service, which in turn means more business and
greater benefits for employees. Lee evaluates staff according to behavioural
competency values and those who show improvements or produce results are
rewarded with incentives such as holidays,which are even extended to their parents.
It really motivates and encourages them when they see their parents treated to
something for their hard work; it instils pride and touches their hearts, he says. The
growth of his business depends on a high volume of people. My company cannot be
run by systems and technology; its a people business. Because of that, we need to
invest in people development. Your employees are your brand. Lee touches base
with staff at each level every quarter to discuss the companys direction, issues faced
and positive anecdotes. An entrepreneurial programme for staff is also in the works.
Employees typically want to move in one of two directions they either progress to
join management or want to be entrepreneurs, he continues. Wouldbe entrepreneurs
may not be highly educated but they are very skilled and hardworking. We want to
create a platform for

them to have those opportunities through franchise models. If you are patient and can
prove yourself, we will help you. Management development is another priority, with
Lee running onetoone, twohour weekly coaching sessions with his top managers. And
he needs a strong management team wellversed in the ways and culture of the brand
to hold the fort in the Klang Valley while he works on a new market Indonesia.
This is not his first time venturing outside Malaysia. In 2010, he attempted to break
into the Chinese market but challenges beyond his predictions saw him lose half his
investment. Indonesia seems a surer bet and to make certain the gamble pays off this
time, he is spending 30% of his time getting MBG off the ground there. Its a
different ballgame altogether in Indonesia, he muses.I become a micromanager
there,doing the things I did here 10 years ago to form a solid foundation for the brand.
Im learning from scratch, trying to understand the local business culture and
practices. And to develop a strong company culture, values and systems, you have to
exemplify these yourself first, become a role model. Many people forget that change
starts with themselves. Having to go back to the basics there is good sometimes
youre so used to looking at the macro that you forget the micro. Relearning the
foundation of the brand reminds me of some of the good ideas we have forgotten
along the way. Challenges come in many forms and financial limitations are
common in this line of business,from high operating costs to relatively low buying
power on the home front. Lee strives to keep prices affordable. Profit margins are
low. After taxes, we make maybe 2% to 3% in profits, but we sell high volumes so
that cushions us. But there are circumstances beyond his control. For one, changing
weather patterns means changing growing conditions for fruits, he points out. That
is a challenge for our suppliers, which affects us too. Smaller production of fruits by
farmers drives prices up and sometimes, consumers just have to accept that. Its not
that the farmers are being difficult; theyre trying to adapt to the changing
environment. Today, so many people want to live the city dream and few want to
work in the fields, but everyone also wants to eat. And those who are doing the hard
work, who are planting your grains and fruits, if they are not sufficiently incentivised
or cant afford to support themselves,everyone loses. Its a circle.Theres nothing
wrong with farmers commanding appropriate prices and becoming more financially
stable or even rich. Maybe when people see farmers making money, they too will
want to pursue a similar path and we can achieve a better supplyanddemand
equilibrium.

It is these new challenges and developments that keep Lee engrossed in the business.
He learnt early on that hard work pays, literally, and consequently does not mind
putting in the hours and making the sacrifices necessary to succeed. I started working
with my parents at 19, he says. In the early years, I was working 16hour days, 363
days a year but I earned my first RM1 million at 25.1 paid for everything in cash
buying and renovating my house, getting married. Many of my classmates had gone
on to promising careers after school, some in the corporate line or selling cars.They
earned a good living too but some lived expensive lifestyles. I didnt have many
needs. Someone once asked me how I made my way and how they could do it too. I
said, Jual buah, lah