Kuan Kam Hon was born in 1947 in Kuala Lumpur, a city that he still calls home today. He dropped out of high school and began working in his father’s construction business, building homes for the affluent sectors of Kuala Lumpur. After nine years there, he left to set up his own company in 1979 – Timol Weaving, a business that concentrated on producing woven badges and labels. Two years later in 1981 he changed tack again, this time to found Hartalega Holdings.

Hartalega produced firstly rubber, and then synthetic gloves that were used in the medical industry, and with fears around the spread of AIDS the business grew exponentially. It is now the world’s leading manufacturer of nitrile rubber gloves, with production expected to hit 42 billion gloves annually. Kuan Kam Hon owns just under 50% of the company.