Sazali Hamzah joined Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, PETRONAS, in 1990 as an engineer. He progressed through roles involving process and planning, advancing to various management positions within refineries. His vast exposure to day-to-day plant operations, plant turnarounds and project implementation over 27 years provided the perfect foundation of technical, operational and project management knowledge when he took over as CEO of PETRONAS’s petrochemical entity PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG) in 2014.
His on-the-job training has been supplemented by attending a senior management program at London Business School in 2006 and the Advanced Management Program at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 2013. But his real inspiration came from home.
Inspired leadership
As Sazali elaborates: “I’m really fortunate that I have gone through a life full of enriching experiences. In my early days, I was taught the value of a difficult life: the rewards of hard work and learning to appreciate the basic needs of life. My parents have been my greatest role models.” He continues to say that his inspiration for a career leading people has come from many sources.
“From a very timid village boy, I was then exposed to the world when I studied abroad. That really broadened my perspective on people, culture and beliefs. It pushed me hard to be independent, resourceful, and creative, and to grab opportunities at the right time. Married life then taught me to be flexible, tolerant, patient and loving. Having wonderful children and staff taught me the importance of developing people and grooming future generations. Learning from people around me – my mentors, past leaders and peers – further refined me as a leader.”
It’s indeed a beautiful and inspiring sentiment from a CEO with an analytical approach who is working in the petrochemical industry. With such a background, becoming CEO has amplified Sazali’s drive. “I am continuously motivated by the hunger to learn and pursue new horizons. My initial focus [when taking over as CEO] was to grab the low-hanging fruits by ensuring the existing assets were fully capitalised on and plant reliability was at its optimal level. Within 2 years, we managed to achieve a record-breaking 96% plant utilisation rate in 2016 from a high 70% in 2014.”
Creating value
This has given Sazali’s team more time to undertake proactive activities such as searching for value-creation opportunities. His focus has also been on commercial excellence and strengthening the commercial team’s capabilities and competencies.
This has been highly successful, as he explains: “Through various work streams, we have generated more than RM180 million additional EBITDA.” Growth has also been a major focus for PCG under Sazali’s leadership. Having grown from its first plant in 1987 to the current level of combined production capacity – an impressive 10.8 million metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) – the business expects to be at about 16 million mtpa by 2020.
Involved primarily in manufacturing, marketing and selling a diversified range of chemical products (olefins, polymers, fertilisers, methanol, and other basic chemicals and derivative products), specialty chemicals is the next frontier.
“We have a dedicated team that looks into growth strategy and evaluates the route to market. We are also recruiting engineers and technicians to serve our growth projects, while making our foray into the specialty chemicals area. And we are looking at various other options in the specialty area beyond 2020 too, including possible mergers and acquisitions.”
Embracing innovation
PCG was listed on Main Market Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (Bursa Malaysia) in 2010. Since then its focus has been the consolidation and integration of the 24 companies in its stable. It has been able to equip itself with an integrated supply chain from upstream to the end user. Ultimately, PCG is ensuring it stays at the forefront of the industry and that it continues to maintain this impressive growth. How? By embracing innovation.
“Innovation is an integral component of our business. It supports our business growth and enables us to deliver the right customer experience. By providing solutions tailored to our customers’ needs, we are able to connect with their specific business challenges. We are also evaluating some of the latest technology applications beyond 2020 via partnerships and/or possible mergers and acquisitions. We will be more aggressive then.”
Staying competitive
At the heart of this statement of intent is a commitment to planning and prioritising projects. “Projects that have been sanctioned will be carried out as planned, and funds will be allocated accordingly. We believe it is not about having ‘nice to have’ projects in hand but rather looking at growth projects that are instrumental in making PCG a leading petrochemical player in Asia–Pacific. We will continue to pursue our 2-pronged strategy of strengthening our basic petrochemicals units, while also selectively diversifying into derivatives, specialty chemicals and solutions.”
I am continuously motivated by the hunger to learn and pursue new horizons.
Sazali further explains: “To remain competitive and maintain our market leadership in the region, our refined strategic direction focuses on 3 core capabilities: operational excellence, commercial excellence, and innovation technology and growth.
“We are a company that used to sit on ‘lazy cash’. To date, we have more than RM7 billion in our account. We are going to utilise this cash to pursue further growth and improve our net value.” Rather like its CEO, you can be assured that there will be nothing lazy about PCG while Sazali is at the helm.
Great aspiration boss!