HELP International Corp has its humble beginnings in 1986, when Datuk Dr Paul Chan Tuck Hoong and wife Datin Low Kam Yoke started the business in a shophouse in Kampung Attap.
HELP, the acronym for "Higher Education Learning Programme", was one of the first to introduce foreign "twinning" and external programmes in the 1980s. Till today, twinning programmes have provided an attractive lower-cost route to obtain overseas accredited university degrees.
In 1998, HELP received approvals to run 3+0 degree programmes. Its partners include University of London, University of Southern Queensland and Charles Stuart University.
In 2004, it upped the ante by becoming one of the few leading colleges to be conferred "university college" status by the Ministry of Higher Education. With that, HELP could mint its own homegrown degrees, lower costs and widen its portfolio of courses.
The success of its branding is reflected by the large number of students studying for homegrown HELP degrees, compared to those taking up the earlier twinning programmes.
The following year, HELP was incorporated as the investment holding company of the HELP Group. The company was listed on Bursa Malaysia in May 2007.
From a few hundred students in the beginning, HELP today accommodates 12,000 students at its local campuses in Damansara Heights and Klang.
In the next two months, it will open its new HICT campus in Fraser Business Park (to expand and replace the Klang campus) while its flagship full-fledged campus on over 20 acres in Subang 2 is expected to be ready in 2013, bringing total capacity to 20,000 students.
HELP has also ventured abroad by franchising and licensing its courses in Indonesia, Vietnam and China, while also eyeing Australia, Cambodia, and Thailand, among other countries.
As it spreads its wing across the region, HELP's earnings have grown steadily over the years. In the last four years, it has seen a 20% annual compounded growth in revenue and pre-tax profit.
Revenue has doubled to RM96.58 million for the financial year ended Oct 31, 2009 (FY09) from RM48 million in FY05. Its pre-tax profit also doubled to RM21.83 million from RM10 million in that period.
However, HELP is not resting on its laurels. For the company, more can still be done. As it celebrates its 25th anniversary next year, HELP is embarking on the next phase of growth with an ambitious internationalisation plan to fly even further.
Written by Max Koh
The Edge Malaysia
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