Hailing from Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, Maha Sinnathamby a Malaysian Indian moved to Australia 20 years ago with a vision to become an entrepreneur to build an entire planned city.
Mr Sinnathamby founded Greater Springfield almost 20 years ago on circa 2860 hectares outside of Brisbane. It started in 1992 when Mr Sinnathamby took an enormous risk and invested A$7.9 MILLION in one of the most socially stand, about 30 kilometers to the west of Brisbane.
When Mr. Sinnathamby unveiled his plan to turn that scrub land into one of Australia’s most remarkable cities, many dismissed it as a pipe dream. Others were skeptical and less charitable but it took just a precious few to agree Greater Springfield was a dream worth chasing, He was told by most that it would never come to fruition.
Mr Sinnathamby and his business partner Bob Sharpless fought off the detractors and pushed forward with the country ‘s most unique development.
Today, Greater Springfield is an Australian success story. After two decade of persistence, the project has attracted more than 9 billion MYR of investment and that figure is increasing at a rate of 1 billion MYR every year.
In the coming years, Mr Sinnathamby is determined to attract the world’s biggest businesses to call Springfield home and develop CBD that will be the envy of other Australian cities. Mr Sinnathamby ‘s desires to build a city with strong sense of community is evident in his commitment to social philanthropy and he has donated more than $200 million of land and funds for vital social infrastructure.
His company has donated land for schools, an ambulance station. A Police station. A highway and a heavy rail line due for completion in 2013. For all achievement he remains a humble man from Rantau, Negeri Sembilan who is passionately committed to uplifting society around him through education, which he credits as having played a transformative role in his life.