Dato’ Seri Ivan Teh · Malaysia
Ivan Teh, community builder
Strong communities are built by people who arrive with something useful. This site follows the community work of Ivan Teh, community builder and founder of Fusionex, through the health vans, skills sessions, trade tools and volunteer days his company has backed, and through the local partners who made each one work.
50,000
people the Rotary mobile wellness programme aimed to meet in person
5
IMU degree programmes each piloting a big data analytics module with Fusionex
3
ACE pillars for staff: athletics, community and environment
The idea
Meet Ivan Teh, community builder
Dato’ Seri Ivan Teh founded Fusionex in 2005 and grew it into what Digital News Asia once called arguably Malaysia’s top big data company. Over the same years, the company has appeared in a very different set of rooms: community centres visited by a screening van, workshops for teachers, forums for small exporters and children’s homes.
A community builder does not have to run every programme. The more useful role is to connect what an organisation already holds, whether money, technical skill, staff time or networks, with groups that understand their own neighbourhoods. That connection is the thread running through every initiative on this site, and the reason each one is credited to the partner that carried it out.
The sections below group that work into four areas: places, skills, enterprise and people. Each draws on news reports, partner announcements and company releases, all linked in the sources at the foot of the page.
Four ways in
Where the work happens
Places
Services where people gather
A Rotary health van calling at schools, malls and community centres.
Skills
Strengthening those who teach
Teachers hosted for digital skills; data modules for future health workers.
Enterprise
Opening doors for small firms
A national trade platform built with MATRADE for Malaysian exporters.
People
A staff culture of turning up
Volunteer days, relief deliveries and the ACE programme.
Places
Taking health checks to where people already are
Partner: Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja
Clinics only help the people who walk through their doors. The mobile wellness outreach led by the Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja flipped that idea, sending a van to schools, colleges, shopping malls and community centres to raise awareness of the three highs of blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, and to offer free tests on the spot.
Fusionex signed on as main partner and sponsor, and in March 2019 contributed RM50,000 to the club’s 3H campaign. Organisers aimed to meet 50,000 people and to benefit 500,000, and planned a student art competition so that young people could carry the message home.
The club made its case with national figures. Its president, Datuk Seri Nelson Kwok, cited the National Health and Morbidity Survey finding that 17.5 per cent of adults aged 18 and over had diabetes, and warned that four in five people with high blood cholesterol did not know it. The programme was also slated to go international with seven sister clubs. Ivan Teh said he hoped the public would make full use of the awareness sessions and free tests to improve life for their families and communities.
Skills
Strengthening the people who teach others
Partners: MDEC and IMU
A single classroom visit reaches one group of students. Training a teacher reaches every class that teacher will lead. Working with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, Fusionex opened its headquarters to educators from across the country for a session on digital skills.
The same thinking shaped a partnership with IMU, the Malaysian medical and health sciences institution. Five of its degree programmes each piloted a big data analytics module built on the Fusionex analytics platform, and the two organisations exchanged an agreement covering research in areas such as cancer informatics, vaccine design and healthcare analytics. In April 2020, Bernama reported Dato’ Seri Ivan Teh’s appointment to the Board of Studies for IMU’s Bachelor’s in Digital Health.
Enterprise
Helping small firms reach further
Partners: MATRADE and MDEC
Communities also run on livelihoods. In 2023 the trade agency MATRADE launched its Digital Trade Platform with Fusionex, an AI powered gateway that lets Malaysian exporters showcase products, take part in virtual and hybrid events and connect with buyers overseas. MATRADE’s chief executive described it as a catalyst for small business digitalisation.
By the launch, more than 1,200 members had enrolled, from large corporations to SMEs, and the platform had welcomed buyers from markets as varied as China, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. The businesses involved ranged across franchising, palm oil, food and beverages, cosmetics and information technology, which gives small firms in very different trades a common front door.
That work built on an earlier commitment. A January 2015 memorandum with MDEC had already committed Fusionex to a Centre of Excellence led by industry, part of the National Big Data Analytics Innovation Network, intended to speed up adoption across sectors from banking and retail to healthcare and transport.
People
A staff culture of turning up
Partners: Rumah Charis, MYDIN Malaysia and Masala Wheels
Fusionex organises staff effort through ACE, a programme with three pillars: athletics, community and environment. Management and the staff recreational club start activities together, which gives employees a real say in where their time goes.
That culture shows in the details. Staff visited Rumah Charis in Kuala Lumpur in July 2017 with food, clothing and a drone to entertain the children. After floods in Penang, the company sent food, mattresses and medical supplies with help from MYDIN Malaysia. During the 2020 movement controls it sponsored meals cooked and delivered by the social enterprise Masala Wheels.
Milestones
Highlights along the way
2015
Big data Centre of Excellence agreed with MDEC.
2017
Staff visit to Rumah Charis children’s home.
2019
RM50,000 to Rotary’s 3H health campaign.
2020
IMU Board of Studies appointment; meals with Masala Wheels.
2023
MATRADE Digital Trade Platform launched.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Why is Ivan Teh described as a community builder?
Because the initiatives linked to him mostly add capacity to groups that already serve a neighbourhood: a health van for a Rotary club, data skills for teachers and future clinicians, a trade platform for small exporters and volunteer time from Fusionex staff.
What kinds of community initiatives has Fusionex supported?
Published reports cover mobile health screening, digital skills sessions for teachers, big data modules in medical and health sciences programmes, a digital trade platform for small and medium enterprises, sponsored meals, flood relief and visits to children’s homes.
Who are the main partners?
They include the Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, IMU, MATRADE, Masala Wheels, MYDIN Malaysia, Rumah Charis and the Assunta Children Society.
Does the work reach small businesses?
Yes. The MATRADE Digital Trade Platform, launched with Fusionex in 2023, was designed to help Malaysian exporters, including small firms, find international buyers and run virtual and hybrid trade events.
Has this community work been recognised?
The Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja presented Dato’ Seri Ivan Teh with a Paul Harris Fellow award, reported in December 2019. Rotary uses the recognition for people who support its humanitarian projects.
How can a community group propose a partnership?
Send a short note through the contact page describing who you serve, what you already do well and the gap a partner could help close.
Have a project that needs more than funding?
Tell us who you serve, what already works and where a partner could help.
Sources
- ivan-teh.com.my: About Dato’ Seri Ivan Teh
- Digital News Asia: Fusing technology and business into a RM700mil company
- Bernama Health: Mobile Medical Outreach Van for Schools, Colleges and Community Centres
- BusinessCircleKL: Fusionex adds strength to mobile wellness program
- Business Wire, 25 March 2019, via Spot On West Virginia: RM50,000 sponsorship for the 3H programme
- ivan-teh.com.my: Educators gather at Fusionex headquarters for an MDEC digital skills session
- IMU News: Fusionex and IMU introduce Big Data Analytics to accelerate medical training and research
- Focus Malaysia (Bernama), 13 April 2020: Fusionex group CEO appointed IMU Board of Studies member
- MATRADE press release, 2023: MATRADE and Fusionex unveil Digital Trade Platform
- Fusionex News, 29 January 2015: Fusionex named a Centre of Excellence in MDeC’s National Big Data Analytics Innovation Network
- ivan-teh.com.my: Inside ACE, the community framework behind Fusionex volunteering
- Fusionex Videos: Fusionex visits Rumah Charis, Home for the Children
- Fusionex Photos: Helping recovery of Penang flood victims
- Business Wire via MISCW, April 2020: Fusionex sponsors meals through Masala Wheels
- Markets Herald (Business Wire): Fusionex founder Ivan Teh awarded Rotary Club’s Paul Harris Fellow