Andrew Khoo

Business leader

Andrew Khoo is the Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer of Malayan United Industries Berhad, a Malaysian conglomerate with businesses spanning hospitality, retail, food and beverage, property, and brand ownership across Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. A barrister by training and business leader by experience, Andrew has spent his career working across industries that sit close to people’s daily lives: where they eat, shop, stay, gather, travel, and build memories. His work has taken him from corporate boardrooms to hotel lobbies, department stores, restaurants, townships, and family-owned businesses in transition. Growing up with a front-row view of entrepreneurship, reinvention, and legacy, his own leadership journey has not simply been about inheriting a platform; It has been about finding his own voice within it. Since assuming leadership of MUI, Andrew has focused on repositioning the Group for a new generation. This has included transforming legacy brands, reinventing hospitality assets, renewing retail concepts, expanding food and beverage businesses, and exploring new opportunities in digital transformation, sustainability, and AI-driven business models. Andrew's leadership style is shaped by an unusual combination of law, business, faith, family legacy, and personal reinvention. Educated at Cambridge University, Lincoln’s Inn, Seattle Pacific University, and the University of Victoria, Andrew brings a global perspective to Asian business leadership. Having lived and studied in Malaysia, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, he is deeply interested in how culture, identity, and values shape the way people lead. Beyond the corporate world, Andrew is known for his reflective storytelling on leadership, authenticity, courage, failure, and legacy. Through his writing and public speaking, he explores what it means to lead in a world of constant disruption while remaining grounded in purpose. Andrew is also a TEDx talk co-creator and organiser, helping to build a platform for ideas, stories, and voices that deserve to be heard. This role reflects his belief that leadership is not only about speaking, but also about creating space for others to speak with clarity, courage, and conviction. His own TEDx talk reflects one of the central themes of his life and leadership: the courage to find your own voice. For Andrew, that voice is not found by copying others, chasing applause, or hiding behind titles. It is found through experience, discomfort, humility, and the willingness to become more honest about who you are and what you stand for.

helping people and organisations find their authentic voice, reinvent themselves with courage, and build legacies that remain relevant for the next generation.

The most important voice you will ever find is your own.

My TED story is about finding the courage to say what only I can say. I never imagined that one day I would become a TEDx speaker, let alone help co-create and organise a TEDx platform for others. For years, I saw leadership through the lens of business, responsibility, family legacy, and performance. TEDx invited me to look deeper... It forced me to ask: beyond the titles and roles, what is the one idea I truly believe is worth sharing? For me, that idea is the courage to find your own voice. A voice not borrowed from others, not shaped only by expectation, and not hidden behind success. A voice that is honest, earned, and deeply your own.

listening for the story behind the story. Whether in business, leadership, or life, people often say one thing while meaning something deeper. I have learned to pay attention to what is not being said: the hesitation, the fear, the ambition, the wound, the hope. That is often where the real conversation begins.