Jeffrey Cheah: The Sunway Founder Building a Legacy Through Education

For many Malaysians, the Sunway name brings familiar places to mind: a university campus, a hospital, a shopping destination or a neighbourhood.

Behind that name is Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah, the Malaysian entrepreneur who founded Sunway Group. His business journey began in tin mining and expanded into property, healthcare, education and infrastructure. Source: Forbes: Jeffrey Cheah

But one of the most meaningful chapters in his story concerns what business success can make possible for others—particularly through education.

Who Is Jeffrey Cheah?

Jeffrey Cheah is the founder of Sunway Group and the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation.

Born in Pusing, Perak, he pursued his studies at Melbourne’s Footscray Institute of Technology, now part of Victoria University. After returning to Malaysia, he worked as an accountant at a motor assembly plant before starting his own business. Source: Jeffrey Cheah biography

It is a beginning that makes his journey relatable: a young Malaysian studying abroad, returning home and finding his way in the working world.

The business that followed would develop far beyond its original industry.

How Jeffrey Cheah Started Sunway

In 1974, Cheah established a small tin-mining company with starting capital of RM100,000. That enterprise became the foundation of Sunway’s development. Source: Jeffrey Cheah biography

Over the following decades, its activities broadened considerably. Forbes describes a transformation from a tin-mining company into a group operating across several major sectors of Malaysia’s economy. Source: Forbes: Jeffrey Cheah

Seen across that timespan, his journey offers a perspective on entrepreneurship that can be easy to miss in a billionaire headline. Businesses evolve through years of decisions, changing conditions and moves into unfamiliar territory.

Sunway’s Place in Everyday Malaysian Life

One visible part of Cheah’s business journey is Bandar Sunway in Selangor, also known as Sunway City. The township forms a central part of the wider Sunway story. Cheah also established Sunway College in 1987, beginning an education chapter that would continue to grow. Source: Jeffrey Cheah biography

These places give the story a human scale.

A township is somewhere people build routines. A college is somewhere a student begins preparing for a career. Behind the buildings are daily experiences: attending a first class, starting a job or planning a family’s future.

That connection between enterprise and everyday life helps explain why Cheah’s story belongs in Malaysia’s wider community story.

The Jeffrey Cheah Foundation: Giving Education a Lasting Foundation

The Jeffrey Cheah Foundation was established in 2010, building on the Sunway Education Trust Fund formed in 1997.

According to its official website, the foundation owns and governs the entities under Sunway Education Group through a not-for-profit structure. These include Sunway University, Sunway colleges and Sunway international schools.

Financial surpluses are reinvested in areas including scholarships, research, facilities and academic recruitment. Source: Jeffrey Cheah Foundation

This structure gives his education work a lasting framework. It connects the operation of educational institutions with continued investment in learning and student opportunities.

Supporting Students and Their Next Steps

When checked on 27 October 2026, the foundation’s website reported that it had awarded more than RM967 million in scholarships and grants since its inception. Source: Jeffrey Cheah Foundation

For a student facing financial constraints, support with education can affect the choices available after school. It can make further study more achievable and create room to plan for a different future.

That is why scholarship work matters beyond the headline amount. Its significance lies in the opportunities it can help students pursue.

Why Jeffrey Cheah’s Journey Matters

Cheah’s story brings together two forms of building: developing businesses and supporting institutions that prepare people for the future.

For Malaysian entrepreneurs, his career offers a reason to think beyond the next stage of commercial growth. What could a successful business help sustain? What opportunities could it create within its community?

For students, his journey also carries a familiar thread: education, a first job and the possibility of taking a different path.

From Pusing to Sunway, Jeffrey Cheah’s story is part of Malaysia’s enterprise history. Through the foundation’s education work, it also reaches into the lives and ambitions of another generation.

Explore our Robert Kuok profile and more Malaysian business journeys, including Low Tung and CID Realtors and Corplabs.