Tedy Teow, as depicted by his videos

GEORGE TOWN: MBI is an acronym for “Mobility Beyond Imagination” and the company MBI International is touted as the third business of entrepreneur Tedy Teow Wooi Huat (pic).

In a YouTube video uploaded on April 23, 2013, titled “The Story of MBI International’s Boss”, Teow is said to have started the business after going to China where he was given “a second shot at life”.

The video is apparently a biography of Teow, which depicts him as an enterprising schoolboy in the 1970s, bringing pencils, exercise books, combs and assorted items to sell at school.

In the 90s, Teow predicted that mobile phones would change the world and started a chain of retail shops, CTI Mobile World, in Penang.

In a March 2000 corporate announcement by US-listed company Seto Holdings Inc, which was acquiring CTI Mobile World at the time, Teow – who used the English name Terry – was said to have founded it in February 2000, and it had 14 franchise holders with about 100 more planned by January 2001.

The video then describes Teow’s view of great potential in the franchising industry, leading him to start Syarikat Island Red Cafe Franchise Sdn Bhd.

However, he is depicted as having had a conflict with his partners, losing his money and credibility.

In 2011, he and his son Chee Chow were sentenced to a day’s jail and fined RM160,000 after admitting to two counts of cheating and misleading investors of more than RM1mil in an Island Red Cafe programme in 2010.

Teow was Syarikat Island Red Cafe Franchise Sdn Bhd executive director while his son was a director.

The video then talks about Teow going to China. It does not elaborate on what he did there, but the subtitles read: “The gods did not forsake me and gave me a second chance ...”

In another video uploaded on Jan 3 this year, purportedly showing Teow speaking at a presentation in Danok, Thailand, on Aug 1, 2015, he is seen describing his creation of a mall in Penang Times Square and a 231-room, four-star hotel in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah.

He also mentions a plan to have another 300-room, five-star hotel in the state.

“The more you understand this platform, the more you will love it. The more you understand it, the more you will feel that this platform is unimaginable,” he says.

Although Teow is said to have founded MBI in 2009, a check on the Companies Commission of Malaysia website showed that MBI International Sdn Bhd was registered under Teow Mooi Goay, 47, and Teow Ee Meng, 26, with Khoo Kien Hor, 47, as its secretary.

The shareholders are Ee Meng and Chee Chow, 28, with a capital of RM1mil.