Every standard in this Group starts with me
A personal note from Dato' Sri Mohammad Ismail Bin Norbat, Founder & Group CEO, on what Andaraya stands for after 37+ years — and where we're taking it next.
- 37+
- Years Leading Andaraya
- 15+
- Businesses Founded
- 4
- Leadership & Industry Awards
“No sector is worth entering if it can't meet the same welfare standard the Group was built on.”
The Letter
To our clients, partners and workforce
When I started Andaraya in 1989 with five employees, I made one decision that everything else has followed from: we would never treat worker welfare as a cost to be minimised. It would be the standard every new business had to clear before we entered a sector.
That decision has cost us contracts over the years. It has also built the only thing I actually care about handing down — a Group that can put its name on nine different industries and still be trusted in every one of them. When our hostel team signs off on accommodation, when our transport fleet moves workers to site, when our recruitment agency places a candidate, it carries the same standard. That consistency is the actual product we sell, more than any single service.
I remain directly involved in our Integrated Facilities Management arm — hostels, transportation, worker welfare — because it's where the standard either holds or it doesn't. Everything else in the Group, from construction to F&B, is built on the assumption that it holds.
Looking ahead, our focus is on formalising that standard further: deeper ESG and RBA alignment for the manufacturers who depend on our workforce, and bringing solar energy into the Group as our first step toward a genuinely sustainable operating model, not just a compliant one.
To our partners: thank you for holding us to it. To our workforce: thank you for being the reason it exists at all.
Dato' Sri Mohammad Ismail Bin Norbat
Founder & Group CEO, Andaraya Group of Companies
Where I Spend My Time
Four things I hold the Group to
These aren't strategy slides — they're the questions I actually ask before Andaraya enters a new sector or signs a new client.
Integrated Facilities Management
Hostels, transportation and welfare are where I still review decisions personally — it's the part of the business I consider non-negotiable.
Worker Welfare & RBA Alignment
Pushing our compliance benchmarks toward international standards recognised by the Responsible Business Alliance, not just local minimums.
Local Leadership Development
Every branch office is run by Malaysian talent we've developed in-house — the Group grows only as fast as our people can lead it.
Sustainable, Not Just Compliant
Solar energy is our first step toward treating sustainability as a long-term operating decision, not a compliance checkbox.
Recognition
Awards along the way
Want to build something with us?
Whether you're a potential partner or considering a career at Andaraya, we'd like to hear from you directly.