Before the name Segi Fresh appeared on storefronts across Malaysia, the story began with a teenager pedalling his bicycle cart to the night market, balancing sacks of onions, dried chillies and spices.
That teenager was Meng Chui, now known as Dato’ Chui Ah Hock, the founder and managing director of Segi Value Holdings.
The Night Market University
At just 16, while most of his peers were still seated in classrooms, he was working seven nights a week under the glow of night-market lights. With RM2,000 borrowed from his brother, he bought a bicycle cart and a small stock of dried chillies, onions, garlic, potatoes and spices. It was a humble beginning, but it would quietly become the first step toward building a grocery empire.
By then, the son of a lorry driver father and a general worker mother already knew that school was not his path. He had completed primary school, but between then and starting his pasar malam venture, he had cycled through nearly 30 different odd jobs, searching for something that fit. Turning 16 became the moment he finally chose a direction and committed to it.
“My youth is the hardest subject to talk about. I started trading so long ago, in 1984, and I can’t remember most of it,” he recalls with a laugh.
“What I do recall is knowing for certain that I was better suited for working life than school, and that I wasn’t good at working for other people. I knew I had to become a businessman.”
From Night Market Stall To Serious Business
Those early years at the night market were not easy. He made financial mistakes, ran into cash flow problems and operated with almost no formal knowledge of business. What he did have was work ethic and a refusal to quit.
“I made so many mistakes but the good thing was, I was always willing to work hard,” he says.
“Of course, it was not easy but it never occurred to me to give up.”
Every night, he and his then-girlfriend, now wife, worked side by side. Most vendors worked three or four days a week. He was there every single night.
“I was strongly driven by passion for the work, I enjoyed owning my own business, and a determination to succeed. I wanted to become a very successful businessman and that required consistent hard work.”
Behind that drive was a simple, powerful dream: to give his future wife and children a life better than the one he grew up in.
The Seed of Segi Fresh
After about ten years of operating in the night market, a new opportunity appeared. Pasar Borong Selayang opened and a lot became available. Around the same time, he and his wife wanted to start a family. Life and business were evolving together.
Segi Pemborong dan Peruncit was then operating as a traditional wholesaler. He moved into this wholesaler setup and began to scale up. But once again, his instincts alerted him that the model might not last.
“At the time, Malaysia was one of the biggest importers of onions and potatoes in the region. I was bringing in a huge volume of these through suppliers but I foresaw that this could not continue,” he explains.
Customers could now find out who his suppliers were. Suppliers could figure out who his customers were. The “middleman” position was getting squeezed, and he knew that if he did not change, he might be forced out of the market.
“The circumstances were such that I knew it would be hard for me, the middleman, to survive in that market.”
So he decided to change his business model.
Segi Fresh: Night Market Spirit In A Modern Space
Long before the business world made “pivoting” fashionable, he transformed his wholesaling model into one that sold directly to end customers. That decision became the foundation of what is today Segi Value Holdings, the parent of the Segi Fresh supermarket chain and a fully integrated grocery supply network.
The transition into retail brought its own battles. He and his team lacked retail experience and cash flow problems returned. But slowly, the pieces aligned.
Direct relationships with farmers, fishermen and manufacturers allowed Segi Fresh to offer high freshness and low prices, a combination that resonated deeply with the communities they served.
Segi Fresh stores carried the spirit of the night market into clean, air-conditioned spaces. In the early days, customers could even bargain for produce, a feature that helped the brand stand out before it evolved into a more streamlined pricing model as supply chain control improved.
Over the years, Segi Fresh expanded into an ecosystem with its own agriculture unit, seafood and meat sourcing arm, logistics fleet and even property division.
Today, Segi Value Holdings employs more than 1,000 staff and trains local youths through in-house programmes designed to fast-track them into supervisory and managerial roles.
What Success Truly Means
Despite his humble beginnings, Dato’ Chui has kept his values close. Segi Value Holdings operates on three principles: strong ethics, fair employee treatment and community care.
Its CSR efforts include supporting homes for the disabled, educational assistance, environmental awareness campaigns and partnerships with organisations such as Yayasan Raja Muda Selangor and Kechara Soup Kitchen.
For him, success is not measured by wealth but by contribution.
“Success to me is the acknowledgment of others that you have contributed something of value to your society and country. It’s not about money. Money is just money, which you can earn.”
He hopes to pass one value to his children above all; integrity.
“As long as they are happy, as a father, I’m happy for them. But what I do ask for is that they live with integrity and be of value to their community and country,” he shares.
A Man Who Still Loves the Work
Even now, Dato’ Chui remains deeply involved in operations. He never finished secondary school but continued learning through conferences and seminars, believing that education exists everywhere if one is open to it.
“Even after all these years, I wake up excited about the day ahead where work is concerned,” he says.
“To run a business, you need a constant supply of passion to keep going. I am fuelled by the possibility of being able to create more value and help more people.”
What began as a teenage hustle in a night market has grown into one of Malaysia’s most inspiring entrepreneurial stories, built on grit, humility, relentless effort and a desire to create value for others.
And for him the journey is far from over.
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