Vijay Eswaran is a Malaysian entrepreneur, philanthropist and author. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of the QI Group of Companies, a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur with operations in more than 30 countries.
Eswaran was born in Penang, Malaysia, to a modest, well-educated family of Indian origin. He worked as a taxi driver to fund his higher education in accounting and management in London and Illinois. He then spent several years working as an information systems engineer for various companies in North America and South-East Asia, including IBM.
In 1998, following the Asian financial crisis, Eswaran established a direct selling network in the Philippines, using a revolutionary combination of direct selling and e-commerce, which would eventually become QNET. Within 12 months, the company became a leader in the Philippines and subsequently in several South-East Asian markets, supporting a growing network of entrepreneurs. By the mid-2000s QNET was the dominant direct selling network in the Middle East, and in recent years has led the industry’s expansion into Africa.
Whilst no longer involved in QNET’s operations, Eswaran hosts V-Convention, a motivational, training and networking event with up to 20,000 attending entrepreneurs, and leads QNET’s international partnerships including with Premier League Manchester City FC.
