Kuok Foundation is a non-profitable charitable institution incorporated on 1 June 1970 by the Kuok family under the Malaysian Companies Act 1965 as a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital.
It was set up to alleviate poverty and to reduce the economic disparities between the rich and poor communities in Malaysia. The Kuok family firmly believed in its social responsibility to share its wealth and good fortune with the less fortunate.
The Kuok family started business in Johor Bahru, Malaysia as Kuok Brothers Limited in 1949, trading rice, sugar and wheat flour. The family’s business activities expanded in 1953 with the opening of a Singapore branch named Kuok (Singapore) Limited. From these humble beginnings, the Kuok Group of Companies has expanded to become one of Asia’s most diversified and dynamic multinational conglomerates.
The main focus of the Foundation’s activities since its inception in 1970 was and still is on the advancement of education and the alleviation of poverty through education.
Although education is the Foundation’s main focus, it also provides funding for social and welfare activities undertaken by NGO’s and other non-profit organizations. Donations were and are being made towards the support of charities such as:
- Welfare Homes for abandoned and neglected children,
- Welfare Homes for homeless, abandoned and neglected old folks,
- Rehabilitation centres for retarded and disabled people,
- Non-profit hospitals and hospices,
- Non-profit haemodialysis centres, stroke centres, cancer centres etc.,
- Shelters for abused women or children or both,
- Societies, Associations and Foundations providing information and support to the blind, the deaf, the sick and the underprivileged.
In 2015: The Foundation set up a Disaster Recovery Fund to assist victims of natural disasters.
In 2016: The Foundation set up a Poverty Alleviation Fund to improve the living conditions of the poor.