Seah Kian Hoe (“Kian”) is the founder and managing director of Heng Hiap Industries (HHI). Established in 2002, HHI is a fully integrated plastic recycling company and is the first company in the world to receive Ocean Bound Plastic Certification co-developed by NGO Zero Plastic Oceans and Control Union. Having developed Smart Plastics to address plastic manufacturers’ need for high quality, customized recycled plastic resin, Kian also designed the Smart Factory in Johor Bahru from the ground up. The factory is GBI-certified (“Green Building Index”) Gold and is now producing PLASHAUS Ocean Plastic while implementing a full track-and-trace program that directly addresses plastic consumers’ concerns about marine pollution. 

In the last 18 years, Kian and HHI have won multiple accolades for business leadership and product innovation – the more notable ones being: the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in the World in the category of environmental leadership (2013), The Edge newspaper of Malaysia named him “The Michaelangelo of Recycling” (2018) and most recently, Frost and Sullivan awarded HHI “2020 Malaysia Smart Waste Solutions Technology Innovation Award”.