Milestones

CENFIS Milestones

1999 - The Beginning

A group of university lecturers gathered together in London to discuss an academic project.  They have just completed a project to study the causes and remedies of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, and have just completed their thesis.  Now they want to start a big project to study the causes of financial success (or failure) for individuals, companies and governments.  

Among the researchers were Prof Dr Christopher Heng from Malaysia.  He roped in his fellow countryman, Dr Andrew Chia, to join in the research project. The vision and aim of CENFIS is to make the practical subject of money available to be taught in schools around the world.  Therefore, research would be directed towards this area and not solely for academic or professional purposes.

2007 - Formation of CENFIS

The informal research group was formed and named as CENFIS, the Center for Financial Intelligence Studies.  It is a closed group comprising university lecturers and financial writers. 

CENFIS became the face of financial intelligence.  Dr Andrew Chia was named as one of their writers and their stakeholder for Malaysia operations.

2008 - 1st book

Money Secrets was published.   It was a runaway bestseller.  It became the only bestselling book on personal finance written by a local author at the Popular Bookfest 2009 held at the KLCC Convention Centre.  A lot of email feedback was received and most of the comments were "eye opener" or "I should have read this book much earlier..."

Money Secrets contains an introduction to all the seven elements of financial intelligence.  The definition of financial intelligence was introduced on page 60 of the book (revised edition.)

2010 - 2nd book

Money, Greed and Power was published.  Dr Andrew later changed the title to Big Money Big Trouble in its revised edition published in 2011.

This book is classified under Element 4, 5 and 6 of financial intelligence, that is, saving and spending money, investing and financial discipline & emotional control.  

2011 - Dana Penulis Award

Money Secrets won the Dana Penulis Award given by the National Library of Malaysia, Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia.

This award, together with funding, is given to support local authors and is approved by a panel of 12 academics from local universities.  A lot of well-known local authors complained that it was very difficult to be awarded this fund.  It is like a "Best Book in Malaysia" award for its category.

2011 - 3rd book

Money Lessons was published.

Money Lessons is a follow-up book of Money Secrets which outlined all the elements and basic concepts of financial intelligence.  Money Lessons are examples and case studies of those ideas in real life.  The examples are from rich and poor individuals.

2012 - Trade mark registered

"Financial Intelligence" registered as a trade mark with MyIPO (Malaysia Intellectual Property Organisation).

This trade mark is applicable to 160 countries under the Berne Convention.  It was a very difficult task because both the words "financial" and "intelligence" are very common generic words.  CENFIS had to submit all the books and materials written by them in order to convince MyIPO that they deserve to own these two words.  With this approval, anyone who wishes to use these two words for book title, seminar and courses will have to obtain consent from CENFIS.

2012 - 4th book

Born to Speak was published.

This book is classified under Element 3 of financial intelligence - making money.  Good speaking and communication skills can help us make more money, whether as an employee or as an entrepreneur, or even as an investor.

2012 - 5th book

Financial Intelligence was published.  It is a text book on the subject of financial intelligence.   This text book has been endorsed by the deans of many universities and colleges.  Notable are Prof Dr Ahamed Kameel, Dean of the Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance, IIUM.  Prof Ahamed was also the head of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), our country's economic think tank.  Also, Prof Dato' Dr Ibrahim, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at INTI University and Prof Dr Izani, Dean of the Graduate School of Business, UKM.  They each wrote a foreword on this text book.

It marks a milestone in the development of the subject of financial intelligence.  Without a text book it would be impossible to teach a subject.  CENFIS will constantly update this text book with new editions to ensure the content is up to date, with new pedagogy incorporated.  There have been numerous complaints by leaders, authors and speakers around the world why such an important subject like money has never been taught in schools.  However, nobody has ever attempted to produce a syllabus or text book on the subject in order to make it possible.  We believe CENFiS is the first organisation to successfully create the subject, syllabus and text book.

2012 - Copyright registered

The financial intelligence text book is patented with a copyright  under MyIPO.

Patent protection is very important for intellectual property such as financial intelligence and all its content.  This prevents not only unauthorised usage; it also protects the integrity of the content from being altered by other people.  For example, CENFIS has its own proprietary definition of the term financial intelligence as well as the definition of the term "investing."

2012 - 6th book

CENFIS translated Money Secrets into Chinese. The Chinese version also became a big success and bestseller at local bookstores.

CENFIS prepared the way for entrance into the big China/Taiwan market.

2012 - 7th book

Stock Market Secrets was published.  It became a bestseller at local bookstores Popular and MPH.

This book is classified under Element 5 - Investing.  It gives valuable tips on the second most popular investment in the world, that is, stock investing.

2012 - Genting Project

CENFIS secured a seminar project with RW Genting to teach a course titled "Financial Intelligence for Business."

CENFIS had to go through a tough interview session with the heads of Genting's HR departments led by Mr Gideon.  They had to satisfy Genting's cost-benefit analysis where each participant was charged RM3,000 for a two-day course.  CENFIS also had to answer the question, "What can you teach our senior executives, in view of the fact that most of them are either senior vice-presidents or MBA holders?"  The seminar was conducted successfully and claimed under HRDF, with Dr Andrew Chia being the main speaker for the event.  Although the content for the topic of entrepreneurship existed even back then, it took CENFIS another eight years of further research before producing a book on the topic.

2013 - CENFIS registered

CENFIS was formally registered as a business in Malaysia under CENFIS Academy.

For the first time, CENFIS has a face and it is a Malaysian entity representing the research project based in London.

2013 - CENFIS incorporated

CENFIS was official incorporated in Malaysia as CENFIS Academy (M) Sdn Bhd.

CENFIS has upgraded its business registration to an incorporated Sdn Bhd with Dato Rosli as the managing director.  Dato Rosli is the former Chairman of Agro Bank.  Hugo Chong is also a director.  Hugo holds and MBA in entrepreneurship from the Open University of Malaysia.  Dr Andrew remains the writer and advisor for business operations.  With this incorporation, CENFIS Malaysia became the ambassador and the face of CENFIS.  The founders and researchers remain in the background, quietly working and continuing their research into all the elements of financial intelligence.

2013 - 8th book

Property Secrets was published, written by Dr Peter Yee.  Peter is the all-time bestselling author for property investment books at Popular Bookstore with his first book on property investment, You Can Become Rich in Property.

This book is classified under Element 5 - Investing.  It gives valuable tips on the most popular investment in the world, that is, properties.

2015 - 9th book

4 Steps to Mastering English was published.  4 Steps is the result of 35 years of teaching experience by Dr Andrew Chia, who taught Communication English at the Sunway-Monash students residence company.

This book is classified under Element 3 of financial intelligence - making money.  A good command of English goes a long way in helping people, especially Asians, to make money, whether as an employee or as an entrepreneur, or even as an investor. This is because English is the most popular language around the world and on the Internet.  Poor command of English has been highlighted by the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) as the biggest problem among employees for the past twenty years.

2015 - 10th book

Big Money Big Trouble was translated to Chinese and published.

CENFIS prepared the way for entrance into the big China/Taiwan market.

2015 - 11th book

The Best Business Advice was published.

This book is classified under Element 3 of financial intelligence - making money.  It offers valuable tips on the subject of entrepreneurship.

2015 - 12th book

The Biggest Money Secret was published.

This book is classified under Element 2 of financial intelligence - residual income.  Residual income is highlighted as the most important concept of money by CENFIS.

2016 - 13th book

Professional English - a text book on English grammar, was published.

This book is classified under Element 3 of financial intelligence - making money.  A good command of English goes a long way in helping people, especially Asians, to make money, whether as an employee or as an entrepreneur, or even as an investor. This is because English is the most popular language around the world and on the Internet.

2017 - 14th book

Lost Boy was published.

This book covers Element 7 of financial intelligence, ie. protecting and distributing wealth.  Philantropy is one popular way that rich people give back to society.  CENFIS strongly supports the idea of philantropy because giving back to society can make wealthy people happier.

2017 - 15th book

Lost Boy was translated to Chinese and published.

CENFIS prepared the way for entrance into the big China/Taiwan market.

2020 - 16th book

Kodak, the Real Picture was published.

This book covers Element 3 of financial intelligence, ie. making money through entrepreneurship.  It focuses on the topic of marketing.

2020 - 17th book

Lockdown was published.

This book covers Element 3 of financial intelligence, ie. making money through entrepreneurship.  It is CENFIS' way of simplifying the big topic of entrepreneurship for the layman.

2020 - 18th book

The Curse was published.

It covers Element 7/of financial intelligence, ie. protecting and distribution of wealth, which is a big headache for many wealthy people.

2020 - 19th book

The War on the English Language was published.  Dr Andrew Chia wrote this book specially for teachers of the language, based on his own 35 years of experience.

This book is classified under Element 3 of financial intelligence - making money.  A good command of English goes a long way in helping people, especially Asians, to make money, whether as an employee or as an entrepreneur, or even as an investor. This book is helpful for teachers of the language because it offers an insight into problems faced by most students in Asia.

2021 - 20th book

Meet the Goddess was published.

It covers Element 1 of financial intelligence, ie. motivation and debunking money myths.

2021 - 21st book

The Perfect Employee was published.

This book covers Element 3 of financial intelligence, ie. making money as an employee. With the production of this book, CENFIS has covered the two main ways that everybody in the world makes money, that is, either by working as an employee or as an entrepreneur.

2021 - CENFIS writer, Andrew Chia, obtains his PhD

Dr Andrew receives his doctorate in forensic audit from Charisma University.

Andrew is the main writer for financial intelligence books and articles.  He is also the stakeholder of CENFIS for the financial intelligence trade mark and the copyright holder for the Financial Intelligence text book, also written by him.

2022 - 22nd book

Top 10 Cryptos was published.

It covers Element 3 of financial intelligence, ie. making money via cryptocurrency speculation.  This is a controversial topic rejected by Warren Buffett, who is knowns as the greatest investor in the world of all time.  However, recently, Elon Musk became the richest man in the world and he is a few times richer than Warren Buffett.  He is a strong supporter of crypto-currencies.  At CENFIS, we have no choice but to consider giving information regarding this form of investment to our audience.

2022 - Protege Project

The Protege Program is a government project to elevate local graduates to become industry leaders in the country.  It is awarded to companies who secure government projects worth at least RM100 million; usually listed companies.

CENFIS conducted a one-month program for 50 local graduates, most of which are post-graduate students.  They are on internship at the company and seconded at their subsidiary, Pantasniaga Sdn Bhd.  The topics taught are all soft skills covering areas like communication and networking skills, including entrepreneurship.  The content of the course are extracted from CENFIS publications on financial intelligence.  The feedback collected from all the participants was very encouraging, with Dr Andrew Chia as the chief trainer for the program.

2022 - Financial intelligence for the world

CENFIS gives away financial intelligence to the world for free.

CENFIS' rationale for giving away all their content on the subject of financial intelligence to the world is that a lot of people who need it desperately cannot afford to pay for it.  CENFIS is happy to give back to society in an ultimate act of kindness.  This content is only in the form of ebooks placed at their website cenfis.org to be updated in due course.  It also includes a database of more than 800 case studies on every element of financial intelligence.  However, hardcopy books, seminars and face-to-face courses will still be charged as all these incur costs for the publishers and trainers/facilitators.  Furthermore, advanced financial intelligence topics like property and stock investment are chargeable at a premium rate at CENFIS' authorised platinum licensees.

2022 - CENFIS makes entry into university

Financial intelligence taught at tertiary education institution.

Financial intelligence is  taught as a professional development degree program at Genovasi Center for Higher Learning, an establishment under the School of Continuing and Professional Education of Genovasi University College.  They are currently running financial intelligence courses under "Bachelor in Financial Intelligence (Hons)" and they come with both flavors of MQA as well as non-MQA.  Prof Dr Christopher Heng is Associate Dean of the School of Accounting and Finance at Genovasi University College.

2022 - CENFIS makes entry into MOHR

CENFIS receives endorsement by the Ministry of Human Resource.

Financial intelligence is an approved course to be conducted for all business corporations registered at HRD Corp, formerly known as HRDF, the Human Resource Development Fund.

2023 - 23rd book

What They Don't Teach Us In School was published.

This book covers an introduction into all the elements of financial intelligence.