“This is the Aerodyne Way,” says Dato’ Kamarul A Muhamed, the CEO and founder of Aerodyne Group. Dressed in a brown leather jacket and denim trousers, he shows us around the company’s state-of-the-art headquarters in Cyberjaya.
While most companies tend to have a motto, Aerodyne instead has a mathematical formula written in huge letters on the wall of the company’s atrium.
“This is our formula,” says Dato’ Kamarul, gesturing to the wall. “We need to have a paradigm shift in our way of thinking. If we want to go global, we need to shift our mindset.”
What looks like a complex equation to the untrained eye, Dato’ Kamarul explains how the formula symbolises the company’s philosophy by putting together the virtues that he wants to instil in their employees, such as ‘doing things right’, ‘being an innovator’ and (possibly my favourite part) NFNDJD which stands for ‘No Fuss, No Drama, Just Deliver.’
Aerodyne, with its rapid growth over the past decade, is undoubtedly ambitious. As one of the companies at the forefront of the drone industry globally, the company continues to maximise its potential as a leading enterprise solutions provider.
Sky’s the Limit
What started in 2014 as a humble startup of just three employees, Aerodyne Group (which celebrates its 10th anniversary this November) is now a world-leading drone-based AI and data intelligence solution provider.
It is ranked first in the world for three consecutive years by Germany’s Drone Industry Insights, with more than 10 million hours of flight operations as of June 2024.
Although Aerodyne started off with a focus on aerial imagery services, it has since evolved into a powerhouse specialising in data intelligence, integrated solutions and DT3: Drone Tech, Data Tech and Digital Transformation.
When discussing who exactly Aerodyne serves, Dato’ Kamarul explains how most of their clients include large corporations that own assets.
“I can split our clients into four categories: One is INFRA such as oil and gas, road and highway and so on. The second would be agriculture, the third is security and surveillance and the fourth would be drone logistics.”
The Aerodyne Group headquarters in Cyberjaya.
A key example of what Aerodyne does in Malaysia and overseas is pipeline surveillance.
“We placed sensors on the pipes throughout the pipeline, then we have a drone in a nest, which means that if the sensor detects any movement or sound, the drone will get dispatched automatically. The drone will then inspect the perimeter vision while assessing whether it’s a false alarm or not,” he explains.
New Heights
If there’s one business that’s expected to continue to soar, it’s drone delivery. According to Drone Industry Insights, the industry is expected to reach a whopping US$54.6 billion by 2030.
But it takes a genius opportunist to spot the advantages this industry could yield, especially for someone who didn’t exactly start out from a tech background.
Born in Kelantan, Dato’ Kamarul was brought up in an enterprising family. His late father was in the military before setting up a fishing business while his mother managed an F&B business. He went on to study accounting in the UK and eventually worked as an auditor there.
After spending a decade in the UK, Dato’ Kamarul came back to Malaysia where became the head of a software company and discovered his newfound love for tech.
After four years, he felt disillusioned by the office politics that came with the job. He then quit his position as CEO and ventured out into the unknown.
“I was a young CEO then and I started to feel dissatisfied,” he says. “I felt that I could do so much more. It was a difficult decision for me to resign because it was a very comfortable job. My late father almost disowned me, he said, ‘You’re 29 years old and the head of a company, are you crazy?’”
“I realised at this point in time what I wanted to do is to create value, to impact change and make something meaningful and all that. But what I started was a roller coaster,” he laughs.
Dato’ Kamarul went on to launch Malaysia.tv in 2003 and in 2006, he set up DKM2, a production house in which a division of this company became the earliest version of Aerodyne.
“When you start your own business, it doesn’t work out straight away. But I had my share of ups and downs for the next five years, and there were a lot of lessons to be learned,” he says.
The initial spark to get into the drone business began when Dato’ Kamarul came across a paper by PwC titled Clarity from Above where it was predicted that the drone services industry would become a US$128 billion industry by 2020.
One of the drone technologies used for agriculture logistics.
For someone who’s always been passionate about tech and drones, it’s as if clarity struck him from the heavens. “I thought this is it, this is my future,” he exclaims.
But as it turns out, the paper’s prediction was for the overseas market, a far cry from the demands of the Malaysian market at the time, which led Dato’ Kamarul to take the next big step.
Beyond Borders
In 2018, Aerodyne ventured into markets outside of Malaysia, starting operations in Australia and later in the UK.
“There will always be challenges but the process has been very encouraging seeing the demand that was there, but I also realised the industry is not as big as PwC predicted,” he says.
Aerodyne redirected its target to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2019 and has since acquired a total of 21 companies with 14 offices around the world, allowing it to grow rapidly.
But it’s so much more than just the tech and business aspect of his job that Dato’ Kamarul is passionate about.
Despite all the success, he is very much down-to-earth. He spends his free time cycling and playing chess and unsurprisingly, he is also an avid gamer.
To him, Aerodyne is so much more than just a company, it’s a community in which he hopes can serve as a platform for nurturing talent.
Dato’ Kamarul, who is also a Professor of Practice at Putra Business School with several professorships under his name at UPM and UIAS among others as well as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020, believes that Malaysian talent needs to be nurtured so they can be competitive globally.
“They need to be in touch with the future of tech, this is what I want to help contribute towards,” he says. “I think it is about mindset. It is about being a giver rather than a taker, being an innovator rather than a user, and to drive change.”
For someone who left a cushy job to venture out into the unknown world of drone technologies, a question he’s often asked is: “Why does he do this?”
“You know, I didn’t come from a privileged background. I work very hard, and I’ve seen hardship around me growing up,” he explains.
“And then I went to the UK, and I spent time in the US, Japan and Korea. Now I see that poverty is still very real in our country, and that’s what I want to eradicate. I want to create jobs and create empowerment,” he beams, before adding, “This is what drives me.”
