Ida Adora Ismail
Ida in her office at SAS, beside a large portrait of her late father, Ismail Asha'ari
Ida Adora Ismail is the youngest female CEO in Malaysia’s aviation history.
Her company, Systematic Aviation Services (SAS), was founded by her late father Ismail Asha'ari in 1992 – before Ida was born. She stepped up to the leadership in early 2020, at just 27 years old.
Ismail Asha’ari had been an aviation enthusiast long before he founded SAS. He always fostered an idea that Ida might one day join him in the company “He mentioned it a few times,” she says. She recalls thinking, as many kids might, “Do I have to do something that you like?”
In 2009, Ida came to Adelaide to complete her final years of high school. She was only three weeks into her studies when her father was diagnosed with cancer. “From there, things became a little bit more serious. I had to then think about what is it I needed to do next. I think his expectation at that time was that I would eventually come back to Malaysia to help him.”
After high school, Ida enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) at the University of Adelaide, in preparation to one day help her father. After completing the degree in 2016, she returned to Malaysia to work at his company.
“I got to work with him for three and a half years, before he was then diagnosed with cancer again. When he passed away in January 2020, that’s when I had to step in and take over.”
Now, Ida says her parents remain her biggest inspiration and motivation. Their story is a perfect tale of start-up resilience, ingenuity and, ultimately, success. “They started this whole company from scratch. Where we’re sitting today… it first started from a reconstructed toilet!”
“To be able to have your own MRO [Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul], to do maintenance, you have to have an office, you’ve got to have a workshop…” Unfortunately, office space didn’t come easily at the time, but Ida’s entrepreneurial father was not deterred. “There was an unused toilet in that old hanger, so he actually reconstructed that into an office. It’s still there until today. It’s one of the things that constantly reminds us where our humble beginnings are. It also shows me at the end of the day, things start from small… and it gets bigger.
“If I’ve got days that I feel it’s a little bit more difficult to get through things, [I] sit back and think ‘He might have had worse days; he might have had his own challenges at that time and he managed to get through it… If you were in his shoes what would you do?’ That drives me, at the end of the day.”
A portrait of Ida's father, SAS founder Ismail Asha'ari, hangs over her desk
“If I’ve got days that I feel it’s a little bit more difficult to get through things, [I] sit back and think ‘He might have had worse days; he might have had his own challenges at that time and he managed to get through it… If you were in his shoes what would you do?’ That drives me, at the end of the day.”
With her mother, Ida continues to share a love of food. “Now that I’m back in Malaysia… I’m able to explore the different states… each with its own traditions, its own food, its own desserts. I learnt how to cook traditional food here in Malaysia. Now that my father isn’t around, my mum and I tend to have that connection through the food. We would host dinners at home for friends, families, and they would come over and we would do a different themed dinner every night.”
Ida was thrown into leading an aviation company through the pandemic in her first year of leadership at just 27 years old, and emerged skilfully out the other side. She is an inspiration to many. However, being young and female has not made her career path an easy one. “Working in aviation where, here in Malaysia, it’s pretty male-dominated. It was actually – and is until today – a struggle that I have. Not just being young, but also being a female in the role.”
However, her experiences at university had served her well, with one of her proudest achievements in that time being the chance to go to Melbourne for CEO mentoring. “I was selected as a student ambassador for CPA Australia... I was being mentored by the CEO of CPA Australia during that trip. I still have a lot of the things that he taught me that I still practice today. If I wasn’t in Adelaide University, if I wasn’t socially engaged with university activities, I don’t think I would have had that exposure. I remember going to a lot of networking sessions that were with outside people, in a way that it creates connections up until today.”
“I always find myself being a little bit different than everybody else. In the way that I think, in the way that I do my problem solving, and so forth. For me, it’s an advantage, because I think I am constantly able to think outside the box.”
The seven years studying in Australia helped build Ida’s confidence and expose her to many different types of people, which has proven a blessing as a CEO. “I always find myself being a little bit different than everybody else. In the way that I think, in the way that I do my problem solving, and so forth. For me, it’s an advantage, because I think I am constantly able to think outside the box.”
Ida says that no matter your age or gender, if you have something that you want to achieve, “go out there!”. She recommends embracing the opportunities that university can provide, even when it seems intimidating. “Take advantage of that platform because it’s kind of like a starter pack for life.”