Billion-ringgit retail business grows from humble roots.

Byline: Vasantha Ganesan

ECONSAVE Cash & Carry is a Malaysian family-run retail brand that everyone recognises but knows very little about.

Its history goes back to 1955 when Lai Poh Tian, to escape poverty in China, sold the family's only cow and borrowed some money to get on a ship to what was then Malaya.

"My father is from a family of three boys. He used to feed the cow every morning before going to school," executive director Lai Sia Ling said.

Sia Ling, who is the fourth among four sons and a daughter, said that when his father landed in Klang, Selangor, he worked as a labourer.

After working for about 14 years, the senior Lai …