As the Korean-born entrepreneur offi cially launches the British flagship store of her luxury German fashion brand during London Fashion Week, Voyager meets Sung-Joo Kim. As a global powerhouse who is commanding multimillions, her rise to the top is just as extraordinary as her personal story

THE FOUNDER OF the Sung-Joo Group (whose company carries her fi rst name) and the chairman of the MCM Group strides downstairs to the basement boudoir in London’s Knightsbridge of her latest MCM store, which specialises in luxury bags and accessories. Somehow she simultaneously greets the store manager, confi rms the rest of the day’s appointments with her publicist, introduces herself to me, orders green tea for us, casts an appraising eye over the changing room area – each of which is done as though it’s the sole thing on her mind. It’s clearly this level of multitasking which has taken Sung-Joo Kim to huge commercial success and international recognition as the head of a designer accessories’ franchise which has included the likes of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Sonia Rykiel. A far cry from her fi rst experience as apprentice to the legendary retail guru Marvin Traub, chief executive of Bloomingdales in New York where she learnt the golden rules of luxury branding.

“I never imagined that the company would be like this,” murmurs the businesswoman who has been described as one of ‘the New Century’s Leaders’ by CNN. She’s been ranked among ‘The Top 50 Women To Watch’ by the Wall Street Journal and ‘One of the Seven Most Powerful Women in Asia’ according to an Asiaweek list.

The context of these commendations is all the more remarkable given that Kim, 51, who was born to a leading Korean business tycoon – her father Kim Soo-keon being the founder and chairman of the Daesung Energy Corporation – was strongly discouraged from following her natural academic bent. Her parents intended her to have a traditional arranged marriage and when she rebelled against it found herself disinherited; more of which later. The repercussions were to form the basis of this future CEO. For although highest-ranking executives generally shy away from sharing their life stories for business coverage, Kim says simply: “It’s hard to talk about how I got into MCM without talking of my personal background.” For instance, her devout faith lies behind her decision for 10% of the company profi ts to be donated annually to charities and NGOs and 30% of her personal income to causes close to her heart, such as those which give education and business opportunities to young women in developing nations – hence she has been inducted into the Enterprising Women’s Hall of Fame in Florida this year.

The plaudits don’t stop there. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 1997 Kim was given an award for ‘Global Leaders of Tomorrow’ and more recently was invited to the fi nancial Times’ Luxury Summit where she was a guest speaker. “It was very interesting: on the podium were the likes of Mr Zegna [CEO of Ermenigildo Zegna] and Mr Oberoi [of the fi ve-star hotel chain Oberoi Group]. When I rose to speak after them, I joked: ‘So I see we are following the Asian custom of women last!’”

The audience may have laughed but the irony was not lost on them, given that Kim is at the forefront of the retail revolution which is seeing companies from the east achieving hitherto-unseen success in the western markets. Last year she had a $100m turnover and is predicted to be on course for a $1 bn business within fi ve years. “It has been referred to as reverse imperialism but I see it as true globalisation,” states Kim earnestly.

While her name may not spark instant recognition, her soft launch this summer of the MCM boutique on Sloane Street was attended by the capital’s discreet power brokers and society fi gures, such as celebrity interior designer Kelly Hoppen (who designed this store) and bmi’s chairman, Sir Michael Bishop. Now that the fi nishing touches have all met her exacting standards, she is throwing the offi cial launch party during London Fashion Week this month when a weekend bag designed by Prince Azim of Brunei will be unveiled in aid of the charity Make-a-Wish Foundation.

It also marks the rebranding of the German fashion house which once had supermodel Cindy Crawford as its ‘face’ when it was a major player in the 1980s and 90s. MCM stood for Mode Creation Munich but was nicknamed More Cash Money in fi nancial circles for its unstoppable flow at the cash tills. But in the Noughties, the company lost its way with overexpansion of its concessions, though sales in south-east Asia stopped it flatlining. Kim came up with a rescue package and bought it for an undisclosed amount. “It was a young brand which launched in 1976 and I started the licence for it in Korea and the Asian market in 1992. That’s how I could see it was one of the fastest growing luxury brands in Asia. So when I bought it in 2005, the Korean operation was growing extremely healthily – after all, Asia is so important to the designer sector that even Louis Vuitton and Burberry have around 60% from there. We learnt how to bring in German excellence to the Korean factories which cut costs but not quality. Our competition is Louis Vuitton,” states the businesswoman who is dressed in a trouser suit. Her cropped hair and lean 5ft 10” frame are offset by vibrant lipstick – this is relevant as she brings insight from her own lifestyle to the business. “I look at how 21st century women run their lives – always on the move. If I’m travelling in jeans and a casual top, I add a smart jacket and it takes me to a meeting. Add strappy shoes and it carries you to the evening. So our products cater to this new luxury trend that women want.”

And that is clearly working: there have been very public sightings of celebrities such as Geri Halliwell travelling with MCM luggage. The strategy behind this new luxury is just as strong as the designs of the products themselves. Upon buying the company, Kim had a three-pronged plan: “The fi rst phase from 2005-8 was to ‘clean up’ stores and concessions which weren’t right and to consolidate the business. Secondly, we appointed our new creative director Michael Michalsky, who was previously Adidas’ global creative director. Thirdly, we embarked on our PR and marketing plans. I plan to have 75 stand-alone stores by the end of this year and an additional 150 outlets worldwide on top of our seven global offi ces which include Zurich, London and Beijing – with Tokyo opening soon.”

However, London will play an increasingly important role; Kim plans to spend more time in the capital while her 18-year-old daughter Jeehae studies here and also as distribution increases from Harrods and Selfridges to other major outlets. But as her daughter continues her education, Kim – one of seven children where the sons were expected to follow their father into business while the daughters married into good families – recalls how as a bright child who brought home glowing school reports, her parents’ face fell when she kept winning the fi rst prize. “They thought ‘oh no, another smart girl’. Their attitude was that a smart girl does not marry well as she is hard for a man to control. They would rather I just did ok, studied soft subjects like home economics or art and then married the man of their choice.” Instead, Kim applied to the extremely prestigious Amherst College in Massachusetts and when her father refused to let her go, she approached several key business and political fi gures who were Amherst alumni. “They included the ambassador of Japan and a couple of cabinet ministers. My father didn’t believe me when I said I had invited them to dinner. He did not think such dignitaries would accept the invitation of a young girl.” In fact, they came and pleaded the case for young Sung-Joo; her father could not refuse them so aged 22 she duly went off.

This was followed by studying at London School of Economics and Kim went on to Harvard when – in order to escape an imminent fored marriage back home – she gave her then Canadian boyfriend an ultimaturm of a week to marry her. She was removed from the family tree and all support immediately stopped. Kim suddenly found herself urgently needing a job. Serendipity brought her to Marvin Traub’s orbit where she was responsible for organising a Bloomingdale’s special festival focusing on Korean products.

Kim was not reconciled with her family for several more years till events led her to being a translator for her father’s Daesung company during a negotiation for an American joint venture with Bendix. When the boardroom talks broke down, it was the ostracised youngest daughter who asked her father’s permission to mediate and saved a deal worth $20m. As thanks her father asked her what she wanted: Kim requested a $300,000 loan. “Not only did I repay that loan – but with 10% interest,” she recalls. It was this early capital which saw her establish her own company, holding the licence to luxury European brands in Asia. Following a visit to Gucci’s Florence stockroom –“It was so dusty as Gucci was going through a diffi cult time at that period that I almost didn’t want to take on the deal but then remembered that I had enough background in branding to push a name that had heritage” – she snapped up $500,000-worth of stock. She went on to expand with other designer names as well as Marks & Spencer whose massive South Asian presence from early 1997 was thanks to Kim. “I invested $30m in M&S and the Asian fi nancial crisis of 1998 when the market crashed meant I nearly lost that amount overnight. So many companies went bankrupt; we nearly did too.” But her enormous market for Gucci (Kim’s company handled their duty-free operations) was her saving grace. After lengthy negotiations, a buyer put in a cash bid at the eleventh hour. Kim retains 90% of the company.

“I’ve learnt the lesson that everything happens for a reason and you can learn from even bad experiences so I never despair,” she smiles. As someone who is at vanguard of what she calls ‘women-omics’, it will take a lot more than a mere economic meltdown to derail Kim. Expect the awards to continue.