A graduate of Kingston University, United Kingdom, Datuk Abd. Rashid Rahim is an aeronautical engineer by profession. He began his career as an engineering officer in the Royal Malaysian Air Force serving in several fighter and transport squadrons.

His career in the automotive industry began when he was appointed the CEO for United Straits Fuso Sdn. Bhd., the distributor of Mitsubishi brand of vehicles in Malaysia. Together with the late Tan Sri Yahaya Ahmad, he spearheaded the formation of USPD (Usahasama Proton-DRB), a distribution channel for Proton cars.

Datuk Abd. Rashid Rahim was then appointed as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer for several automotive-related companies in the DRB-HICOM group, namely Proton Corporation, DRB-HICOM Export Corporation and Honda Malaysia. Among others, he was instrumental in the formation of a joint-venture company to manufacture Honda passenger cars in Malaysia. He was also responsible in creating an export market for MTB trucks, Modenas motorcycles and more notably, revamping Proton’s sales and marketing operations in the UK, Europe and Australia, as well as opening up 15 new overseas markets. He was also instrumental in setting up the local distributorship for General Motor’s Chevrolet and Suzuki automobiles. His last appointment in DRB-HICOM was as Group Director of Services.

Realising the potential local demand and the growing global trend for dependable car navigation systems, Datuk Abd. Rashid Rahim, together with Mr. Hideo Owatari conducted preliminary works that led to the establishment of Navi & Map Sdn. Bhd. in 2005.