YCM CEO Series 29: Rejina Rahim, Managing Director of Nomura Asset Management
Writing credites: Chen Chow Yeoh

Today is the 29th Young Corporate Malaysians CEO Series of Talk. We have Nor Rejina Abdul Rahim, Managing Director of Nomura Asset Management Malaysia. The talk is still at our usual place, but the name of the hotel has been changed from Nikko Hotel to InterContinental Hotel. Below is the live blogging.

Education and Early Career
Rejina graduated with LLB (Hons) from University of Kent at Canterbury, UK in 1995. She started by being Legal Office at Pengkelan Securities, Malaysia. She did her Barrister at Law, Lincoln’s Inn, UK in 1997.

She became Compliance Manager at Commerce-BT (now known as CIMB-Principal). From there, she became Head of Legal & Product Development, and then Head of Legal & Risk Management, as well as later on as Head of Institutional Marketing & Business Development. In 2006, she became the Managing Director of Nomura Asset Management Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

Rejina made a disclaimer that what she said tonight would be her personal opinion and not the opinion of Nomura or Nomura Asset Management Malaysia.

Malaysia: Journey to 2020
Life is an adventure and change is the only constant. In the Last 15 years, we saw Y2K, Asian Financial Crisis, Global Financial Crisis
etc. Today, even the developed countries are not as stable as we thought. Lehman Brothers, which had a history of more than 150 years, went down during the crisis.

In the globalized world, what happens in the other side of the world does affect us. Good news is that news coming out from US is getting better. US housing prices are improving. Investment spending on equipment and software are up sharply. 2010, it was a very bad year for Europe. Things are still very shaky over there. Although investors are still very cautious, things are not that bad. The leverage level of Europe is not that high. There seems to be outflows from emerging markets to developed market in the last two weeks.

However, things may not be so bad in Malaysia. Despite Malaysia is coming from a higher base, the Economic Transformation Programmes would create excitement. We have been getting news of expansion of production from oil & gas sector.

Journey to 2020 would not be easy for average Malaysians. We would have more traffic jams before MRT is ready, and housing prices would go up before MRT is ready.

Rejina shared about her holidays in Malaysia, and said that it is very beautiful. If foreigners can make Malaysia their 2nd home, we should love it more.

Malaysia, as the Islamic financial hub, we should take advantage of the unrest in Middle East, to grab the market share.

Despite what is said about broadband prices in Malaysia, we still can easily get free wifi at mamak here.

Just as Rome was not built in a day, we should not expect things to change within very short time.

2010 was a great year for Malaysia, and we do have strong fundamentals in Malaysia. Growing 6% a year is not going to be easy, but with the talents in the younger generation, we should be able to value add and grow Malaysia at that rate.

The path to developed nation status is not going to be easy. Our valuations are not as cheap as our neighbours. Global investors are looking at our neighbours first, before looking at us.

We are going up in a world, where competition is getting tougher.

Back in 1980-1990, a double storey house in Subang was RM80,000. Today, RM80,000 would get you a low cost flat in Bangi. Back in 1996, Rejina got a starting pay of RM1,500. Today, fresh graduates earn an average of RM2,000 and the extra RM500 would just get you a room (and not a house).

Lessons Learnt
Lessons learned from the global financial crisis can be useful for us. Greed is not good. Lets get back to basic. Be nice to neighbours. Grow your own herbs. Think before you buy a nice handbag on credit cards.

Make your street a nicer world and your world would be a better place. Some might called her an idealist and it might take a lot more hard work to get things work. Even though we have the technologies like Facebook, Twitter, face-to-face communications tend to get the messages across better. We don’t always have to rush. She always finds it easier to speak face-to-face.

Back to the Future mentioned 2010 as the future, but now it is in the past. Today’s world has changed a lot, and it is a world of changing everything. Like when we reach the peak of Mount Kinabalu, we can take a photo there and tweet it to the world. Everything is so instant. There is also some “down” for things that are done too instantly. We got irritated when others don’t reply within a few hours.

Markets around the world are now watching nervously what is happening around the Middle East. Are we having information overload? Before, one person can’t make real change in the world. But today, each of us can make real change in the world.

Management and Human Resources can track what your track record even better. She would google her future employees. Taking charge of one’s life may not matter to your CEO or your boss, but you should want to make the impacts on people.

People are inspired because they are passionate of what they are doing.

A Late Bloomer
Rejina called herself as Late Bloomer. She was lucky that her parents were not from the traditional mould. She got an early stint at Malay Mail. Back then, Datuk A. Kadir Jasin offered her to stay on, and told her that she doesn’t need to go to university to be successful in journalist.

She got married in 1996. The managing partner of a law firm questioned her of her recent marriage and asked whether it made sense to hire her, since she would get pregnant soon.

She left legal practice and joined as Complaince Manager and from there, moved on to other roles. She did get pregnant soon after she joined the firm, and her productivity went up and not down.

She started Nomura Asset Management Berhad in December 2006. When she went over to Japan, she couldn’t speak Japanese, but she had a point to prove and do well.

Do not expect people to react the way you want. If you do, 9 out of 10, you would be disappointed.

She trusted her maid, Wati greatly and she would trust her just as much as she trust her colleagues. As a women, the expectation of her role is higher. Even though she has spoken around the globe, she would still go through the homework of her children, whether directly or over internet.

She has learned a lot over her 38 years. She learned that her kids can teach her a thing or two. She learned that her husband can still surprise her even after getting married for a long time. She learned that making mistakes are ok, as long as one learned from it.

Innovation and lessons can come from anywhere. Steve Jobs didn’t even have a college degree. He has a passion to learn. He took a calligraphy course. That same course helped him design the typography in Mac.

Questions & Answers Session

She shared that sometimes we won’t know that we screwed up until it happened.

Compliance usually takes in those from legal or accounting background. For her, she is always going out to learn what others are doing, and learning up on it. Be inquisitive and tries to find out what is available in the firm. She said that most people are always quite surprised that managers and bosses are quite to it.

Nomura Asset Management Malaysia managed equity global and fixed income out of Kuala Lumpur.

She hoped that she should be running a lot faster in the next 10 years. She aimed to run half marathon in less than 2 hours.

Nomura as a group has exposure to Islamic Banking/Finance since 1980s.

She felt that if one wanted something badly, then one would make the time to do it. She joked that if one wanted to sleep, one can sleep after one is dead.

She knows the industry pretty well, so she is still in it. If she does not have any financial obligation at all, she might end up being physical education trainer. She loved her job pretty much too. She met all sorts of people around the world.

There is a lot more interest in Malaysia lately, compared to previously. Eventually, for a global investor, and if they wanted to benchmark with MSCI, Malaysia would make up for a very small part of exposure. So, some investors could decide that they would be investing it in other countries, like Indonesia and Thailand.

We talked a lot about Malaysia here, but we don’t promote the country internationally. Not many public listed companies in Malaysia do not even have investor relations department. We need to have more companies going around internationally to promote the companies and country.

She enjoyed running. She used to do yoga. She is looking to do pole dancing. Any kind of exercise is good.

We need to know what we are looking for, and we shouldn’t just be looking for a big pay cheque. Malaysia hasn’t come to the level of Singapore and Hong Kong, where they can get bonuses of 3 years. She definitely sees that pay is increasing in Malaysia, especially in asset management companies.

She says that everything goes back to perception. We can say cup is half full or half empty. It is better that we take the challenge.

One advice she could give is don’t get emotional. We should gauge who we are speaking to, and different people would give different responses. Body language is important. It is very important to be listening. Today, it is very easy to read and glaze over things, but we should focus on listening.

Need to be strong numerically and also would need to have good writing skills, to do well in Asset Management firms. Usually people would start from research. And she adds on, having a good look, would help the firm in doing marketing. She would suggest that people have some form of finance learnings. She knew of people with both legal and accounting degrees.

CFA used to be something difficult to attain. Very few people in the industry had it. But today, with lots of courses, it is much easier. Having CFA would be good to show the prospective employers of your interest. One of the best fund managers that she had worked with, do not have CFA.

Thoughts on Singapore
Her personal take is that Singapore needs to survive no matter what, whereas we are blessed with natural resources and do not think ahead as well. 20 years ago, Singapore has already gotten their MRT sorted out, and we are still in the planning stage today. We need to think ahead, be passionate and be hungry. If we think that life is easy and we don’t need to work as hard, then we can’t go as fast.

Thoughts on Education
Her children used to go to government school. She is a member of Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE). She used to go to Sekolah Kebangsaan and she didn’t think that she is more stupid compared to those who go to boarding school. What things that she does not like is that our education policy keeps on flip-flop. She took her children out of national school. Both her children are learning Mandarin. She is hoping that one of them would start learning Hindi.

She doesn’t care much about how others looked at her. Back then, she would need an interpreter, but today, meeting notes are in English.

Understanding Youth and Embracing Facebook & Twitter
A lot of companies do not allow Facebook/Twitter, but what they do not realize is that youths today can multi-task. She does not make any deal if her staff is on Facebook/Twitter during office hour. One thing she would know is that they would be a happy staff. She is very amazed at how the 6-degree of separation is a lot less. We can do words of mouth much better.

Just like if one opens a restaurant, a blogger can help promote the good things or bad things of the restaurant. She still did her business traditionally. If all the regulators in the world would allow more cross-border selling, then it would be a lot better. Of course, would need self regulation and people need to do it more responsibly.

The world is your oyster. Opportunities do come around from around the world. There are people who are working in Malaysia, and yet they write iPhone apps that bring them USD20,000 a month. There are a lot of success stories from here too. The internet is a very powerful tool.

YCM CEO Series 25: Yusli Yusoff, CEO of BURSA Malaysia
Writing credits: Chen Chow Yeoh

Live blogging of Young Corporate Malaysians 25th CEO Series of Talk by Dato’ Yusli, CEO of Bursa Malaysia.

Early Life

Dato’ Yusli was born in Bangsar Hospital. His late father was army officer, so he used to travel a lot. However, his late father passed away when he was about 40. At that time, Dato’ Yusli was 8. His mother brought them up. At that time, they were living at MINDEF at Gurney/Semarak.

He was at Rifle’s Range school, and then St. John, and then went to Sultan Alam Shah in Petaling Jaya. He did his Standard Six in 1970. He skipped a year of school, so he only had five years of primary school.

He was selected as the first batch under Yayasan Selangor to study in Kuala Lumpur under the first year of New Economic Program. The school that he was supposed to go to, ended up does not exist now. He ended up going to Victoria Institution, and the rest went to Methodist Boy’s School and St. John Institution.

He spent his years at Victoria Institution (VI), and it was fun. He left VI at the start of Form 6, as his mother felt that he was not studying enough. He was just made Head Boy then.

He then went to UK in 1977 and did A Level and university, as well as working in UK. He came back in 1990, and joined Renong Berhad, which also does not exist today too. Dato’ Yusli was joking that places he went to, ended up does not exist today.

He went to do ICAW, and joined an accounting firm in UK, Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co (which eventually became part of KPMG). He was in UK till 1990. In between, he got married. However, unfortunately, it didn’t last. His daughter is now staying in UK and now is a doctor there. When he came back, his daughter was 6.

Early Career Prior to BURSA

Dato’ Yusli was supposed to start working with Petronas. Before he went to Petronas, he got “hijacked” to Renong. At that time, Renong just took over UEM, and they were building the North South Highways. Renong was one of the preferred companies then.

During the New Economic Model, Tun Dr. Mahathir selected a bunch of bumiputera businessmen to build a bigger pool of bumiputera professionals, and at that time, Tan Sri Halim Saad was one of them. Tan Sri Halim Saad was Dato’ Yusli’s first boss in Malaysia.

Dato’ Yusli then had to explain to Tan Sri Hassan Merican on he had to turn down the offer. In hindsight, Dato’ Yusli felt that in the fairly new group, like Renong, there was a lot more flexibility and he got a good learning curve.

In Renong, Tan Sri Halim Saad set up a Group Management Office, and that company was HBN Management. He set up with the help of an ex-partner in PwC. Dato’ Yusli’s first job with Renong was to write report on the companies that Renong had. Having worked under Tan Sri Halim Saad, Dato’ Yusli shared that Tan Sri’s culture was ruling by fear. He shared that everyone needs to know everything at finger tips, or else, would “get bitten off the head”.

Dato’ Yusli shared on those quarterly presentations back then, and some of those subsidiaries people were terrified and sometimes they didn’t even dare to sleep. One even fainted in the meeting.

Tan Sri Halim Saad knew a lot about each of the companies, and he could literally ask anything and everything on the company. And if people could not answer, they would be in trouble. Dato’ Yusli highlighted that while Tan Sri’s style “sucks”, his style was admirable, as he was able to get everyone on their toes. Dato’ Yusli credited him (Tan Sri Halim Saad) as the best bumiputera manager that he had worked with.

Others who were working at Renong was Datuk Seri Che Khalib. He worked very long under Tan Sri Halim Saad, whereas Dato’ Yusli worked for five years under him.

After HBN, he moved to Faber Group, and then Time Engineering and then went back to Renong Group as Chief Operating Officer in 1994/1995. At Renong Berhad, Dato’ Yusli reported to Tan Sri Halim Saad.

After that, Dato’ Yusli joined Shapadu Corporation for about 2 years, but he left as he felt that what was promised to him was not carried out the same way.

Dato’ Yusli felt that as country progressed, then people would need to specialize, instead of being “jack of all trades”. In developed nations, there were not many conglomerates.

In Renong, Dato’ Yusli had exposure to construction, infrastructure, property, engineering etc. At Shapadu, it was similar.

At that time, Dato’ Yusli joined Sime Merchant Bankers Berhad, which was joint venture of Sime Darby, ANZ Bank and another Japanese Bank. (And he joked that Sime Bank does not exist today too.) Sime Bank got hit by Asian Financial Crisis and Sime Darby decided to get out of Banking industry. Sime Bank was acquired by RHB.

Dato’ Yusli decided to leave before the bank got folded. The worst thing that Dato’ Yusli felt was that Sime Darby decided to pull the plug. The first thing that Dato’ Yusli chose to join them, was that it was supposed to be stable.

Datuk Jaafar Hamid, who had worked with Tan Sri Halim Saad, planned to do Management Buyout for Intria Berhad and Metacorp Berhad. So, Dato’ Yusli decided to join them as Managing Director of Metacrp Berhad. After Tan Sri Halim Saad, Datuk Jaafar Hamid was the person he admired the most.

However, two days before Dato’ Yusli joined them, the MBO fell through. So, Dato’ Yusli had to report to Tan Sri Halim Saad again. He was asked to be Managing Director for both Intria Berhad and Metacorp Berhad.

At that time, Intria then bought into a UK firm, and had to take a huge Pound Sterling loan. At that time, the exchange rate was about RM4 to 1 Pound, but during crisis, it became ended up to RM8 to 1 Pound at one pound. Intria ended up going into receivership.

During back then, Tun Dr. Mahathir encouraged local big companies to venture abroad, but, not many of them succeeded, as they were not ready to match the foreign “con” people, until Petronas was successful abroad.

Usually when Japanese companies wanted to invest abroad, they would be there for some time to observe, whereas for us, we usually just went out.

Dato’ Yusli shared on the reason of Asian Financial Crisis, due to too fast growth and companies went on too much gearings. And the Western world didn’t learn the lesson, and ended up in crisis recently.

Dato’ Yusli was always in fascination with financial sector, and one day, Datuk Seri Nazir called him and he joined as Chief Executive Director of CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd. That was in 2000, and he stayed on for 4 years. And then he joined as CEO of KLSE.

Dato’ Yusli was always willing to try to new things, and he was always involved in general management. In this manner, one does not need to be technical expert, but one builds expertise in organizing and managing people. Technical expertise would help, but not a must.

Dato’ Yusli shared that having some knowledge of finance and accounting would help in progressing in corporate world. Like when one is a CEO, one has to speak to analyst, and the analysts would not be impressed, if the CEO does not know about finance and accounting.

Bursa Malaysia requires all listed companies to have briefing to analysts and media.

Prior to end of 2003, KLSE was owned by brokers, and the brokers gave a guarantee for the exchange. And then KLSE was demutualized and became a company limited by shares. So, they wanted a new board and a new CEO, and Dato’ Yusli came in as CEO of KLSE.

Q&A

Dato’ Yusli then responded to a bunch of questions.

Dato’ Yusli shared that every time one joins a new company, it would be a new set of experience and new set of challenges. He was fortunate to have the chance to move into various industries. As of now, he has been in stockbroking industry for 10 years.

Being in general management, it gives us the ability to influence the culture of the place. Dato’ Yusli tried to learn from the bosses that he had worked along the way, and extracted the good thing and not to take on some of the not so good things.

Having worked abroad, one of the things that Dato’ Yusli found more common in MultiNational Companies or companies abroad, is that they probably treat their employees differently. Things like respect for the individual are different in the more developed economy. Over there, people tend to pay more attention to quality of life. In developing countries, it is easier for employers to “force” people to work hard, as people here are less likely to complain.

Dato’ Yusli felt that people should have a good work life balance. He felt that if people work all the time, then people would become unproductive. If people do that day in day out, productivity must decline after a certain point. Dato’ Yusli preferred that they go back and rest and energize, instead of staying back late.

Dato’ Yusli felt that sometimes lower-ranked staff don’t dare to go back earlier, because their boss don’t go back early, and sometimes the boss don’t go back early, because they don’t want to set the wrong example. So, ended up people stay back later.

In corporate life, people are different, compared to students’ days. So, in a group of people, there might be difference in personality, and people might not work well together. So, if one is unlucky, then one would have to work to get people to work together. So, as one moves up the ladder, then one would have to handle that.

In any position, people are still people and would have character. Dato’ Yusli always advised that people should be firstly professional at work. That means one should do the job that one is paid for. One is not paid to not like a person, not paid to not cooperate with another person.

Dato’ Yusli does not expect people to like each other, but do expect people to work together. That sounds simple, but almost impossible to do. That is probably the biggest challenge for anyone. If people don’t talk to each other, someone has to break the ice, and professionals would do so, to get things done.

There are close to 1,000 companies, which they are quite diversified. In Malaysia, we are quite blessed with resources and we have enterprising people, and generally, people are quite well educated. Dato’ Yusli felt that the challenge is not too many people invest.

Securities Commissions is the commission that approves listing. ACE board is meant for businesses that do not have much track record. Lets say that there is a younger company that wants to list, they could find with a sponsor investment bank, and then they can list.

A lot of people do not want to let go of power, and that is especially so, for entrepreneurs. So, as the number of employees grow, entrepreneurs need to learn to give up the power, or else, it might be hard to grow the companies. It is important to look for professionals to handle the companies.

Most of the problems we have today is due to dishonest people. So, it is tough for entrepreneurs to find someone that they can trust.

Dato’ Yusli credited YTL group to have a balance of professionals and family members.

As company promotes staff up, the skill sets needed would differ, and company should ensure that the skill sets is built up.

Dato’ Yusli felt that there is nothing wrong with subordinates who are better than the boss. In fact, it is better, as it can help the boss to do a better job. Then, Dato’ Yusli’s advice would be for one to be better than one’s boss.

Dato’ Yusli shared on Bursa Malaysia, where there are only 600 staff, so there are limited jobs on the top. However, there are some specialist roles, which those people would choose to stay there, as there is only one exchange in the country. Of course, Bursa Malaysia did face the challenge of being poached by other banks.

Dato’ Yusli shared that Renong took on too many projects, and funding obtained was often short term, and the projects were long term. And interest rate went up, so it was harder to get income matched. So, cash flow problem could happen. It ended up with Khazanah Nasional bought over Renong.

Dato’ Yusli shared that back then Prolink, a Renong subsidiary, was the master planner for Bandar Nusajaya. And if not due to the crisis, Renong would be the one that took charge of Renong.

Dato’ Yusli felt that there is a trend for the Robert Kuok’s linked group to list abroad. Dato’ Yusli said that if followed logic, then they should have listed in Malaysia.

Dato’ Yusli shared that it is challenging to attract Indonesian companies to list here.

On his goal when he joined Bursa Malaysia, he wanted to improve the culture of Bursa and created a better atmosphere. He felt that he hasn’t really achieved that yet. There are some people who prefer to be told what to do, and if there is no instruction came down, then there could be problem. So, if things are not doing well, then one has to change. Change is always difficult. People don’t like to change, especially if they have always been doing something for the last many years. This is another thing that one has to deal with, as one progresses.

The skill required would be to learn how to sell the idea. That is a skill that everybody needs to have. Looking back to those at school, the one who is doing well at corporate life are those who don’t do well at school. They were the ones who were really socialing around. Those who don’t have good social skill, would find it hard to do well in society.

Bursa Malaysia is in service industry, and there are a lot of stakeholders. Pretty much everyone has opinion on Bursa Malaysia. In dealings with direct stakeholders, Bursa tries to be as efficient as possible.

Dato’ Yusli’s comment on 10th Malaysia Plan, the plan is on the right plan, but the challenge is to get everyone to work together with Prime Minister. First is to get all the ministers to work together, and then to get all the civil services to work together and then all Malaysians to work together.

Dato’ Yusli felt that when he was younger, inter-racial thing was better. But over the years, society has lost some of that, but what our Prime Minister tried to do with 1Malaysia is to find ways to get everyone to work all together, for the country to progress.

Dato’ Yusli felt that we should have more solid government schools, so that schools can produce better quality people. Maybe today, there is more pressure, life is more stressful, and there could be some structural issues, and the government should definitely find a way to quickly fix the education system. That is about the future of young Malaysians. This should not be politicized.

In life, there are many decision points, and one makes decision and one can’t turn back the clock. Dato’ Yusli thought that most of the decisions were correct. Perhaps one of his personal choices would be to bring his daughter back, but he can’t turn back the clock. Once a kid grows up, it would no longer be the same.

He wanted to create high quality professionals, and people would work together. It is easier said than done. One is paid to do work, so one does work for the salary, instead of one does work for the bonus. The bonus is just if people exceed the performance. One should look at whether one contributes more than what they were contracted to do. Nobody works eight hours flat out, although in theory, that was what one was paid for.

Dato’ Yusli would like to see Corporate Malaysia to have very high corporate governance standards. He wants companies to run with high transparency, and a lot of failure that we see in the past, was due to lack of corporate governmance, for instance fraud. Fraud could happen at all sort of level. It could be people stealing cash or selling fictitious products to fictitious people, and sometimes even public listed companies.

If one buys a share in a company, then suddenly we find that one month later, the company goes bankrupt, due to auditors said that the stocks or debtors in the companies would be worthless. Of course, people have paid money earlier, and one would lose money. If one knew that the company would go bankrupt, then one won’t invest it. So, Bursa’s attention is on companies disclosing it. If dishonest people discloses things, then chances are things might not be honest. So, Bursa has to detect those. Fact of life is that there would be dishonest people.

Directors of companies are meant to monitor the performances of the bosses in the companies. Bursa Malaysia did set up mandatory training for board members, but it was taken away after Directors were against it. So today, only first time board members of public listed companies go through a few days of training.

Today, public listed companies do list down the trainings that the directors went through.

Dato’ Yusli ended with hoping that all the attendees would become investors, and also to make sure that one read the annual reports. As long as one buys reasonably low, then sells reasonably high, then it would be good.

Dato’ Yusli felt that it is important to know the management of the companies. If one trusts the top management, then one can invest in the company.

Dato’ Yusli always supports the countries of the captain of Arsenal. Last World Cup, he supported France, and this time, supported Spain.

YCM CEO Series 24: Arlida Ariff, CEO of Iskandar Investment Bhd
Writing credits: Chen Chow Yeoh

Live blogging of Young Corporate Malaysians 24th CEO Series of Talk, Arlida Ariff, President and CEO of Iskandar Investment Berhad.

Academic Background
Arlida graduated from an American university. Back then, most people chose UK, but she chose the non-traditional route to go to US (despite her parents’ disapproval). She went to a Liberal Arts College in Portland, and then went to Syracuse and study. She got her engineering degree when she was 21, and she related that back then, in Syracuse, 9 out of 10 top students were female.

She went to UC Berkeley to do her master (instead of Stanford), as she could get the Master in 1 year. She graduated with her master in 22 years old. However, back then, it was financial crisis time.

Early Career
She then went to Universiti Malaya to become teaching assistant. However, she got stuck at Student Affairs Office. So, she went to organize social events in the university, like organizing annual dinner, events etc. That gave her the perspective of how studying in local university versus US university.

After that, she joined a “Chinaman” Engineering company which worked on foundation contractor. In early days, Sunway used to be tin mining area, so Arlida was one of those in the early days working on it, and making something out of nothing there. She converted less usable places, into more user friendly and potentially viable places. After some time, she realized that she won’t have great future in the company, so she left and join PETRONAS.

During that time, PETRONAS was in a stage of transformation, and she mentioned that it was interesting there. She was put into project management there. In the early years, she was working on PETRONAS project, PGU (PETRONAS Gas Utilization). When she went into it, it was during the second phase.

In the middle 80s, Malaysian petroleum was filled with gas. So, back then, they just burnt it, before a few years later, they found a way to use it. Then, they extracted those gases from oil.

She became gas expert in the pipeline during that time.

Then, PETRONAS bought into KLCC, and at that time, it was called “Sri Kuda”. As she was from civil engineering, she was roped into the project. At that time, she didn’t even know that it was supposed to be the world’s tallest tower.

She spent 15 years in KLCC, honed her skill to be project manager. During those times, she was Chief Property Management, Chief Security and Chief Tour Guide.

The Iskandar Experience
Then, she was being roped into Iskandar project. She said that the toughest job was to create a place that people want to be, and convince people to relocate to Johor Bharu. She said that she had to think of how to convince people from a place where they are comfortable, to go south and live and develop in Iskandar.

As people know, Johor Bharu had a poor reputation of poor security, and it had to be transformed to make it a livable place. So, Arlida and team had to think through it deeply, and make Iskandar not a white elephant. She was thinking of how to make the whole place viable. It has to be visionary.

She advised that before doing anything, we should have a vision and we should have a plan. Arlida quoted on “Failure to plan is planning to fail”. She also advised that we shouldn’t over plan as well. Very often, we do have basic plan that understand the target and the vision that we want to create.

Arlida shared with us that she really believed in Malaysia, and she believed in the future of the crowd who is attending. She said that all of us are those who are going to determine the future of Malaysia. We are all responsible. It is not about leaders, but it is about all of us.

She shared that “the grass is always greener elsewhere, until we went over there.” She shared about how a lot of other countries had it much worse.

She wanted us to think of what we can do and what we want to do, and she shared that we all have the opportunities and potential to improve on things. She said that next time, before we want to complain on something, we should think of what we can do.

She said that we often not learn from history. We should learn from history. History would tell us that civilization lies on the trade route. Singapore was very successful, because they were in the crossroads of the trade. So, if Singapore can be successful, so do Johor.

Arlida said that Iskandar is about 3 times the size of Iskandar (550,000 acres or 2,217 square kilometers. It encompasses 3 districts – Johor Bharu, Kulai Jaya and a part of Pontian. There are 5 local authorities in the district. Currently, population is 1.6 million people, and it is to increase to 3 million by 2025. In normal time, growth is just 5% or so every year.

She shared on each flagship zone has its own economic cluster. The 5 zones are Johor Bharu City Center (Cultural and Urban Tourism), Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat (Chemical), Tanjung Pelepas (Logistic), Nusajaya (Education & Medical tourism, Entertainment & Recreation, State Administration and Finance), Senai/Skudai (Logistic/R&D).

Most of the developments are going to happen in Nusajaya. The target is to grow Iskandar into several times of sizes in all aspects (GDP, Per capita income etc). She highlighted on five main pillars to be reinforced, and then grow higher income as the main pillars.

As of February 2010, USD16.92 billion (RM59.04 billion) has been committed, predominantly from the private sector. As of now, Iskandar Malaysia has attracted over 700 site visits from potential investors, domestic and internationally.

Catalyst and new key investors includes Iskandar Investment (IIB), Mubadala, Kuwait Finance House, Milennium, UEM/Limitless, Genting Property, Central Malaysian Properties, JCorp, Malaysian Mining Corporation, Malaysia Pacific Corporation etc.

She shared that we should learn Mandarin, as with 1 billion population, and there would be a lot of domestic consumption. On India, she said that they understand English, so it is not as important. Having said that, American consumption per capita would be a lot higher.

With small domestic population, Iskandar would have to look beyond the country to grow.

Arlida was sharing on opening a new hotel, one would need to have 12 approvals, and the whole process would take 1 to 3 years.

With that, IRDA would be set up to take care of the processes. Iskandar Investment Berhad would have to create projects that would catalyze the region and also bring in Return on Investment.

IIB has the shareholder of 60% of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, 20% EPF and 20% Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor. Iskandar Investment Berhad has a land bank of 10,000 acres.

Medini is an international zone, and for those who are in certain sector, they would be able to get certain incentives. Now, focusing on the northern sector of Medini. Legoland (76 acres) is built to cater for the young (2-12 years old) and also their parents. The reason to focus on this area is that entertainment for youth has been well catered in the region, so it is better to focus on the entertainment area for the young.

Now, with us working with Singapore, so we are doing things that are complementing with Singapore. In Medini, there would be Lifestyle Retail Mall (21.1 acres, built-up area – 1,000,000 square feet). Back then, when go to shopping mall, it was go shopping, but now, it has become entertainment place.

IIB tried to build Medini North, to be a place where people would enjoy being. For Legoland, there would be 6 Million Lego bricks, and now, they have hired 12 people to be Legoland Model Builder. One of those 12 people is a lecturer.

For incentives, Medini would have specific incentives, similar with Multimedia Super Corridor, example corporate tax exemption for 10 years.

EduCity @ Iskandar is being built – Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia, Management Development Institute of Singapore (agreement just signed yesterday) and Netherland’s Maritime Institute of Technology. Hopefully all those would be opened by September 2012. Arlida aimed to have 2 more universities announced by end of this year.

Arlida also spent 5 years in Putrajaya during the planning phase and phase 1 building of it, including Prime Minister building. She highlighted on the 4km boulevard and 13 parks. She highlighted that it is important to create events and usages for the infrastructure to be used properly. She said that it is easier to build, but tougher to make it usable.

Arlida said that she has learned that things built to be practical. For the stadium, it would be with capacity of 12,000 people.

Marlborough College Iskandar Malaysia is built, with target completion date in June 2012. It is one of the top 5 colleges in UK.

As part of the social responsibility, there would be Workers camp and Kampung Tersusun as well. Arlida also shared that in her career, she has migrated graves of all religions/races (Muslim graves, Christian graves, Chinese graves, Hindu graves and Orang Asli graves).

Arlida shared the importance of the warming of the relationship with Singapore. There is a joint ministerial committee to look at various issues in Iskandar.

Arlida shared on the work in progress for Iskandar, and it is a city to be the place for the future.

Arlida shared on what kept her awake at night, and she said that the challenge is how to change mindset. She said that one could do marvelous thing, but one need to convince the rest of stakeholders to do it together.

On mega projects, it is not too difficult to do, after one have learned on what to do, but it is tougher to get others to do together.

Advice to Future Leaders
She shared that we have to be in the proponent of change, and we are all together to bring the positive change together, to make Malaysia a better place. We should be together build a place that we want to stay and we want our children to grow up.

Arlida shared that it is easier for our generation to change, since we are still new in our career, and she said that if we tell the stories from our heart, then we can convince others to change.

Arlida said that there are more opportunities for young people now, than before. 20 years ago, opportunities were limited, and there wasn’t internet. Now, mobility is also widely available. Arlida said that the limitation is by our mind. Opportunities today are at least 1,000 times more than before. Our limit has been expanded.

Today, the region that surrounds us is the world. The real problem is recognizing the opportunities. If we are not aware of the opportunities, then we would be limited. Today, we are at the finger tips of the world. We should read more.

A lot of time, we don’t learn from history. A lot of lessons can be learned from there. Be there, watch, look and listen and eventually, we would see it. We need to build the experience and knowledge, and observe around.

Don’t look at salary, but keep on learning all the time.

Arlida used to play piano at lobby of Shangri-la Hotel back then, and she said that the learning she had through observing what others do back then, it is crucial for her to plan for the hotel development.

Arlida shared that for a good CEO, one has to have a vision. It is important to be emphatic to the people. One has to have experience and knowledge. It is very easy for one to just scold, but one should know how to do. Arlida has seen young CEOs, who went in through a stroke of luck, but don’t have the desire to run it.

Arlida shared that one has to respect the people who work for her. One has to earn the respect. One can earn the respect by caring the people and understand the people. Even though being a hard master, one respects the team.

Arlida shared on many different bosses and CEOs that she has worked with. She said that what makes her difference is she tried to learn from what she sees. She said that the intention has to be right. Everybody can teach one something. What is important is that one is willing to learn from subordinate and listen from them. One of the best lessons that Arlida learned is from her technicians.

Pressure can be a good thing, and one needs to learn how to manage the pressure. For this kind of mega project, one has to go through some pressure. Arlida focused on managing the pressure, and not making it bigger than it should be. It is important to have good work life balance.

There are times it could be tough, as one juggles roles. Arlida shared that everyone can come and go, and everyone is replaceable, but one is not replaceable in family.

Writing credits: Chen Chow Yeoh

Live blogging from the 23rd Young Corporate Malaysians CEO Series of Talk by Adrian Lim, Managing Director of Sony Music.

He started his venture into music industry when he was 18 years old. So, he is now close to 20 years in the business, with his age at 37 years old.

He started in the retail business for 4 years, and then he went into Warner Music for 11 years, before at Sony Music for 5 years.

His business is always very much misunderstood, as people would have linked Warner Music with Warner Brothers, and Sony Music with Vaio etc.

Sony Music often worked from behind the scene, and the artists are always the one who got the limelight. People who got into music shop, end up looking for CDs of artists, and not the company that represented them.

Music is always around us, from karaoke, to even back then, when people copied songs from cassettes to cassettes.

Adrian used to buy cassettes from pasar malam, and then he had a catalogue, and when his friends wanted to do parties, he would produce cassettes for them. That was back in his schooling days.

Copyright act started in 1988. After that, copying songs was no longer legal.

Since then, Adrian wanted to respect the law, and then he started to buy original cassettes, and he also wanted to support the industry.

He started to work at pizza shop, where his first week, was washing plate, before he started to get permission to cut fruits. He didn’t want to do this work for long.

One day, he went to Jaya supermarket, and he was hired to work at a cassette shop (Horizon) there on the spot. He only had lunch at 4pm that day, but that was his most satisfying lunch, as he found his calling in the music industry.

His pay then was RM1.50 per hour, and it was lower than RM1.80 per hour at the pizza shop. After some time, he was offered RM550 per month as a full time staff.

Adrian tried to apply for Warner, BMG and EMI, but ended up no response yet.

In retail, he learned how to talk to clients. As he was new, he was assigned to do classical music. No one else wanted to do those kind of music. After that, he was assigned to do jazz music.

Adrian’s principle is that if one wants to go to the next level, one has to really do more stuff. So, he challenged himself to try out new stuff and gain more experience.

Adrian developed a great skill on how to recommend songs to get people to buy cassettes. So, soon he got promoted to be overall buyer. So, he would be able to look at customers, as they came in, and then he could recommend them to the right cassette, that they would like.

When Adrian’s mother asked him what he was still doing, he would say selling cassettes, and she would felt that he was not developing himself, since he still sold cassette. However, his father, especially being a music lover, loved that Adrian is a buyer for music.

Then, he went on to develop himself in the Malay songs, and then eventually into Chinese songs. So, he could sell for all kinds of songs.

He was usually on leave on Monday, and on his off day, he would be doing research on what was the latest songs. He would be listening to musics, and then learned the top ranked hit songs, as well as asking his friends on what was the latest music. He wanted to make sure that he knew all the new songs.

He shared on his interesting example, where customers came in knowing only a little part of the artist’s name or the song’s name or album’s name. Some customers would come in saying that they wanted tape, when asked whether they wanted cassette or CD. To them, tape was what they would want.

So, it took some experience to learn what the customers wanted.

Adrian learned how to attract crowd, for example type of songs that need to be played, to attract attention. Adrian talked about people’s mindset, where people perceived a certain industry is not as glamorous. But if one worked himself/herself up, then he/she would have a great future in it. If want to be successful in anything, never be afraid to do more and learn more. Then, one would learn to develop oneself.

As Adrian wanted to learn to do things more challenging, he went on to start doing retails in selling binding machine and laminator, and covered Shah Alam and Klang. When he started doing his job, he was able to sell the laminator very well. And eventually, he got promoted to Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya.

One day, his friend told him that Warner Music would like to hire a sales representative. During the interview, he was able to name the artists in Warner Music, and that impressed them a lot.

His second round interview was with Mark Lankester, and his third round was supposed to be with Tony Fernandes. However, Tony Fernandes told Mark that Adrian seems to be a very suitable guy, so don’t need to do more interview, but just hire him.

So, he went into Warner Music. Started with radio and then eventually moved around to do promotion. Tony Fernandes was the one who promoted him back then.

Adrian went in to compile a good mix of songs, and then he did strategic marketing. He went on Regional Marketing Manager in Hong Kong for one year, and then he went on to be Senior Marketing Manager and then eventually be Marketing Director.

Adrian talked about loyalty, and also took about 45% pay cut to come back from Hong Kong to Malaysia. He talked also about when he moved from sales to promotion, he took pay cut, as he would no longer be getting commission.

Adrian’s wife preferred that he stayed on in Hong Kong, but Adrian felt that his calling was back home.

Two and a half years later, he got a call from Sony BMG, when there was a merger. He eventually got the job as the Managing Director.

Adrian’s advice is to be very influential in the field, and to have one’s name to be always come up, when people talked about the industry. During the interview, Adrian told the Regional President that he knew nothing, except music. Adrian was very open during the interview, and shared on how he saw the set-up of the company. The interviewer then was expecting a much more “senior” guy, so Adrian just had to be more serious and seen as a suitable candidate to be managing director. So, he left Marketing Director from Warner Music to join Sony BMG as Managing Director.

Adrian’s advice is not to save work, but always to finish up the work, and get it done immediately. One never knew what interesting work would come up the next day.

Adrian has always been asked on what is his secret of success. He felt that it is very important to really learn and know the stuff.

It is very important to “cross over”, where one is able to be adaptable and learn new stuff, and cross sell things to different segment.

Adrian learned how to understand the market, and how to go beyond the core fans, so that there would be greater demand. For example, how to get those English-speaking Chinese to buy tracks for Lee Hom.

He shared on how he turned around the “Dr. Bombay” song, where he sold 120,000 CDs, when he hit the younger crowd and mass, with the wordings of “Kakuta”, instead of “Calcutta”.

It is very important to educate the market and create the awareness. He would learn what the public identify the artists/songs/albums, as they might not be really knowing the actual name of it. So, if one can be master of it, then there would be a lot of potential.

Adrian shared that those who are very successful in YouTube, may not necessarily make it big in the actual album.

In terms of whether YouTube would be a competition to his business, he felt that it is not necessary. Sometimes, YouTube could help him to unearth talents, although not all would work when in actual audition.

Adrian also shared about the antics of some artists, like some want to have beer on stage, or want to meet the make-up artist at midnight etc.

Adrian shared on one of his experiences with Aaron Kwok, when he offered to order Coke for him, but he refused, even though the drink was to be delivered to his room in room service. He was the Pepsi promoter. He shared on how professional Aaron Kwok was, when he endorsed the brand.

Adrian shared once where the artist needed a recording of the football match, but somehow the recording didn’t work out. So, the artist wanted to cancel the press conference and concert, but luckily Tony Fernandes managed to sort it out with the artist.

Adrian shared on the understanding that his wife had, as he had to go club hoppings to promote his music, and also sometimes, when he went for dinner with his wife, he would go out to his car to bring a CD, to get the restaurant changed the songs, if they didn’t play the songs from him. That was his dedication to his job.

Adrian shared on the importance of organizing things and making sure that things are in control. Adrian also shared that it is important to be able to do what one’s boss is doing, so that if the boss is promoted or headhunted, one is ready to take over the job.

Adrian shared that if one makes mistake, one has to admit the mistakes and take responsibility to it. Learn from it and improve from it. If one can really know everything about the industry, then it would be convincing to others.

Adrian shared that loyalty is very important, and also always made sure that he learns one thing a day. When he shared lessons learned with others, people would appreciate what he has gone through.

Adrian also shared that it is important to learn how to write good minutes.

Adrian shared that learning how to handle a team is very difficult. So, if one can learn how to handle people, then one can go very far. Human beings have so many character, so it is very important to learn how to handle people.

One has to be flexible to learn how to deal with different type of people. Might need different style to deal with younger people, or with older people. Learn how to manage upwards and downwards.

It would be important to really learn everything. Adrian used to read about every section in newspaper, to really equip himself with all sorts of knowledge. Adrian stressed a lot about reading. It could be reading from the internet. This would ensure that when people talk to him, he is able to talk comfortably to people.

One can’t demand respect from others. One has to learn to earn the respect from people. Adrian wanted a good team, and be a team player.

When Adrian hired people, he stressed a lot into looking at their co-curricular activities.

Adrian highlighted that there are plenty of jobs in the music industry, so there are a lot of stuff one can work on.

Malaysians have a lot of talent, where we can learn to go far. In Malaysia, it is very unique, where we can relate to all sorts of music. We would buy Hindi, Middle Eastern music, Korean music etc. Malaysians can accept others’ music easily, but our own music did face a lot of challenges to go out.

Malaysians are well exposed to all sorts of music, so in this music, people can go very far.

Today, there are more ways to monetize the music. In weddings, in radio etc, people do pay for the public performance royalty. If everyone starts to pay for music, then it would be growing a lot.

There is an enforcement team from MACP and PPM, who went around to collect public performance royalty and it is a non-profit agency, which would then distribute the collections to the companies, by using 60% air-time played and 40% market share.

Today, people are interested to see performers live, so Sony Music would work concert organizer to bring in performers, and cover the coverage from radio and other promotion.

For Sony Music globally, itunes is their number one revenue generator, much higher than even Walmarts.

Adrian shared that Sony Music needed to educate the people about paying a little more for music, and get Sony Music to get bundled into other products, like in Sony Ericsson or Blue-Rays. Sony Music would also work with other players, like Panasonic.

When being asked on his actual reason of leaving Warner Music, he shared that he wanted to challenge himself to go far. It was a tough decision. Adrian shared that when he went into Sony BMG, he didn’t bring in new people, but retained the team, and respected others first.

So, at that time, Sony merged with BMG, and he was from Warner music, but he managed to get everything work well, by earning their respect.

Adrian shared that passion in the job is the most important thing, and one would go far in life with that.

—

Above are the live blogging that I made from Nikko Hotel, where Adrian Lim shared. If anyone caught any typo or wrong information, do let me know. I will rectify it. Thanks for reading.

CEO Series 22 – Jason Lo, CEO, Tune Talk

Writing credits: Chen Chow Yeoh

Live blogging from Nikko Hotel for the 22nd Young Corporate Malaysians CEO Series of Talk. Tonight we have Jason Lo, CEO of Tune Talk.

Jason was born in Kuching in 1975. He was a sheltered kids in Kuching, just like other Kuching kids. When Kuching had its first flyover, everyone jammed up to take a look at it.

Jason has always been on stage since young, and he really found the world when he studied together with Khairy in Singapore.

When he went to University of Hull to study, he made 3-hour trip every weekend to London. He always tried to get musical deals there, but it was tough. He was very used to get rejection.

Part 1

Then, he tried to stay longer in UK, and he told his father that he is doing MBA there, as Malaysian Chinese people would want their kids to do courses like business.

Eventually he came back to Malaysia, he started to produce his album.

Part 2

He joined EMI at the start. Back then, it was tough to get songs to go on radio. He has always been begging around. Hitz gave him a break, when they initially put up his song at 4am, and after he begged for it, they played it at 6pm.

Jason always focused on his fan, and even went off stage to meet the fans.

His partner, Nik ran the business, whereas Jason produced the album.

Once, he spent $100,000 and the revenue was $4,800. That was not really working. And at one point, the debt was $200+K.

Jason had to read the book on how to editing, and throughout the process, he was humiliated many times, from people of Datin class to other people.

He would have to contact supplier last minute, to get the drum sets, as sometimes organizer didn’t have the sets ready, and he had to tape the wires sometimes.

Jason started to get calls, from landlord and suppliers, especially to ask for money. So, time was tough.

Part 3

Fat Boy was having a tough time, and the phone line was cut and the salary of the staff was not yet paid. Jason asked Zaid to go and convert his guitar which was signed by top star. The cost was RM5,000, and thought that he could sell for RM10K, but eventually it was RM900. Jason cried in the car, as he asked Zaid to go in again to convert the guitar. It was tough time, especially he took a lot of efforts to get the guitar autographed by top star.

With the RM900, Jason used RM200 to pay for phone bill, RM200 for electricity, RM300 for Zaid and RM200 for buffet in Subang. Jason said that when things get very tough, go to buffet. It would be worth it.

Jason that when he was CEO of Fat Boy, it was as tough as being CEO of a telco.

Then, Jason went to do Latte 8 at midnight, and the show ended at 1am, and by the time, he left was 2am and went to bed at 3am. Then, at 5am, he had to wake up for his show at Hitz.

Part 4

Jason also talked about once he fell asleep in the studio, when Ralph Marshall brought some investors around.

Jason also talked about how he called up Khairy one day, and brought up idea of MyTeam. It was great seeing the kampung boys took their first flight to UK, and drew 0-0 against Manchester United Reserve Team. MyTeam also played against National Team and scored first, before losing 1-2.

Before Tony Fernandes started Air Asia, he did ask Jason on what he thought about airline business, and Jason thought back now that he should have jumped on it back then in 2000 to invest on it. Jason was also asked before Izham went into TV station.

Part 5

When Tony Fernandes started, he asked Mark Lankester to join, but he refused, as he felt comfortable. But when Tony started his hotel, Mark jumped on it, to be CEO of TuneHotels.com .

Jason even went on knee in boardrooms to ask for support for local artists, but Malaysians often just supported foreigners, especially Westerners.

When Tony Fernandes asked Jason Lo to join telco, and Jason eventually invested a bit on it to have some stake. Jason relied on wikipedia to learn, and during his initial business meetings, he learned his way to learn the key terms.

Part 6

Jason shared about how his dream of people, when they are in Singapore, they could call back to Malaysia on local call rates and on same number. After that, it would be expansion to Indonesia. It would ride on the Air Asia’s network

Jason talked about how Tony Fernandes warned him before hand that the dealers would hold him to ransom, but Jason thought that it won’t happen. But it did happen. Jason said that Tony was always spot on things.

Jason was sharing on various tricks that telcos use to make money from the customers. Telcos are like commodities of this century. For Tune Talk, it was a flat rate of RM0.16 per minute (flat rate).

Jason talked about how his RM0.5 Million went down to drain, when the incumbents forced the dealers to take out their posters.

Part 7

Jason said that he is now working on his 4th album, after putting his children and wife to bed. Jason advised that we should always do creative and innovative things everyday.

Jason shared that Star Trek really showed things way in advance. Example, back in 1950s, handphone was there already, and “iPad” type of notebooks were used there too.

Jason hoped that he would achieve the following before he died.

a) Made 20 albums

b) Played at Wembley

c) Went on top of BillBoard

Part 8 [Final]

He said that we should always work very hard to achieve our dream.

As of now, he is making his 4th albums. He had played to 35,000 people in Sungai Petani, hearing them singing his song.

Jason talked about how we could set up platform and went off the ground, and went up bit by bit.

Q&A

Jason loved wikipedia, and he felt that everything is there. He also felt that dare to fail is important and we could learn from mistakes. Entrepreneurs all dare to fail, and if you do that, then your learning curve would be steeper. When fail, learn from it.

Don’t close yourself off when you are learning, and always go to talk to people, and learn from people. It is very important to learn from everyone. Even a beggar can make us learn from it. Make it a point for us to always learn.

Jason has a management style, which is full transparency. All the staff know everything that is happening, and all the team discussed together for everything, example the company’s marketing plan.

Jason also talked about “Chinese whisper”. He hated it very much, if people do it. Communications would get distorted, if people whispered.

Jason said that it is very important that people don’t have temper. People should be having fun at work. He tried to be very approachable too.

Sometimes his staff would go to him and ask him to make decision, but Jason always wanted the team to discuss and decide. This would empower the staff, and no decision is made without the knowledge of everyone.

Sometimes, Jason might get voted out by his staff, when they all voted for a certain decision. Of course, sometimes wrong decision could be made, but that is unavoidable.

It is very important for Jason that when his staff left, they moved up. Sometimes, he would try to make it very clear to his staff who wanted to leave, if they are not moving to a more established roles elsewhere. He would do his best to convince them to stay back.

Tony Fernandes chose Jason Lo based on his strength and weakness, and he was not from telco background. Jason has also started a company before.

Jason said that a lot of things that happened today, he didn’t plan for it. But when opportunities come, he seized it. Tony, Jason and Mark Lankester all came from music background.

It is very important to communicate with the staff, and have a laugh at things. Jason said that we should be more laughing at ourselves, and not be as touchy on things. It would break the ice and have more fun.

Jason shared his phone number and email address with the audience, and he said that as the bosses, one should be very approachable. One can’t do great things, if one is not approachable.

Malaysia should be do a lot more, but often we are scared to fail, and we don’t reach our potential.

CEO Series 21 – Wing K. Lee, CEO, YTL Communications
Writing credits: Chen Chow Yeoh

Live blogging from the venue.

Wing was born and raised in Hong Kong. Grew up alone with mother. Mother was small print shop owner, and she went to see clients and Wing would go together. In 1980s, the clients would have a computer, and it is more of showing off.

Back then, his mother bought an Apple for Wing, and what Wing did was playing games. And after approached by his mother, Wing then started to use computer for actual learning. That was in Form 4 in Hong Kong.

In Form 6 in Hong Kong, his mother asked what he wanted to study, and Wing said photography, and just like any Chinese mum, his mother said that he had to pay on his own. So, eventually he went on 2nd choice of Computer Science.

Wing chose the colleges in US, which offer computer science curriculum. University of Texas, Austin was one of the top programs. He applied for University of California, Berkeley, Brown, University of Minnesota and University of Washington, besides Texas, Austin. He got acceptance to all 5 of the universities. Brown, Minnesota and Washington are not his choice due to weather. Then, he was left with 2 options.

Part 1

Choosing between Texas and Berkeley, and he heard that big earthquake would happen in San Francisco, so he dropped Berkeley and chose Texas, Austin. That was such his frank sharing on how he actually chose his universities.

Back then, his first job was janitor. And today, Wing really respected the janitors. He learned hard and always reminded himself to be humble and learn the value of money. Later on, he was promoted to lab assistant job, and then took up teaching assistant job.

He worked very hard, and carried 18 to 20 credit hours per semester. Nevertheless, the tough time was also the memorable time.

He graduated in 1989. When one goes for US visa interview and the question of whether you would stay in US is being asked, the answer is always no, or else you won’t get your visa. And Wing back then did truthfully answered no, when he was asked back in 1986.

In June 1989, when Wing was hiking in Canadian Rocky mountains, and on 4th June 1989, Tiananmen Square incident happened, and Wing’s mother asked him to find ways to stay in US.

Part 2

Wing’s mother lost her father due to communist and Wing’s mother had to be refugee in Hong Kong. So, she advised Wing to stay in US, so that he could have better life and eventually, Wing decided to stay in US.

Wing then picked up his 2nd degree in Business Management, and when he is done, it was recession in US. Fortunately, Wing managed to get 20+ interviews and he was given 4 offers. He chose 1, JC Penney, which is the largest retailer in US.

One of the offers is Tandem Computers, another is Mobil Oil and Halliburton. Halliburton asked Wing to build a Computer-based training. Mobil Oil asked to help on building system. Tandem Computers was mainly used in financial institution and Wing was asked to help in operating system.

Part 3

In 1989, US has this new “strip malls”, where it is row of shops along a mall, and it grabbed market share from bigger players. For retailers, having scale is one thing, but fast reaction is important. Thought that he can helped a company to restructure, so Wing joined JC Penney as management trainee.

Back then, he has to learn a new programming language – COBOL, and he realized that university education teaches him to be adaptive and able to learn something fast. He was able to help JC Penney to launch JCL within 20 months of joining. A lesson learned from here is that a company always needs to learn to reinvent itself.

If you deliver on business promise, people will reward you, but people may not continue to reward you all the time. So, you have to reinvent.

Part 4

2 years later, Wing approached the HR of the company to apply for Green Card. But they can’t, as they have to advertise in 1,500 outlets, and to show that no American is qualified. So, Wing had to look elsewhere, although his supervisors there were very supportive of Wing. Wing has delivered a lot of value to his computer, so they valued his contribution.

Wing spent 15 years at Sprint. He chose to get into Sprint, as it was looking to reinvent itself. Sprint was the first to launch the fiber optic network. Wing was tapped for his skill in distributed network and messaging system. This time, he got them to put in offer letter to help him to get green card.

Back then, when Sprint got problem, they would called Accenture (management consulting company). So, when Wing joined Sprint, 80 people in the office were from Andersen Consulting. So, Wing was asked to report to Accenture guy too, and back then, there was an Andersen Consulting partner in the board of directors too.

Part 5

A good architect is someone who knows the whole landscape. Back then, there was a lot of hierarchy too in Sprint. Wing lives the notion of life of always ask “What can I do”. Wing has a list of task list, and he gets it done quickly and at high quality, and then he offers help to others. People would reciprocate, and help him too. So, whenever Wing puts his name on anything, it has better be very good. So, he would always make sure that it is the best thing that he can deliver.

Started out as Software Engineer 2, and within 2 years, he became Manager of the team. Wing became Director of Sprint at age of 29, and was the youngest director there.

Wing has 9 patents, and they were filed in late 1990s and early 2000s, and he still had 20+ in the pipeline. The entire process of getting patents would take about 5 years in US. Patent system is also quite abused, where a lot of people file it, just to provide defensive or offensive mechanism. So, there is something wrong about it. Wing only filed a patent, when he managed to solve a real problem.

Part 6

Wing used to spend a lot of money to call home, during his time at University of Texas, Austin. So, when he got the chance to move to Sprint’s headquarter, he took the opportunity, as he was charged to work on wireless network.

In 2001, high speed internet means 80 kilo bit per second, so back then, to stream the picture, is still very slow. And it cost USD2 billion worth of investment, and the picture is still look pixelized. Wireless network can never compete with wired line, purely on speed, so have to fight on other competitive landscape. That was a turning point.

Back then, he made pilgrimage trip to Japan, as it was still the technology hub. In Japan, people started take photo and made it into wallpaper. So, Wing found an area to look into using wireless network to move picture.

Part 7

Wing they all went to the guy who wrote Turbo C++ and Turbo Pascal, Philippe Kahn. Philippe has sold off Borland, and became millionaire. And he had a baby. Philippe has built a prototype of transferring photo, and Sprint wanted to commercialize it. So, the value that wireless can provide is that one can take a photo and then send across the network within seconds. Picture Mail product charged USD5 per month and need data plan which cost USD10 per month. It was the biggest phenomenal success of the company.

So, the breakthrough paradigm is to cross-link two different fields and bring value. Software brings life to things. The company was growing very fast then, and the fastest growth in wireless history.

Sprint was the first one to launch J2ME game in mobile device. Mobile video was launched too.

Part 8

Through these exercises, Wing was asked to head the innovation team. So, he went from infrastructure, and then architecture and then innovation. This was the first 3 of the 5 jobs in Sprint.

Wing led the innovation team of Sprint for 5 years, and it was very satisfactory.

Sprint looked at various technologies post 3G. And that’s how Sprint launched his career into Wimax. Next generation CDMA upgrade definitely makes sense, but Sprint made the bold decision of not upgrading to CDMA. The royalty of CDMA is quite high, and Sprint’s goal is to democratize internet. What got them excited about Wimax is the ecosystem, and it is the IEEE technology. When a technology is an IEEE technology, it can scale easily. That’s how people can do plug and play, and cost will go down and people will pick up.

Part 9

Sprint then merged with Nextel, and a big mistake is that they didn’t take good care of the customers of the acquired entity. Sprint lost their mindshare, and they started to churn, and then people started to cut cost.

So, Wimax operation has to be scaled back due to operations issue. Wing was leading the product development team of Wimax. Sprint has to spinoff Wimax business and merged with Clearwire, and then go into clearwire company.

Andy Rubin started Android, and he loved robotics, so he created Android, using his name and his love of robotics for the company name. He went into Google to ask them to invest in his company, and Eric Schmidt heard the pitch and offered to buy at a cost of about USD80 Million.

Andy Rubin had the blank check from Google, and he invested hundreds of millions to buy the best applications. Wing was doing the due diligence on Android and brings Sprint on board.

Part 10

On why WiMAX was chosen as the platform to deliver Malaysia’s mobile network, Wing highlighted that it is the only technology that can deliver it at the right cost. LTE is not yet a matured technology and yet the royalty is very high, and hence, it might be difficult to deliver in the right price.

Wing was instrumental in delivering the 1st 4G network on Android at Clearwire.

In Summer 2008, the government of China created Thousand Talents program, where it tried to attract top talents to ensure that China’s state-owned enterprise, universities, research laboratories and space programs can be world class and compete globally.

Wing was then headhunted to lead the Innovation Team at China Mobile, which has 500 Million subscribers (even more than total US population), and Wing has this opportunity to change the experience of 500 Million people.

Part 11

Then, he got a call from YTL Director, and he came to visit Malaysia. He found it very interesting, where the country has very poor connectivity, and yet YTL is a company with strong resources and determination.

Wing had a hard time deciding on whether to go to China or Malaysia, and the book “Clock Speed” influenced him. In that book, it talked about how fast things are changing, and Wing believed that being at YTLe would enable him to bring fast transformation to large group of people and improve people lives faster.

In Malaysia, only 25% of people are connected to internet, yet the average age is 26. The people here know the power of internet, but can’t really enjoy the connection experience. So, Wing sees this opportunity to make impact at national scale immediately, and improving people’s lives.

Part 12

For Clearwire, it won’t be able to launch nationwide in less than 2 years in US and to launch for whole of US would cost more than USD5 billion, but Wing can do that in Malaysia in shorter time and also at a cost of USD850 Million. Wing lamented on the very slow uploading speed of 60 kbps that many people experience here in Malaysia.

The WiMAX experience is not just to connect people with internet, but to enable people to have applications that satisfy their social needs.

For this WiMAX, YTLe is working with 3 world top player in it. For IP Backbone, it is working with Cisco. For wireless network, it is working with Samsung. For WiMAX chipset, it is with GCT, and YTLe just made a commitment order of 1 million devices and it is the largest acquisition in the world, and with this economy of scale, it would drive down the prices.

On expansion to other countries, Wing planned to do it very well at its homeground in Malaysia, before looking to expand it elsewhere. Talking about internet, it is really about getting developers to make it happen. With internet, it is equal opportunity for everyone, and to really make it possible, especially with mobile internet.

Wing also introduced mYprize, which offers USD1 Million as prizes for incentives of 4G applications, devices or ideas. It offers USD120,000 prize money for Malaysians anywhere in the world too. So, hopefully, this can tap on the talents of Malaysians globally, as well as other talents to get involved.

The soft launch of YTLe WiMAX would be in Q3 2010, and nationwide commercial launch would be in Q4 2010.

Wing promised that YTLe WiMAX would be a new experience and customers would reciprocate with the support. While Wing did not disclose the pricing or package of WiMAX, he promised that there would be surplus value for the users. He talked about the 20 Mbps network that he had in US, and hopefully soon, Malaysians can enjoy similar or even better network.

Wing shared on Clayton’s book of “Innovators’ Dilemma” and “Innovators’ Solution”, and he said that it is good that YTLe is brand new, so there won’t be legacy issue behind. With legacy, there might be inertia to move. And to make it work, it needs disruptive innovation. He cited Intel Centrino as a way for Intel to reinvent itself. It created a lower cost low-end product, that undercut itself, but it allows Intel to grow market share.

One of the issues of 3G was that the network was used to cater for voice and data, but for 4G, it would be packet based and used to carry data.

While AT&T enjoyed a great exclusive partnership with iPhone, the huge amount of data that iPhone used took a toll on AT&T network, which affected the call quality.

Wing shared a few tips with the audience, where he talked about working very hard and always producing the best. He talked about having mentors and also reading a lot. One good resources would be iTunes applications, where a lot of top universities resources are available. He talked about ability to have platform to bring idea to the world, and among the largest developers’ network are Microsoft, Java and Adobe Flash.

He ended with 4 key components to innovation, which is having original idea, building and applying idea, being financed by someone and have a platform to distribute.

It was a great 140 minutes of talk non-stop by Wing. Really engaging and it attracted the largest crowd of Young Corporate Malaysians CEO Series of Talk, with more than 150 people turned up, and it was reduced to standing room only.

After the talk, a large group of attendees surrounded Wing, and he attended the questions till well past 11pm, and at that time, he hasn’t even had dinner. That speaks volume of his dedication and passion to share with the youth!

On behalf of Young Corporate Malaysians, great thanks to Wing for sharing with us, and to all those who attended, hope that you manage to learn from Wing.

———————————

Wing K. Lee is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of YTL Communications Sdn Bhd, the communications arm of YTL Corporation Berhad. The company envisions a modern broadband nation enhanced by the Internet and supports technological innovation. In November 2009, it created the YTL 4G Innovation Network and opened a testing centre at Sentul Park. In January 2010, it launched USD1 million ‘mYprize’, a global competition aimed at challenging developers to create original applications and devices for its world’s first nationwide 4G Network set to be commercially launched later this year which will leapfrog Malaysia into an innovation-led economy as envisioned by the Prime Minister.

Young Corporate Malaysians CSR visit to Rumah Nur Salam
Writing Credits: Alia Sidek

The Young Corporate Malaysians (YCM) with its encore belief and effort to give back to the society has held its very first CSR Program at Rumah Nur Salam on the 10^th of January 2010. Rumah Nur Salam, situated in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur is a shelter home for all children in Chow Kit providing a safe environment, food, as well as various educational, health and recreational programmes. Rumah Nur Salam receives about 50 to 100 children on daily basis ranging from toddlers up to 13 year old of whom either have been trafficked, refugees, children from one-parent homes, or children of sex worker and/or drug addicts.

The YCM during its flagship event, the YCM Summit in December 2009, has collected RM 1 for every seat that was taken up to be donated to the Yayasan Salam, the foundation that is behind the Chowkids initiative. About 10 of the YCM CSR Team went down to Chow Kit for the 2 hours (12 pm – 2 pm) session with the children of Rumah Nur Salam. Having waited eagerly, the children of Rumah Nur Salam were treated with a lunch feast that was slightly unusual and special than their daily ‘lunch pack’. The YCM CSR Team was also privileged to be taken on a visit to the classrooms, dorms, IT room and staff office of Rumah Nur Salam by Capt Asiah. After lunch and mingling with the children, YCM CSR Team led by Siti Kamariah presented a cheque of RM 1000 along with baby products, food, clothes and stationeries to Rumah Nur Salam.

Moving forward, YCM in collaboration with Yayasan Salam is advertising the ChowKids volunteer program to our membership base. We are in a thorough discussion with Yayasan Salam on identifying gaps that can be filled by YCM particularly in teaching for subjects such as IT, Mathematics and English. Some of which have been identified as below.

What Volunteers Can Do At Nur Salam:

Pusat Aktiviti Kanak-Kanak Chowkit For children under 12 years old:

Nur Salam’s Weekend Activities for Volunteers: volunteers can do story telling with 10-15 kids (6-8 years old). Story telling in BM @ Rumah Nur Salam for 1 hour, between 10am – 2pm

Volunteers to teach the kids IT skills (basic Microsoft, internet, etc): small group of 12 kids (7-12 years old) @ Rumah Nur Salam. Classes held on Monday – Friday @ Time flexible.

Tuition classes for Nur Salam kids: One class of 10 kids – Primary school. We need volunteers to help our kids with their tuition @ Rumah Nur Salam. Everyday after 2pm.

Playroom: have great FUN with Nur Salam 10 kids @ Nur Salam playroom, from 10am EVERYDAY. Kids are below 13 years old.

Kuala Lumpur Crash Pad for Teen’s 13-21 years old

Teen Hub, a Nur Salam programme that aims to all youth (13-21 years), provides empowerment via recreational, counseling services and educational programmes. It’s based in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, KL.

Volunteers needed for tuition & IT classes, sports activities, music sessions, arts and craft classes, and volunteers are also needed for:

1) Library – Anyone who has any experience with library or who like books and interacting with youths. Someone needed to come in by shift to help oversee the library.

2) Programmes – Anyone who wants to run programmes with youths during the school holidays.

3) Looking sponsor for cafe programme. Sponsor for teen meals everyday.

Requirements:

BM speaking, committed, strong work ethics, people skills and willing to work with young people.

Person to contact: Siti Kamariah – info@youngcorporatemalaysians.com

Up next on our CEO Series calendar, CEO Series 20 featuring Jumaatun Azmi, CEO of KasehDia Sdn Bhd.

Wednesday, 10th February 2010
Dewan Murni, Menara Integriti
Persiaran Duta, Off Jalan Duta
7.30pm to 9.30pm
Facebook RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256711123601&ref=ts

Jumaatun Azmi is the founder and Managing Director of KasehDia Sdn Bhd, a niche communication and consultancy firm focused on the application of
Islamic concepts.

Under Jumaatun’s leadership, the company has created world renowned events and publications and consulted the government on Halal matters. KasehDia Consultancy was involved in the drafting of the Halal Chapter of Malaysia’s 3rd Industrial Master Plan after being appointed as consultant by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 2006. It also developed the initial framework of the Halal Industry Development Corporation for the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Office.

Jumaatun is the Editor of The Halal Journal, a trade publication on the Halal industry currently distributed in over 35 countries. She also founded the award
winning Halal Food Guide series which to date has covered eight countries. Jumaatun’s other accomplishments in the Halal industry include the creation of
The World Halal Forum, Halal Journal TV, Halal Journal Award, Halal RestaurantAwards and the Halal Journal Workshop Series.

Due to her prolific and cutting edge work, Jumaatun has been featured in various international mainstream media including the Asia Wall Street Journal,
The New York Times, International Herald Tribune and Bloomberg. She holds a degree in Communication (Honours) from the University of
Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

1^st Ambassador Series – His Excellency Boyd McCleary, UK High Commissioner to Malaysia
Writing credits: Chen Chow Yeoh

Live Blogging of The 1st Ambassador Series of Young Corporate Malaysians by His Excellency Boyd McCleary, UK High Commissioner to Malaysia at Menara Integriti.

High Commissioner started by saying that it is great to see many young faces here, despite the fasting month. High Commissioners explained that High Commissioners are those diplomats sent to Commonwealth countries, whereas Ambassadors are those diplomats sent to other countries.

If we look back at colonial period, it was not trade that brought Britishs to come over to Malaya back then. It was trade that brought them here. “Trade goes before the flag”.

It all started in 1592, when the first Englishman landed his ship on Penang and loaded it with pepper. Penang was the first of the Straits Settlement, where treaty with the Sultan of Kedah was signed in 1791. Then, Singapore was established by Raffles in 1819 and then finally Malacca exchanged for Bencoolen in Sumatra in 1824.

The main initial driver for Penang was spices. The treaty was singed not with the British Government, but with the East India Company, and later other forms of commercial agriculture.

The other driver was the need to secure ports to protect British shipping lanes between India and China.

In 1860s/1870s, initially British was looking for more opportunities for agriculture, but later on tin, and hence British turned to Perak. There was 1874 Treaty of Pangkor, where a British Resident was appointed in Perak, followed later by Selangor, Johore and Sungai Ujong (Negeri Sembilan).

In 1896, Federated Malay States (FMS) was started with the seat of Government in Kuala Lumpur. For other states, there were less commercial interest and less interest, and those states were “unfederated”.

Commercial agriculture in Federated Malay States expanded first into coffee, sugar, pineapples and gutta percha. However, the most significant development for British Malaya was the invention of the pneumatic tyre in 1899, which led to rapid expansion of rubber.

By 1929, almost half of all cultivated land was planted in rubber. And then came the development of oil palm, again with British investors, including a Mr. Sime and a Mr. Darby).

To make oil palm working in Sabah, they actually had to go to Africa to get a certain insect, to make the growing of palm oil working.

Right through the colonial period, the British saw Malaya primarily as a key source of raw materials. So, it was scarcely surprising that it was the (predominantly British) planters who were the target of the Communists during the Emergency (when one in ten planters were killed by insurgents).

At independence, Malaya was the world’s largest exporter of natural rubber, tin and palm oil. Agricultural production accounted for 40% of the country’s GDP. And the main destination for good exported was the UK.

While it is absolutely fair to note that the development of British Malaya’s economy was in the interests of the “mother country”, we should perhaps not forget that the bulk of the technology, much of the finance and the investment itself was from the UK.

Another major positive legacy of the colonial period was the rule of law, that has initially been established primarily to enable the trade to flourish.

At independence, the following British companies were already well-established in Malaya: Unilever, Shell, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Sime Darby, Harrison & Crossfield, Boh Tea, Boustead, Jardines, Level Brothers (later on Unilever), Commercial Union Insurance Co, Castrol and GEC.

But the investment did not stop at Independence. Examples from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s.

Glaxo became the first company in Malaysia to open a factory for the local manufacture of pharmaceuticals in 1959. Shell’s investmnet in Sarawak in exploration for oil and gas. Shell is the biggest employer in Sarawak, and Shell has developed a number of corporate leaders, including Datuk Seri Idris Jala and Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar.

Inchcape began the manufacture of cosmetics, pharmaceutical products and timber mouldings. Harrisons and Crossfields and Guthries (both in the plantation business) set up companies to manufacture rubber goods and edible oils. Lever Brothers began making soaps, cooking fats, ice cream etc.

Blue circle’s investment in cement. ICI became involved in the promotion of plastic products and set up a plant to manufacture titanium dioxide pigment for paint.

Guinness (first brought to Malaya on sailing ships) established a brewery on the site of an old tin mine in Sungai Way in Selangor. GEC became the first company to be involved in the manufacture of consumer electronic products. Coats Viyella set up a factory in Prai to produce silk thread.

And over the past 10-20 years, investment hasn’t stopped. BP investmnets in petrochemicals and Shell in exploration, LNG/distillates. British Telecom established an ICT research center in KL. Alphabilogics in Penang and Spirit Aerospace in Subang on high value manufacturing.

In financial services, Prudential and Friends Provident, HSBC and StanChart has invested in Islamic Finance.

In back office processing, one third of the jobs in Cyberjaya are provided by UK Firms.

In retailing, Jardines invest through Giant, Cold Storage and Guardian, as well as Tesco invests heavily in Malaysia too.

In education, University of Nottingham are based in Semenyih, and Newcastle University is building a campus in Malaysia.

There is no clear indication of how much is the true investment by UK.

Some questions to ask, include what nationality is an investment. For example Shell is it a Dutch company, but it is incorporated in British. How do you count an investment? Is it the financial figure invested or jobs created or some other values?

When did the investments take place and what about disinvestment? Management buy-out, take-overs, nationalizations etc. For example, BP Petrol Stations, ICI, Sime Darby and Unilever.

In other examples, how to differentiate trade and investment. For example, BAe System, CTRM and Airbus.

If we look into the future, then there might not be much investment in the manufacturing, especially in the low end manufacturing. However, investment in the service sector, especially education and training would remain strong. There is growth in the business processing centers too. It is the UK hope that UK can play a part in supporting Malaysia’s Prime Minister’s hope to bring Malaysia out of the middle income trap.

UK does not just belong to EU and Commonwealth, but also including NATO etc. EU is a great organization, where a lot of people wanted to become member. EU is a good thing for British and for Europe.

Not many Malaysians know exactly on what Commonwealth does. Last month, UK just launched Commonwealth Conversations. There is a plan to have a Commonwealth Conversations in KL in 2nd half of October 2009, to get young Malaysians to talk on Commonwealth. It is the hope to get Commonwealth to do fewer things, but to do it better, and get it delivered.

Commonwealth is not as popular in attracting new members, compared to EU. Mozambique who is a Portugese colony, just joined Commonwealth not too long ago. And Rwanda also just applied to join Commonwealth.

On HE Boyd McCleary’s personal view, he is very impressed by the way that the new Prime Minister stimulates demand. Malaysia is a country which heavily depends on exports. Malaysia has been able to maintain the high domestic demand.

Another thing that HE impressed about our new Prime Minister is that Malaysia is moving towards open economy, and not moving towards protectism. The biggest problem that Najib that might faced would be that he has to get all those promises delivered.

Most countries have some form of immigration control. It exists in every country, including US, Australia etc. UK is now introducing new system, where it is a point system. Australia had a point system for some time already.

For Tier 2 visa, which is a highly skilled staff, it needs to show that the particular skill is not highly available in UK, and the applications would need to apply online.

For student visas, if one has a valid offer from UK Universities and also show proof of their financial status, they will get the 40 points needed. And they need to apply online.

In terms of foreign exchange, it is moving quite volatile. For Pound Sterling vs Ringgit, it is now RM5.80 to 1 Pound, but compared to 1 year ago, it was RM4.80 to 1 Pound.

When Euro was first introduced, Pound has grown quite a lot, but recently Euro has strengthened and it is getting closer to 1 Euro to 1 Pound.

If we look at the economy of the last 10 years, UK economy has grown by 30%, whereas German economy has grown by 10%. So, the correlation between currency and economic growth is not that solid.

The quality of Malaysian English is actually somewhere in the middle, where it is not too good, and yet not too bad.

High Commissioner also commented that most of the committee members of Young Corporate Malaysians are UK graduates and these are important links back here.

And looking at Malaysia’s competitiveness, then Malaysia’s population of 26 million could be much smaller than countries like Indonesia. So, those could be areas that Malaysia may not have the upside.

However, there are a number of companies that set up operations here and have a lot of investment at stake here.

Mobility of investments need to be there, to impress the investors. The government bureaucracy and tax regime are also considered. Malaysia’s government is getting some of those right, and some are working on it through Pemudah. And setting of KPI is a good step.

Malaysia has the best cost quality balance ratio currently. However, if it is not moving forward fast enough, then it might get caught up by others.

UK was in similar situations some time back, where UK was previously good at attracting foreign investments, but at one point, investments were leaving UK. But UK managed to turn around and today, it is an important destination of foreign investment. What UK has done is that it is very agile.

Malaysia has to focus on the high end education, and grow on it. UK has been inventive and adaptive.

Most of the investments look at medium to long term. At current term, there is no investor in Malaysia pulling out, but there are some who have pulled up from Thailand.

There are some funds for Small Medium Companies to do research and development. From the Trade Commissioner of UK’s view point, there are a number of funds in Malaysia, including from MOSTI.

The crucial element for Malaysia over the next 1 year would be the direction of the National Economic Action Panel. Prime Minister Najib has appointed a number of top people from all over the world to help to chart the direction of Malaysia’s economy.

CEO Series 10 – Ibrahim Nasir, CEO of Societe-Generale Investment Bank
Writing credits: Chen Chow Yeoh

On Thursday, January 8^th 2009, I went for the 10th CEO Series of Talks. It was a talk by Ibrahim Nasir, CEO of Societe-Generale Investment Bank for Malaysia and LOFSA.

Ibrahim shared with us on the company’s business, where they were looking at financing for aircraft/oil & gas, hedging for planes/ships etc.

He has an illustrious career working for 6 companies, spanning over 20 years, with 3 international banks (Soc-Gen, Deutsche, Bank of America, Bank Bumiputra, Bank Islam and one more that I can’t recall).

He first spoke of various regulators in Malaysia, eg: Ministry of Finance, Central Bank, Security Commission, LOFSA, Bursa Malaysia, Companies Commission.

Some of the ideas that he talked about:-
1. Since 1998, most of our banking setup are similar to Europe & US, where we have huge holding banks.

2. Most of the problems of banks now are due to Investment Bank, where shareholders’ fund drops and there is a need to inject more capital.

3. Soc-Gen fraud of 5 Billion Euro in 2007, due to derivative trader who created fictitious buyer and seller. The trader was formerly with 5 years of experience at back office, so he knew a work around.

4. He spoke of US Interest Rate fluctuality, where it is now lowest for 70 years, whereas a short while ago, it was the highest in 20 years.

5. Just a few months’ back, people were more worry about inflation, with crude oil and other commodity prices very high.

6. He spoke of high cost for deep sea off shore oil production and at current price, there is no incentive to produce more oil.

7. Financial system was vulnerable, as Investment Banking product were intricate and highly leveraged.

8. A lot of domino effects, where if one counterparty is affected, its other counterparty is also dragged in and this spreaded.

9. For Malaysia, we are expecting slower growth in 2009, and that could be a cause of concern, as we are developing nation with solid population growth etc. So, the GDP needs to grow healthily, for all of us to be happy.

10. Some analysts are predicting that Malaysian government might issue a USD-bond soon.

11. Ibrahim’s advice to aspirant Investment Bankers to join international banks for 7 to 10 years to gain experience, before coming back to join more senior positions in local banks. And hopefully, would have real reporting, where reporting goes to the people who work in the same function and know about it, rather than matrix reporting.