YCM CEO Series 33: Shahnaz Al-Sadat, Executive Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad
For our YCM CEO Series 33, as part of our Great Women at Work series, we have the privilege to host Shahnaz Al-Sadat, Executive Director of Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
Among the topics Shahnaz will be speaking about is one which many of us are passionate about, that of education. Be sure to come to ask your questions and learn what is being done to address education issues of the nation.
You’re cordially invited to attend our CEO series. Do remember to show your support by liking our Facebook Page and by joining our group.
Date: Tuesday, 14th June 2011
Time: 8.00pm – 9.30pm
Dress Code: Your work attire
Venue: Intercontinental Hotel (formerly Nikko),
Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Fee: Free of charge
RSVP here
As with all YCM events, this event is FOC. Light food and beverages will be provided, also FOC!
Ps- if you are unable to RSVP via Facebook, fill up your details here.
*******************************************************
Shahnaz Al-Sadat Abdul Mohsein joined Khazanah in August 2004 as Director and Chief Financial Officer. She was appointed Executive Director, Strategic Human Capital Management in January 2009.
She began her career at Arthur Andersen in Audit, Corporate Finance and Process Risk Consulting. Thereafter, she joined Malaysian Airline System Bhd where she was the General Manager, Internal Audit and a member of the Management Committee.
She holds a LLB (Hons.) degree from the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. She is also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA).
YCM CEO Series 31: Natasha Kamaluddin, Managing Partner of Ethos & Co
For YCM CEO Series 31, as part of our Great Ladies at Work series we have the privilege of hosting Natasha Kamaluddin, Managing Partner of Ethos & Co
Natasha’s core expertise is in strategy development, public policy, large scale process reengineering, operationalisation of new businesses / entities and programme management.
She has led numerous strategy and public policy engagements, including developing the growth and internationalisation strategy for a major Malaysian conglomerate, strategy development for a major regional IPP, strategy review for two major plantations companies and development of economic / industry development plans for several major industries in Malaysia.
Natasha also has an extensive track record in operationalising new Government and corporate entities, where she has helped clients to secure Government approvals, structure their organisation and modus operandi, recruit, obtain funding and design their detailed business processes.
Prior to joining Ethos, Natasha was a Manager at Accenture in Kuala Lumpur where she served public and private sector clients on
large scale Programme Management, Business Process Improvements and ICT systems implementation. Natasha graduated with a BA and
MA in Economics (1st class) from Cambridge University, UK.
Date: Wednesday, 6th April 2011
Time: 8.00pm – 9.30pm
Dress Code: Just turn up in your working clothes 
Venue: Intercontinental Hotel (formerly Nikko Hotel), Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Light food and beverages will be provided, FOC!
RSVP here
Write-up: CEO Series 29: Rejina Rahim, Managing Director of Nomura Asset Management
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 27: Liza Mohd Noor, CEO of RAM Ratings
For YCM’s CEO Series 27, we have the privilege of hosting Liza Mohd Noor, CEO of RAM Ratings.
RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169239116426089&index=1
An essential part of the country’s financial landscape, RAM Rating Services Berhad (“RAM Ratings”) plays a leading role in providing crucial and independent credit opinions that are needed by investors and other market participants, with a view to being more confident about their investment and financial decisions.
For more details read below!
———————————————–
Date: Wednesday, 27th October 2010
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm
…Dress Code: Just turn up in your working clothes 
Venue: Dahlia Conference Room, Nikko Hotel
Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Light food and beverages will be provided, FOC!
Group page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13036461979
Young Corporate Malaysians Summit page: http://www.facebook.com/YCMSummit?ref=ts
———————————————–
Liza is the Chief Executive Officer of RAM Rating Services Berhad. She joined the organisation as one of its pioneer analysts in 1991. Liza has extensive experience in the ratings of corporate bonds and sukuk as well as bank ratings, and had served in several senior management positions before becoming RAM Ratings’ Chief Executive Officer.
During the 1997/98 regional economic crisis, Liza had been seconded to the Corporate Debt-Restructuring Committee (or CDRC) – a unit of Bank Negara Malaysia – where she had been principally involved in sector-wide restructuring schemes and the reorganisation of government- and state-owned enterprises. Earlier in her career, Liza had had stints with a merchant bank, where she had been mainly engaged in corporate-advisory work pertaining to Government privatisation schemes, and an accounting firm, where she had been chiefly involved in corporate receivership and liquidation work.
Liza holds a Bachelor of Economics, majoring in Accounting, from the University of Adelaide, Australia. She also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Islamic Banking and Finance from International Islamic University Malaysia.
Write-up: CEO Series 24 – Arlida Ariff, CEO of Iskandar Investment Bhd
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.
CEO Series 20: Jumaatun Azmi CEO of KasehDia Sdn Bhd.
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.
YCM CEO Series 18: Yasmin Mahmood, Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia
Yasmin Mahmood
Managing Director, Microsoft Malaysia
Yasmin Mahmood is the Managing Director of Microsoft Malaysia. Prior to her appointment, she was the General Manager of Dell Malaysia and Corporate Director of Dell Inc. Prior to that, she was the General Manager of Hewlett Packard Sales Malaysia’s Commercial Channels Organisation.
Yasmin has been in the Malaysian Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) industry for the past two decades, having started her career as a analyst programmer with a local bank.
In 2006, the Association of Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM) recognized her contribution to the development of the ICT industry with a Key Industry Leader Award, the only woman to date who has received this award.
Yasmin vision for the company is to “Malaysianize Microsoft” and to align its vision, activities and investments with the national objective and agenda.
————–
Date: Wednesday, 14th October 2009
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Topic: Global Company, Local Leadership
Team Leader: Ms Alia Sidek from Bank Negara Malaysia
Dress Code: Just turn up in your working clothes
Venue: Menara Integriti
Persiaran Duta, Off Jalan Duta
YCM CEO Series 16: Datuk Dr Nirmala Menon, CEO, ING Insurance Berhad M’sia
Dato Dr Nirmala Menon, President and CEO of ING Insurance Bhd will talk about the company’s global plans to cut costs and rationalise its businesses.
Dato Dr Nirmala will also talk about how ING Malaysia grew to become the third largest insurer in the life business and market leader for employee benefits business, and its plans to apply for a takaful license, sponsorship of the Renault team for F1, and her motivating factor to succeed.
President & CEO of ING Insurance Berhad since October 10, 2007, Dato’ Dr Nirmala Menon brings with her a wealth of experience spanning more than 16 years in the insurance industry and holds the honour of being the first woman CEO in the industry.
At the helm of ING Insurance Bhd for almost two years now, she has injected new business into the company, growing it from #5 in the previous two years to #3 as at end 2008. ING Insurance has recorded an impressive growth rate of 26 per cent, in spite of the economic climate.
Prior to assuming her current role, Dato’ Dr Menon was Head of the Employee Benefits division of ING, where she successfully steered the division towards attaining its current position as the No.1 provider of employee benefits in the country, with a strong and consistently growing market share of more than 40 per cent.
Dato’ Dr Menon is a medical practitioner by training. She obtained her degree from the University of Mysore, India, with a First Class Distinction.
Food and drinks specially for the ladies will be provided (guys will also be fed, not to worry 
) as this will be the start to our Ladies@work Special Night Series! Girls please do come for this one and invite your friends, this is going to be one inspiring speaker that should not be missed!
Date: Thursday, 20th August 2009
Time: 7.30pm – 10.00pm
Dress Code: Just turn up in your working clothes
Venue: Bilik Seminar
Aras 2, Wisma Sejarah
The CEO Series 12 : Dr. Mahani, Director-General of ISIS Malaysia
Dr. Mahani Zainal Abidin, the Director-General of Institute of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, will be honouring us with her presence at the Rumah UKEC this coming 19th of May.
Just a brief of what Dr. Mahani does:
Dr. Mahani obtained a Ph.D (development economics) from the University of London in 1992. She was Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya. In 1998, Dr. Mahani was appointed a member of the Working Group for the National Economic Action Council, a body established by the Malaysian Government to formulate measures to initiate recovery from the economic and financial crisis. She was a Board Member of the Malaysia Employees Provident Fund (1998-2000). In 2001, Dr. Mahani was appointed as the Head, Special Consultancy Team on Globalisation of the National Economic Action Council.
She also serves as Deputy Chairman of the National Accreditation Board from May 2003 until October 2007.
In 2005, Dr. Mahani was appointed as the Deputy Director-General, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia.
Feel free to bring your friends to this event, it’s FREE and it’s up to YOU to make the most out of it especially during the infamous Q&A session. Map to venue as per attached to this event page.
Date: 19th May 2009
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm
For any enquiries please do not hesitate to contact me through Facebook, or at the following numbers:
Me at 012-2351165 (christopher.tock@gmail.com)
Chen Chow at 019-6888666 (chenchow@gmail.com)
Firdaus at 012-3902877 (wmfirdaus@maxis.blackberry.com)
