Enterprise Explores

Malaysia has held the top spot on the Global Islamic Economy Indicator for 12 straight years, and other countries are now racing to build sectors of their own. MATRADE’s S. Jai Shankar joins us to talk about how Malaysia built its lead through platforms like MIHAS, and what it will take to maintain the country's position as competition grows. MIHAS 2026 runs from September 23 to 26, with a RM5 bil...

Geeva Samynathan, Founder, Principal Trainer and Behavioral Strength Coach at ECTAA, and co-author of Social Sensitivity in the Changing Workplace, tells us social sensitivity actually means and how it differs from empathy or emotional intelligence.  We get into how to give direct feedback without losing the message, whether psychological safety and accountability can coexist, and how manager...

More businesses are letting AI make decisions that directly affect customers, including how they handle complaints. But does a bot apology land the same way as a person's? Alexander Eng, Associate Professor at Asia School of Business, tells us what an effective AI-powered complaints system should actually look like, from giving customers a real channel to flag or push back on a decision, to the mi...

Bank Negara Malaysia recently found that almost 80% of businesses it engaged with are feeling the squeeze of higher costs. Azfar Asa'ad from CPA Australia and CK Chang, Founder of homegrown apparel brand Ox White, give us two very different vantage points on the same problem, one from the accountant advisory side, one from the frontline of running an SME through this environment. Raising prices mi...

Local films are outpacing Hollywood at the Malaysian box office this year. Finas data shows 7.55 million admissions for local titles through July, ahead of 6.94 million for Hollywood releases, with five local films crossing RM10 million each. Datuk Azmir Saifuddin Mutalib, CEO of Finas, and Lina Tan of Red Communications look at the story behind the numbers: the difficulty of making a high-quality...

Can AI be used to encourage employee behaviour that aligns with company goals? Or to monitor employee happiness and wellbeing? Tareef Jafferi tells us how the intersection of AI and behavioural science can be applied in the workplace, and how nudges toward small actions, like giving feedback, can produce useful, actionable data for managers. Photo credit: Pexels See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Adyen's latest Retail Index found that 74% of Malaysian consumers now use AI while shopping, up more than 50% from last year, yet more than half remain uncomfortable letting AI complete a purchase for them. Lee Soon Yean joins us to unpack how retailers can prepare for this shift in consumer behaviour and maintain customer trust in an increasingly AI-driven shopping journey. See omnystudio.com/lis...

Social enterprises are businesses, but they're built to solve social problems first. Azuar Zainuddin joins us to talk about the passion driving social enterprises, the biggest challenges they face in Malaysia today, and how programmes like Creative Sprint 2026 can help them access funding, mentorship, and the support they need to scale. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Economic growth creates jobs, attracts investment, and raises living standards, but growth alone doesn't always tell us whether people are actually better off. Prof Saadiah Mohamad joins us to unpack the idea of a "Humane Economy," what it would mean for businesses and SMEs to put human dignity and inclusion at the centre without sacrificing competitiveness. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

As the government reviews Malaysia's minimum wage, Rabin Nijhar of Cisco Security Systems joins us to share a business owner's perspective. He walks us through how his company absorbed the last minimum wage hike, what another increase would mean for a labour-intensive business like his and what supporting measures he would like to see from the government.  See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

The government is reviewing Malaysia's RM1,700 minimum wage, weighing inflation, the poverty line, median wages, productivity, and unemployment. Dr Juita Mohamad tells us why a minimum wage alone isn't the real goal: the bigger question is closing the gap between that floor and a genuinely decent standard of living, using tools like wage subsidies, productivity incentives, and social protection. W...

When a company buys another business, agreeing on its value is the difficult part. Cha Lun and Hasanuddin of BDO Malaysia join us to unpack how businesses should approach valuation in third-party transactions, common mistakes made, and how purchase price allocation can shape the way a deal looks on the books. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Uber's proposed US$14.8 billion acquisition of Delivery Hero is one of the biggest deals the sector has seen, and could signal a fundamental shift in how platform businesses grow. It puts Uber in the unusual position of becoming both Grab's largest shareholder and, through foodpanda, its direct competitor in Malaysia's food delivery business. Jianggan Li and Chen Weihan of Momentum Works discuss w...

As Malaysian SMEs digitise faster than they can secure themselves, "good cybersecurity" means different things depending on who you ask and how much you can spend. CF Fong and Yee Chee Meng join us to map out the steps SMEs should prioritise, which assets to secure first, and how AI fits into the picture, without necessarily driving up costs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pet cafe owners in Petaling Jaya have faced summonses for running a business concept that doesn't officially exist. That may be changing: MBPJ is rolling out new licensing guidelines covering animal care businesses for the first time. Nakata Teoh and Jia Wei Chan join us to share what it's really been like operating in a regulatory grey zone, and what they'd want written into the rules before they...

According to the Jobstreet Salary Pulse 2026, more than a quarter of Gen Z workers in Malaysia earn under RM2,500 a month, yet they're the generation most likely to say they're happy with their pay, while Gen X, who earns the most, feels the least fairly paid. Nicholas Lam of Jobstreet by SEEK tells us why pay satisfaction isn't just about the number on the payslip, and why having honest...

Malaysia's labour market is sending mixed signals. Retrenchments jumped 36% between January and May 2026 compared to last year, yet there were about 1.5 job placements for every worker retrenched over the same period. Derek Toh joins us to unpack what's really behind these numbers and whether it reflects a genuine skills mismatch. He also shares how both employers and job seekers can make better u...

Malaysia has around 1,800 government-linked companies with no single law governing how they're run, relying instead on a "patchwork" of statutes and directives. A State-Owned Enterprises Act was flagged last year but never made it into Budget 2026, even as neighbours like Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam push ahead with SOE reform. Alissa Rode and Ng Chien Chern of IDEAS tell us why this matters,...

AI traffic grew about 30% between January and May 2026, roughly 6.5 times faster than human traffic, and most of it comes from AI crawlers scanning the web for information. Fernando Medrano of Fastly joins us to unpack what this means for business infrastructure and costs, and what companies should be doing now to stay visible in a web increasingly navigated by machines. He also gives tips to mult...

AI is making it cost-effective for small businesses and finance teams to build their own tax tools, but even a well-set-up tool can hallucinate, producing confident answers that hide costly errors. Professor Anna tells us about the tax risks businesses face, where AI tax tools tend to go wrong, and what safeguards need to be in place. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The social media era was largely dominated by American platforms, but the AI race looks more like a US-China contest, with Chinese firms like Alibaba, Tencent, and DeepSeek competing hard on cost rather than raw model supremacy. George Chen joins us to unpack what this shift means for businesses, from hybrid AI strategies that blend frontier and open-source models, to where Malaysia's real opportu...

Southeast Asia's IPO count fell 11% in the first half of 2026, yet funds raised jumped 117%. Meanwhile, Malaysia accounted for 36 of the region's 47 listings. Wong Kar Choon from Deloitte unpacks what’s driving interest in Malaysia’s equity market, the new regulatory guidelines and what a genuinely mature IPO market looks like. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Social media, the 24-hour news cycle, and vocal stakeholders mean businesses are  operating in full view of employees, customers, and the public, what some call the Naked Economy. Rajeev Peshawaria joins us to unpack how businesses can actually thrive in this environment, what they must get right, which companies have led by example, and what lessons the rest of us can take from them. See omn...

Malaysia is expected to table its first dedicated climate law, the National Climate Change Bill, later this year. Jozsef Acabo of ESGpedia joins us to unpack this law, who's actually impacted (essentially everyone, since any business could be supplying a carbon emitter that gets taxed), and what businesses should be doing now to prepare. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Building companies that can shape Malaysia's future economy takes more than capital; it takes long-term investment and the right support at the right stage. Kayse Foo joins us to unpack how Dana Impak, part of Khazanah's Advancing Malaysia strategy, backs Malaysian businesses and strategic sectors such as the semiconductor industry.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.