The Breakfast Grille

Tuan Haji Amiruddin Abdul Satar, Managing Director of KPJ Healthcare Berhad, takes time off from Invest Malaysia to joins us on the super grille. We discuss: - 10% revenue growth but 5% fall in net profit margins in 2012 - MBBS licence and housemanship training - Training doctors as specialists - maintaining standards when expanding by increasing range of service and geographical locations -...

Melinda Ngew, CEO of The Automobile Association of Malaysia  joins us on the breakfast grille. Established in January 1932, the AAM is perceived as the official voice of Malaysian motorists.  Between 2005 and 2010, AAM lost almost 35% of its members - prompting the AAM to bring on board Melinda Ngew with her vast experience in the service industry and, in particular, her experience in me...

Pamela Hartigan, Director of Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Said Business School, Oxford University demystifies social entrepreneurship and how the movement is taking root. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jane Wurwand the founder and CEO of Dermalogica, the professional skincare brand, is on the Breakfast Grille.  She discusses: --  How she identified the gap in the skin care market between professional salons and at-home users --   Dermalogica’s philosophy as a company --  The brand's positioning --  Her business approach: never taking a bank loan or paying for...

Co-founder of Trend Micro, Eva Chen, talks about her initial hesitation to take up the job as CEO, and her current ambition to make Trend Micro the biggest cloud security company. Trend Micro is among the largest security software companies in the world, and Chen has been ranked among the most influential women in Asia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon India, talks about her company's strategic position as it competes against the giant pharmas with deep pockets. Mazumdar has been listed among the most powerful women in business. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jim Rogers, Investor, Author & Chairman of Rogers Holdings, joins us on the Breakfast Grille. - Quantitative easing - the worst is yet to come. - Capitalism is a flawed but only way to manage economies. - Unfazed by Singaporeans' dissatisfaction with foreigners. - History has shown that nations benefit from immigration and every country including Malaysia has a lesson to learn from it. -...

Yonah Lloyd, President of SodaStream, joins us on the breakfast grille. SodaStream started in 1903 in the UK and is now NASDAQ listed, acquired by Israeli company Soda-Club along with private equity fund, Fortissimo Capital Fund when Schweppes was spun off from Cadbury in 2007. On June 6 reports emerged that PepsiCo had made an unsolicited approach to acquire SodaStream. We discuss: - whether ther...

Chuck Abbott, Regional Vice President, Starwood Hotels & Resorts SEA , discusses:  - Quick update on Starwood’s properties in SEA and how this compares with just 5 years ago?  - Reasons - trends - Managed / UJV (187k rooms) and Franchised (129k rooms) form the vast majority of total rooms (341k worldwide) - Why are these options preferred over the traditional owned and lea...

Victoria is a state in the south-east of Australia.  While it is geographically the smallest mainland state, it is Australia's most densely-populated state -- and home to Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city overall. Tim Dillon the Victorian Commissioner to Malaysia and South East Asia is on the Breakfast Grille to explain more abou t facilitating trade and investment opportunities in t...

Katrina Legarda, chairperson of AirAsia Foundation, talks about charity giving in Asia, how the foundation will do things differently, for example it may consider the microfinancing model, and challenges they may face. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group was founded in 2005 to empower locals to start their own businesses that bring clean water, electricity and sanitation to their communities. Peter Haas, the co-founder of AIDG, is on the Breakfast Grille to talk about the communities it helps, keeping  AIDG's projects self-sustaining both financially and operationally, as well as the changes ta...

Universal Music Group is the largest of the Big Three music recording companies, the other two being Sony Music and Warner Music. Today on the Breakfast Grille, Loan Cheong, the Managing Director of Universal Music Malaysia, weighs the survival of the music industry in the age of digital music and streaming.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oscar De Bok, the CEO of DHL's Supply Chain division for South & Southeast Asia, discusses:  - Supply Chain business - details;  - Key supply chain industries: Automotive - Consumer - Healthcare and Life Sciences - Industrial, Engineering and Manufacturing - Retail and Fashion - Technology - and how DHL addresses their individual needs;  - Environmental Management & Sustaina...

BMW Group Malaysia MD Dr. Gerhard Pils discusses:  - Feedback on the challenges of the role thus far;   - Details of business plan, execution and report card;  - Sales targets - 2013;  - As at April 2013, sales update;  - Asia sales picture - health of - Malaysia;  - Sales rank by country - Malaysia / Singapore / HK - details;  - Shanghai Auto Show -- feedback;&n...

Dzameer Dzulkifli the Co-Founder & Managing Director of Teach for Malaysia is on the Breakfast Grille. The Teach For Malaysia Fellowship is a full-time, two-year programme. Fellows are placed as teachers in high-need schools focused on addressing education inequity in Malaysia. Dzameer discusses: -- Why education inequity is the biggest problem in education, and the root causes of the inequity...

Investec MD (M&A and Equity Capital Markets) Nanda Kumar Menon discusses : - SPACs - an alternative vehicle for mining assets - Malaysia was historically a mining country- Independence of banks - finding a balance between straddling roles of M&A/ECM and investment advisory - Investment banking fees vs plumber  - M&A valuations- a subjective assessment of what upside is - IPO price...

Mario Oriol, Deputy CEO of Patentes Talgo SA,  joins us on the breakfast grille. Talgo recently announced thier intentions to bid for the KL - Singapore HSR project. We discuss: - whether generations of family participation strengthened the business - abandoning an attempt to list in Spain in the middle of the financial crisis - Talgo's experiences outside of Europe - how they will compete wi...

Goh Wee Peng, fixed income CIO for Aminvest talks about : - Massive liquidity in the system; - More rate cuts in expected in eurozone and various Asian countries; - Weak growth outlook to cap interest rate upside; - Bonds still offer decent returns due to yield premiums over Malaysian Govt Securities and fixed deposits; - Fixed income investors shouldn't time market but may look into lower grade b...

Dambisa Moyo, the critically acclaimed author of How The West Was Lost and Dead Aid, is on the Breakfast Grille to discuss her latest book, 'Winner Take All: China's Race For Resources and What It Means for the World'. Dambisa was chosen as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2009. She holds a PhD in Economics from Oxford University and a Masters from Harva...

Instacom Group Bhd is a Sarawak-based engineering and construction company that provides support services to the telecommunications industry.  It’s ACE market-listed, with a market cap of 242 million ringgit and counts Maxis and DiGi. Com as among its anchor clients. Recently it’s been making the headlines and catching the interest of investors after it scored a 205 million ringgi...

Azim Mithani of Prudential BSN Takaful joins us on the Breakfast Grille to discuss: - what he brings to the organisation and how he has changed things up - similarities and differences of takaful and traditional insurance businesses - Pru BSN Takaful's sales channels - caps on agent commissions and whether the insured will bear the cost - focussing on products that address the wider needs of the c...

In this 2013 interview, Zainal Amanshah, the CEO of InvestKL discusses : - KL’s global and regional rankings have to be looked at holistically - Relative attractiveness as a business hub - Anchoring qualities - Complementary with Penang and Iskandar - Twin cities concept - Good deal pipeline - Positive impact on GNI and jobs - KL’s 5Cs - Effects of political rhethoric See omnystudio.co...

In this 2013 interview, Kulvinder Birring, the Managing Director of Watsons Malaysia,  - Biggest developments since last interview;  - Store - updates - concentration - areas / cities;  - Store openings: timetable - target number;  - Training - service issues -- quantum of improvement -- how much more improvement needed;  - Value of personal, health and cosmetics; - P...

Foster + Partners' head of design, David Nelson shares his thoughts on globalisation of architecture, preserving heritage, and designing low cost housing and learning spaces. Among others, the firm designed the landmark HSBC building in Hong Kong,  Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, the Hearst Tower in New York, the new City Hall London, and the renovation of Reischtag, Berlin. In Malaysia, its projec...