The Breakfast Grille

Thorkil Sonne, founder of Specialisterne, tells how the social enterprise provides autistic people with gainful and meaningful employment as software testers  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Starbucks Malaysia MD Sydney Quays discusses: - Store count - roadmap for openings, relocation, closures - The definition of "changing demographics"; - Franchise structure; - Drive-thru strategy; - Premium coffee industry - market value - how segmented; - Starbucks Malaysia market share; - Coffee bean, milk and other raw material costs - impact; - Soaring prices of Arabica coffee futures - impact...

Amway Malaysia Bhd Executive Director Paul Yee discusses: - Continuing relevance of the direct marketing model - competition - newer, local brands; - Distributor force - active - sales per distributor; - Malay distributor force - importance of this sector; - Comparative youth of agency force - 60 percent 35 years old and below - continuing proposition; - Product localisation; - Plans to convert Re...

Ahmad Rizan Ibrahim, newly appointed CEO of Dataprep Holdings, says the company is banking on overseas projects in China and Indochina to turnaround the company's fortunes. It has been reporting losses for the last three years and has accumulated losses of over RM30 million. The recent spike in its share price could have been due to the syndicates in the market as there is no material development...

Othman Omar, General Manager of PKNS, tells what he has done to clean up PKNS including upgrading its image, implementing open tenders for all contracts and signing the Transparency International pact. He also talks about his strategy for the group, namely to venture into overseas projects, rejuvenate old spaces, offload some properties into the Amanah REIT, and develop more commercial properties...

Matias Mori, the Executive Vice-President of the Foreign Investment Committee of Chile, discusses: - The Malaysia-Chile Free Trade Agreement - upside; - FTA expansion - include investment - services; - Copper - salmon - wine - Chile's biggest industries - Malaysian demand; - Chile - Malaysia trade - favors Chile -- reasons - trade balance outlook; - Chile as a gateway to Latin America; - Reforms s...

Hua Yang Bhd CEO Ho Wen Yan discusses: - Positioning as an affordable developer - how and why; - Geographical positioning 70 percent in Selangor - 25% in Johor - why; - Average selling prices; - Urban startegy of service apartments on top of retail podiums - rural strategy of townships - how and why; - Malaysia's My First Home Scheme - challenges: loan servicing - potential default rate - whether...

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd MD Dato' Hassan Kamil discusses: - June earnings - forward view; - General and Family business outlook; - Impact Eurozone problems - Q3 investment performance; - Industry growth rate - role of Bank Negara; - Value of industry; - Syarikat Takaful ranking; - Takaful - penetration rate of overall insurance industry; - Target share of overall insurance industry; - Competi...

KONE Corporation Executive Vice President Asia Pacific Noud Veeger, discusses: - Its three business divisions, four geographical areas; - Business demand - job pipeline - four corners of the world; - World's biggest market for elevators - China - India; - Annual unit demand; - Breakdown of the business - region; - Asia-Pacific sales - growth - outlook; - China - growth - third- and fourth-tier cit...

UMNO Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin & DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua discuss: - Education - brain drain; - TS Muhyidin - government's 'final' decision to teach Science and maths in Malay; - PAGE, the education NGO DAP has supported; - Education becoming highly politicised; - Times Higher Education World University Rankings - omission of Malaysian Universities; - One million Malaysian...

Nestle Malaysia Bhd Managing Director Peter Vogt discusses: - Thai floods - Nestle's production exposure - potential impact on Malaysia business; - Product lines most hit; - Mitigation efforts; - Price hike - materials cost increase; - Strategy - lock-in - buy needs at spot -- percentage of needs to be bought; - Double-dip issues - Flight to safe(r) assets - Swiss franc - USD - impact on costs - m...

Rhythm & Hues MD & Head of International Operations Prashant Buyyala discusses: - How it started; - What prompted its beginnings;   - What brought the co-founders together; - Revenue streams: visual effects - animation - commercial work; - Global production challenges - how time zones and language barriers are addressed; - Importance of technology - connection speeds; - Ratings of US...

Dato' Carl Bek-Nielsen, Vice Chairman of United Plantations, believes Malaysia should not follow Indonesia and pull out of the RSPO (Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil), but says the government needs to review the taxes and quotas imposed on planters and oleochemical producers in view of Indonesia's move to cut refined palm oil exports. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, UP has invested in three...

Venture Capitalist and Entreprenuer Naval Ravikant discusses: - Reasons for the dearth of global web companies from Asia-Pacific; - Attributes of a successful web entrepreneur; - The concept of failure - Whether he (or will) invest in Asia Pacific See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steffen Lauster, Chief Personnel Officer, Booz & Co, discusses: - Retail and consumption trends from an Asian perspective; - How Asian retailers can benefit from these trends; - The Eurozone crisis and its effect on global business; - The effect on global management consulting and (how it changes) the advice proferred; - Human capital issues: talent shortages - solutions; - The impact of socia...

CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management Sdn Bhd CEO Datuk Noripah Kamso discusses: - Key differences between conventional asset management and Islamic asset management; - Global appeal of Islamic AM; - SC's MOU with Dubai and HK; - E&Y report on Islamic funds - only 30% of Islamic fund managers have assets under management of more than USD100M; - How successful would CIMB Principal be without...

Tan Thiam Hock, CEO and founder of Alliance Cosmetics, tells how he started in business, and then selling his shares to Navis Capital and Ekuinas, challenges working with private equity funds, and what makes a successful entrepreneur. Alliance is the brand owner of Silkygirl, Stage and SG Men, and distribute for Avene, Elancyl and Revlon.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dato' Seri Stanley Thai, Executive Chairman and Group Managing Director of Supermax Corporation, tells the glovemaker's strategy to penetrate the Chinese and South American markets. Acquisition of distributors could be one way to overcome barriers. Many obstacles lay ahead - corruption, healthcare laws, awareness, and import duties in Brazil. Chinese glovemakers are producing cheaper nitrile glove...

Tune Group Co-Founder Dato' Kamarudin Meranun discusses: - MAS - AIRASIA share swap; - Merger talks not being new - Khazanah's involvement; - Firefly - AA - competition - East Malaysia flights; - TS Tajudin Ramli - global out-of-court settlement issue; - Challenges: entrenched unions - 42 in total; - The 'dinosaurs' within MAS - staff culling; - Whether this means more expensive E Malaysia flights...

Karma Ura, President of the The Centre for Bhutan Studies, discusses the various aspects of Gross National Happiness: - How and why GNH came about; - How GNH implemented in popular fabric; - Challenges in implementation; - Its meaning in today's age; - Faults with GDP; - How GNH overcomes these faults; - The role of money and economic value - position in GNH index; - How GNH affects policy; - GNH'...

Arvind Rajan, MD and Vice President of LinkedIn Asia Pacific and Japan, discusses: - LinkedIn proposition in Asia-Pac; - Revenue model; - Global userbase update - breakdown; - Traffic numbers; - Singapore - staff - AP targets - plans; - Target countries for growth; - Growth numbers - targets; - Whether M&A is on cards; - Tools / R&D apps - customised - AP; - Examples LinkedIn altering jobs...

Dato' Sri Zukri Samat, Managing Director of Bank Islam, outlines how he has turned around the business, and his plans to grow the SME lending business. Right now 70% of the loan portfolio is in individual loans. He believes there are too many Islamic banks in Malaysia although the central bank has been giving out more Islamic bank licenses. For Bank Islam, he thinks there could be synergies mergin...

Bata Malaysia MD Luciano Bagnobianchi discusses: - Origins and history Bata in Malaysia; - Becoming a household name; - Multiple brands - details - positioning; - Buying patterns; - Demand now - outlook; - Branding impetus, positioning - 'uncool' status; - The quest for 'brand premium'; - Branch - retail presence - expansion - issues - rebranding; - Business costs: oil - rubber - textiles - challe...

Dr. Veerinderjeet Singh, Managing Director of Taxand Sdn Bhd, joins REHDA President Dato' Sri Michael Yam for a Post-Budget 2012 Panel Discussion. They discuss: - Concerns over Budget implementation; - Bright spots; - Property demand; - Fiscal policy, deficit, GST; - Growth expectations; - Elections expectations.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dato Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin and Teh Chi Chang tell what they think should be in Budget 2012 and highlights misallocation of resources by the government, and also battles it out on whether government linked companies and funds, which essentially can have access to lower cost of funding, cheap land and implicit financial backing, are crowding out opportunities for private businesses in mature busin...