The Breakfast Grille

Mel Elias, the global CEO and President of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, explains that wholesaling will be a major contributor to growth. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

YTL Corp CEO Tan Sri Francis Yeoh talks about his new 4G network, 'Yes', discussing coverage, subscribers and growth targets and network expansion, and when he expects 'Yes' 4G to turn profitable. He also talks about risks such as price wars and compatible devices. He then talks about how important Yes 4G is to the YTL group in terms of building the business and setting a growth path; how it seems...

MACC Director of Investigation and Commissioner Datuk Haji Mustafar Haji Ali talks about its procedures, protocols and techniques. He also addresses challenges such as negative perceptions and criticisms as well as the challenges. He also talks about several ongoing cases. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peder Bohlin, SEA regional director and MD of Jotun Malaysia, tells how the company intends to beat Nippon Paints, currently the number one paintmaker in Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a St Patrick's Day Breakfast Grille, and Ireland Ambassador Declan Kelly puts this happy celebration in the context of the world's problems with the disasters in Japan and the tensions in the Middle East. He then talks about Ireland and Malaysia, how many years it has been since Ireland set up a diplomatic office in KL, the value, type and extent of Ireland - Malaysia trade, and other opportu...

Danny Owee, Deputy MD of Dominant Enterprise Berhad, explains the prospects of the company for the next two financial years, and the progress of its expansion plans into Indonesia and Vietnam. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Chief Minister of Selangor, addresses the most pressing issues besieging his administration - taking over the water concessions, stemming out illegal sandmining, moral crackdown, and the direction of Pakatan Rakyat. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Casanova, Managing Director of McDonald's Malaysia, tells how the food operator grew the business by close to 25% last year, and its expansion plans. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen Cokkinias, General Manager of Ritz Carlton Malaysia, explains the hotel's ethos delivery and how the hotel industry can further develop. He believes there will be too many highend hotels in the market based on current occupancy rate of 70-80% but it will validate Kuala Lumpur as a global city. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Metro Kajang MD & ED Dato' Eddy Chen Lok Loi discusses the company's history, how it went into property development, its startegies to deal with earnings volatility, upcoming launches, positioning, prices, property demand and rising household debt. He then discusses their expansion into plantations: expected earnings contribution, skills and management expertise, location, maturity and yields,...

Jeffrey Lim, Country Manager of Etihad Airways, explains Etihad is playing in the premium market to compete against full service and budget airlines, and expects to breakeven this year. He says the oil price hike and tensions in the Middle East have not affected travel to the Middle East and there are no plans to raise ticket fares in the immediate term. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

Karin Clarke, Regional Director at Randstad Singapore and Malaysia, talks about the talent shortage problem in Malaysia, and how Malaysia should position itself to attract talent. In conjunction with International Women's Day, she also talks about how companies are creating a more work-friendly place for working mothers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rajiv Biswas, Asia Chief Economist, IHS Global Insight, discusses the upturn in global commodity prices and whether they are the main causes of rising global inflation and talks about whether climate change and MidEast tensions are in turn, the main causes for the uptick in these two items. He discusses too, whether monetary policy / interest rates are sufficient in containing inflation, whether g...

David Leung, SEA Director, Hong Kong Tourism Board, discusses how Hong Kong uses its four product "pillars" (shopping, dining, culture and heritage, and city, harbour and green) as the basis for its marketing and promotional activities in terms of attracting tourist arrivals. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mycron Steel Bhd CEO Azlan Abdullah talks about the downtrend in business in the last two quarters, the reasons for the decline and his outlook for the year ahead. He also discusses current utilisation rates, capacity expansion, and his demand outlook. He talks about challenges such as sourcing for quality materials, rising raw material prices, and supply issues. He discusses new business and expa...

David Ho, Managing Director of Hovid, talks about how he is restructuring its subsidiary (not associate company) Carotech that has been placed under the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee, and when it expects Hovid to come out of PN17 status. This has been the most challenging time for Hovid. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dato' Francis Lee, Chief Executive Officer of Berjaya Food Berhad, tells how the company is positioned for higher growth. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysian Reserve Group Editor Abdul Halim Wahab discusses the reasons behind launching a business paper in a crowded marketplace, its editorial positioning, staff size, circulation numbers, distribution and positioning. He also discusses talk of its upcoming sale to Redberry and how it works with Rederry's various media platforms and how this 'synergy' is working. He talks about their recent deal...

Daniel Viets, the CEO of Asian Institute of Finance, offers an insight into the AIF, set up by the Central Bank and the Securities Commission to help augment human capital development in the financial services industry, in regards to benefiting the local economy, funding, staffing, KPIs, the main pillars of competence it is seeking to improve, which sector of financial services is the most in need...

GUH Holdings Bhd CEO/MD Dato' Kenneth H'ng provides a short discussion of GUH, incorporated in 1961 and 50 years old this year; he also talks about how it evolved into the current business, and its evolution into the electronics business. He also talks about electronics industry challenges, such as the need to restructure its client base, the move into niche products and its desire to lower this c...

Dieter Schulz, Managing Director of Kraft Foods Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, tells how he is growing the established snacks business, and leveraging on synergies from the acquisition of Cadbury. Kraft Foods is the second largest snacks business in the world, and owns a number of brands like Jacobs, Twisties, Chipsmore and Oreo. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahmad Kamal, Founder of the Asian University for Women, discusses the conception and aims of this residential four-year liberal arts not-for-profit college that has been established in Bangladesh as an international, public-private collaborative. He discusses his reasons for opening it only to women, and how the AWU "can be a force against fundamentalism and many of the sort of narrow identities t...

Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd Group CEO/ED Dato' Seri Dr Mohd Ajib Anuar discusses the secondary listing of its shares on the Singapore Stock Exchange, and issues revolving around its main tin business (such as target production rates, applications, prices, physical supply deficit, global production and demand.) He also talks about its earlier investments into non-tin assets like gold, nickel, copper...

Clifford Clement, Executive Director, Malaysia Nature Society, talks about its work in conservation and education, in addition to its work in parks. He focuses in particular on Wetlands (and whats at stake), the Ramsar Convention, pollution, land use conversion, and reclamation, which are threats that affect all wetlands ecosystems. He also discusses deforestation and what the MNS does about this...

Gopi K Ganesalingam, Managing Director of Lava Protocols Sdn Bhd, talks about the early beginnings of his cloud computing firm, staff size, partners and footprint. He then discusses issues and challenges surrounding the concepts of loud computing and software as a service such as privacy, reliability and phishing. He ends with a discussion on industry challenges like language proficiency, and shar...