The Breakfast Grille

Analysts have described the Volvo Geely merger as one of the most successful in a decade. Volvo’s IPO in 2021 was seen as instrumental to help it realise its global goal of being fully electric by 2030. In Malaysia, Volvo Car Malaysia delivered a total of 3,194 vehicles last year, which represents a 43% increase from 2021. Two fully EVs have been launched which are the XC40 and C40 recharge and sa...

Prior to GE15, Khairy Jamaluddin boldly stated his ambitions to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia, before his unceremonious sacking from UMNO last week. Will he become a cautionary tale, akin to Icarus flying too close to the sun or is this merely a long opening gambit in the chess game of politics? We hear from Khairy Jamaluddin himself on what happened and his political prospects for the fut...

We speak to Dr. Rezal Khairi bin Ahmad CEO of NanoMalaysia Berhad on how this agency has been working towards energizing industries through the commercialization of nanotechnology as we reflect on the progress the past decade and understand their priorities particularly in the ESG space. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 providing the roadmap for education transformation, the quality of public education has suffered a decline due to various factors. What reforms are urgently needed to put public education back on track? We speak to Shahnaz Al-Sadat of LeapEd Services for reflections to mark International Day of Education. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

The past two years have been cruel for the China Tech companies and while most of the spotlight was focused on Jack Ma and Ali Baba, there was another behemoth that for many epitomizes perhaps the best and worst of this industry. We speak to Lulu Yilun Chen, an editor at Bloomberg and author of Influence Empire which highlights the story of Tencent and China’s Tech ambitions. Image credit: Shutter...

We take time to reflect on the position and role of the Chinese in Malaysian society, business and politics with Ngan Teng Ye, President of The KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall which focuses on ensuring the voices within the Chinese community are heard while fighting for the benefits and rights of the community since 1923. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Semiconductor industry is worth USD 580 billion dollars and has become a key part of the trade war between China and the US. Can Malaysia benefit from this? Do we have the right policies in place? Questions we ask Dato' Seri Wong Siew Hai, President of Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association and John Neuffer, CEO & President of Semiconductor Industry Association. See omnystudio.com/lis...

After nearly three years of pandemic-impacted operations, the Oriental Group of Restaurants has finally returned to the black with revenues almost back to pre-MCO days. What fortunes will this Year of the Rabbit bring to this leader of Cantonese cuisine in the Klang Valley? Its founder and chairman Datuk Seri Philip Siew talks about the challenges the company had faced, the lessons learned and how...

In 2022 Malaysia saw the launch of Malaysia’s new low-cost carrier, MYAirline. From 3 destinations in December last year, the carrier aims to expand its fleet size to 50 in five years. CEO, Rayner Teo shares with us their path to profitability and how they are differentiating themselves from the other low cost carriers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2022 was a disastrous year for many asset classes driven by an aggressive interest rate cycle by the Fed and also the Russia Ukraine war. Mark Mobius who is known as “the Godfather of Emerging Markets” will be looking into his crystal ball and giving his insights on many asset classes - stocks, bonds, cryptos, property and what is the right investment strategy to take. Prior to launching Mobius Ca...

After three years, China eased its zero-Covid policy and reopened its borders on the 8th of January. We speak to Dr. Sri Ganesh Michiel, National President, Malaysia Budget Hotels Association and Hannah Pearson, Founder of Pear Anderson on whether Malaysia could benefit from this and what can we do to differentiate ourselves from regional peers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Herbalife Nutrition sees further growth potential for its meal replacement products thanks to the growing waistlines of Malaysians with the latest National Health & Morbidity Survey showing that 50.1% are overweight and 19.7% facing obesity in 2019. Steven Chin, the Senior Director & General Manager for Herbalife Nutrition Malaysia & Singapore also talks about how the MLM company sees...

Pengerang Energy Complex or (PEC) is developing one of the largest and most competitive Aromatics complexes in the world, to be strategically located within the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex in Johor, Malaysia. Completion is only slated for 2026 where it aims to cater to the growing fuel-related commodities across the Asian market. It is forecasting an export turnover of US$5bn. But is th...

On the Breakfast Grille, Phil speaks to Jonathon Dixon, Vice President and MD, APJC short for Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China, at Cloudflare, Inc. With 2022 seeing an unprecedented year of cyberattacks from governments to corporates to small businesses, we have a conversation with Jonathan about how Cloudflare's solutions are helping build resilience, with the advent of Zero Trust, and wheth...

History, geopolitics, chip war and the semiconductor industry. In the current world we live in, power be it military, economic and geopolitics is built on the essence of computer chips. The US has maintained its lead as a superpower due to its domination in advanced computer chips but this is in danger of slipping now. In early October, the US also announced a ban on the sale of high-end semicondu...

2022 started with such promise, the world was coming out of Covid hibernation and economies were reopening but that optimism proved short-lived. Most markets ended in negative territory but will 2023 prove to be a better year? Anand Pathmakanthan, Head of Regional Equity Research, Maybank Investment Banking Group and Patrick Chang, Chief Investment Officer for ASEAN Equities, Principal Asset Manag...

DS Sigma Holdings Berhad is a packaging products provider, with an in-house manufacturing of corrugated paper packaging products including cartons, protective packaging and paper pallets. It is en-route for a listing on the Ace Market on 6 January 2023. Although the company has an established track record of 20 years, it operates in a competitive environment. We discuss its prospects with Lucille...

At the conclusion of the general election, several critical issues of constitutional law came to the forefront. Constitutional expert Prof Shad Saleem Faruqi comes on the Breakfast Grille to discuss these issues and what kind of reforms are critical for Malaysia to move forward into the 21st century as a nation that prioritises democracy and the rule of law. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

The age of digitalisation and technology that we’re experiencing has enormous potential to drive Malaysia’s economic future, but it also comes with the perils of cybersecurity threats, online disinformation and the risks of a digital divide entrenching inequity. We speak to YB Fahmi Fadzil, Minister of Communications and Digital, for his thoughts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

On the final show of the year, we revisit the more unusual interviews we've conducted on the Breakfast Grille, reflecting the unexpected and curious nature of the world.  Today's retrospective features a Malaysian-born scientist making strides in space exploration at NASA; the peculiarities of the British egg industry; as well as a trip down memory lane for the Hong Kong entertainment landsca...

The political uncertainty that dogged the country for the past 2 years has been put to rest for the time being following the 15th General Elections that saw an unprecedented unity government being formed under the leadership of Dato' Sri Anwar Ibrahim. We look back at conversations with politicians and analysts on the twists and turns of Malaysia's political saga that held our attention hostage th...

In spite of economies largely reopening in 2022, there were still many trials and tribulations for companies this year due to rising inflation, higher cost of borrowing due to the central banks raising interest rates and consumers generally tightening their belts. This had contrasting impacts on two sectors where banks generally benefited and the F&B sector did not. Image credit: Shutterstock...

Despite hopes that 2022 would see the global economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, the year threw a curveball with the outbreak of the Ukraine as well as the prolonged closure of China's borders, among others. We revisit discussions on how these events have impacted the Malaysian and global economy at different stages of the year. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

It has been more than 1 year since the floods that affected eight states across the peninsula, and left 55 dead. The Disaster Risk Reduction Team from the Netherlands shares expertise with governments in order to find the best possible solution to tackle urgent water issues. Marco Hartman and his team recently submitted the final flood mitigation report to the Ministry of Environment and Water and...

AC Ventures is a leading Southeast Asian venture capital firm investing in early-stage startups focused on Indonesia and ASEAN. We ask Ng Yi Chung, partner at AC Ventures Malaysia on the landscape of venture capital in Malaysia, and is tech still the darling? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.