The Breakfast Grille

Dato' Sri Tai Hean Leng, the MD and CEO of Malaysia Steel Works Bhd, talks about a China-led industry recovery that began in the second half of 2020. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

IHH Healthcare is one of Asia’s largest private healthcare groups with 80 hospitals in 10 countries. CEO Dr Kelvin Loh talks about the group’s financial performance, its ambitious target of doubling the returns on equity and the need for private-public partnerships in fighting Covid-19. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today is International Women's Day, which is timely to discuss the challenges but also the solutions to bring about greater gender equality and better social protection for women. We speak to YB Hannah Yeoh, MP for Segambut, and Datin Paduka Che Asmah, Former CEO of Yayasan Kebajikan Negara, for their suggestions and whether legislative reform is the key to this. See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

Urban centres like Kuala Lumpur have been among the areas hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. As the economy grinds to a standstill and people stay at home for fear of contracting the virus, we sit down with KL Mayor Datuk Hj Mahadi Che Ngah to discuss the issues facing our capital city, and DBKL's efforts to steer it towards a sustainable, inclusive future. Image Credit: SL Chen / Shutterstock....

Two years ago, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) was downgraded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for failing to meet international safety standards - what implications has that had? Captain Chester Voo Chee Soon joins us on the hot seat to give us an update on CAAM's situation, plans to take the civil aviation regulator forward, and the growing drone industry. See omny...

Karex, the world’s largest condom manufacturer, saw its net profit grow 27 times on-year to RM2.8 million, but that was 38% down on-quarter. What's driving these choppy numbers? Can Karex achieve more consistent profitability? Philip See speaks to CEO Goh Miah Kiat for some insight into this, as well as its foray into glove making. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reliable and trustworthy information is crucial for any decision-making, whether that’s governments drafting policies or civil society casting ballots, and in Malaysia, the Department of Statistics is the keeper of data related to national economic performance and social development. So we speak to Chief Statistician Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin about the integrity of this informati...

Lennard Yong, CEO of Tricor Group, one of the leading corporate services providers in the region, discusses how some of his clients have adapted to respond to Covid-19; Hong Kong's prospects as China opens up its financial markets; and his thoughts on Malaysia's Digital Economy Blueprint. More pertinently, he thinks the RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) will be the real game-chang...

InNature Berhad is the exclusive franchisee of The Body Shop in Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, and have also recently added social-selling brand Natura to their stable. They went public last year, just before the pandemic - the share price has been rather rocky as a result. We speak to Managing Director Datin Mina Cheah-Foong to discuss the extent of the pandemic’s impact and break down the...

With increasing digitalization and storage in the clouds, is the use of papers and files close to extinction? We speak to Dato' Lim Soon Huat, Executive Chairman of Asia File Corp, a listed Penang-based producer of stationery and files, on how it intends to overcome this structural decline of its core business, which has been accelerated by Covid-19. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Eqhwan Mokhzanee Muhammad, CEO of AmBank Islamic, shares with us the progress and performance of the bank as well as how the Islamic finance industry is evolving in these changing and challenging times. Image Credit (background): Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The events of Langkah Sheraton upended the political landscape and threw Malaysia's democracy into a tailspin. One year later, the country remains on political tenterhooks amid a raging pandemic and a state of emergency. We speak to Dr James Chin, Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania, and Ibrahim Suffian, Programme Director at the Merdeka Center, about the lasting impact of the...

Hari V. Krishnan, CEO and MD at PropertyGuru Group, shares with us how the largest regional property technology (Proptech) player in Southeast Asia is navigating the Covid-19 crisis and their long-term strategy to pursue untapped opportunities amidst a challenging and competitive environment. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With 16 Islamic banks in Malaysia, competition has become intense. Muazzam Mohamed, CEO of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, which is the largest, tells us how challenging the operating environment is and whether 2021 is the year of recovery. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The European Union, a political and economic bloc of 27 countries, is undoubtedly a global superpower. As the 3rd largest trading partner in Malaysia, the importance of its relationship to this country cannot be understated. Yet, there still has been no free trade agreement signed despite negotiations having started in 2010. H.E. Michalis Rokas, the newly appointed Ambassador of the European Union...

What is the Malaysian FDI proposition in an increasingly competitive ASEAN? Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) CEO Dato' Azman Mahmud joins Khoo Hsu Chuang on the Breakfast Grille to discuss this. Among other things, they get into the state of investment inflows and outflows, where these investments are going in Malaysia, and whether we're actually going higher up the value chain. S...

A trust deficit between the public and the civil service has been highlighted as one of the key challenges in fighting corruption in the country. Several agencies are looking to remedy that mistrust, by strengthening institutions and investigating complaints - but who watches the watchdogs? That task falls to the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC), which oversees 21 other enforcement a...

When it comes to Malaysia-EU trade relations, attention is often focused on countries like Germany and France, but what you may not know is that Poland is a sizeable consumer of Malaysian goods, particularly palm oil and rubber products. Is there more room to grow this trade relationship, and bring more attention to it? In conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the Visegrád Group, a polit...

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to plague the world and dampen the economic outlook, how will cookware manufacturer Ni Hsin Resources Bhd maintain its bottom line and pivot to newer horizons? Newly appointed executive director Lai Kian Huat joins us on the hot seat to discuss the company's diversification plan and his outlook for the industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

Close to a third of small retail businesses have “collapsed” in the three weeks since the start of MCO 2.0. More are likely to fold even if retailers are allowed to re-open as of today. Datuk Wira Ameer Ali Mydin, Vice President of the Malaysia Retail Association, and Datuk Michael Kang, President of the SME Association of Malaysia, detail the challenges faced by their members and what...

Datuk Jared Lim, Executive Director of Techna-X, unveils his ambitious plans to pivot from the loss-making metallurgical coke business to energy storage and capitalise on rising demand for electric vehicles (EV). The company's end game is to provide EV solutions but what would it mean for its other businesses in mobile app development and F&B (TGI Fridays and Teh Tarik)? Would they be sold? An...

'Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia' is a book by Ben Bland, detailing the remarkable story of Joko Widodo’s meteoric rise from furniture maker to President of Indonesia in just a few short years. Lyn Mak explores the contradictions of Joko Widodo and speaks to Ben about Jokowi’s positioning as an ‘everyman’, and how that has faded the f...

Tune Protect, a general insurance player, has enjoyed success due to its exclusive partnership with AirAsia - but with hardly any flights, travel insurance sales have dipped sharply. With travel still restricted due to the pandemic, how will it grow and maintain its presence? Rohit Nambiar of Tune Protect joins us on the Breakfast Grille to discuss. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

Geoff King, CEO of the Navis Capital-controlled luxury grocery chain The Food Purveyor, spills the caviar on how premium chains like theirs are coping with the pandemic, shifting consumer patterns and the metrics that money people seek when valuing their business. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Penang property player Iconic Worldwide looks to diversify beyond its core property and tourism business into mask and glove production. With a 5.5 acre facility requiring an investment of RM155 million, we speak to James Tan, Executive Director of Iconic Worldwide, on how the company plans to navigate the lucrative but extremely competitive industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...