The Breakfast Grille

Women face many challenges when it comes to furthering careers in the sciences, and economics is no different. With only two women having ever won a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences (and both of those given in the last decade), we ask the question of why there is such a dearth of women in this field, and why is it important to have them? To discuss this, we spoke to Shelly Lundberg, Leonard Broom...

The logistics industry is a highly competitive field. Alongside 116 companies in Malaysia with some regional names, Ninja Van have deep pockets and the technology know-how to fight for their market share. So who will survive and emerge the winner? We speak to Adzim Halim, Country Head of Ninjavan Malaysia, which focuses on last mile delivery on their growth plans to beat out the competition and wa...

As unemployment levels rise across the world, the number of open job postings are also dropping across online employment marketplaces - leading to a deepening supply-demand mismatch. SEEK Asia is one of the providers of those employment marketplaces, best known here for their platform Jobstreet.com. We speak to its CEO, Suresh Thiru, about how the business is adapting to Covid-19, as well as some...

How has the pandemic impacted video gaming & e-sports? Roshan gets into this, as well as Riot Games’ plans for Southeast Asia, the opportunity of mobile gaming, synergies with Tencent, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Covid-19 has ravaged travel and leisure activity on a global basis. So what does this spell for theme park operators and builders? Sim Choo Kheng, CEO of Sim Leisure Group, who are also owner-operators of Escape Water Park in Penang, explains. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Covid-19 has ravaged travel and leisure activity on a global basis. So what does this spell for theme park operators and builders? Sim Choo Kheng, CEO of Sim Leisure Group, who are also owner-operators of Escape Water Park in Penang, explains. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Spanish Flu of 1918 was one of the first global pandemics in modern recorded history. Government reactions to it may seem familiar - quarantines, an emphasis on hygiene, and often mixed signals as political agendas struggled to reconcile themselves with public health policy. So, to unpack some of the lessons we can learn from the pandemic which occurred over a century ago, we speak to Laura Sp...

Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of digital solutions, particularly in the realm of higher education. As more lectures and meetings move online, video is becoming an increasingly important means of communication and Panopto appears poised to ride that wave of growth here in Asia. To talk to us more about their expansion plans, and the future of video, we speak to Elle Hosek, General Manager f...

The Free Trade Agreement talks between the European Union and Malaysia have been stalled since 2010 due to requirements for Malaysia to undertake reforms and remove Bumiputera protection. Meanwhile countries like Vietnam and Singapore have ratified agreements with the EU. As a consequence European investors are likely to skip Malaysia in the long-term. We discuss these issues with Sven Schneider,...

As Malaysia's oldest telco, Celcom has seen their market share decline over the years while average revenue per user has also been falling as people switch from voice to data. Idham Nawawi, their Chief Executive Officer tells us their strategy for growth and their plans for 5G as well as which model may work best for the country. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UWC Berhad looks to be one of the beneficiaries of COVID-19 with its stock price more than doubling since a low 3 months back. The company has come a long way from simply supplying wire cut machines and is now worth around RM2 billion on the back of the boom in the semiconductor supply chain. More recently UWC has been tapping into the increased demand in medical equipment and life sciences on the...

UWC Berhad looks to be one of the beneficiaries of COVID-19 with its stock price more than doubling since a low 3 months back. The company has come a long way from simply supplying wire cut machines and is now worth around RM2 billion on the back of the boom in the semiconductor supply chain. More recently UWC has been tapping into the increased demand in medical equipment and life sciences on the...

Like all industries in the country, film production and the arts had come to a screeching halt over the last few months, with many out of work as they’re unable to continue shooting or perform in public. As the economy starts up and movement restrictions are slowly eased, how can the local arts and film scene move forward? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, necessity became the mother of digitisation, with Microsoft saying it saw “two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months”. With this in mind, how will MDEC balance the need to support the micro SMEs and Mak Cik Kiahs, while also growing and nurturing Malaysian tech startups and potential unicorns that will drive innovation? Surina...

Lockdown may have ended but the pandemic has devastated the economy and set it back by 2-3 years and growth may only recover though not to stellar 2019 levels beginning 2021. The big uncertainty remains the possibility of a second wave. Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam Bin Abdullah, Managing Director of the Klang-based port operator, Westports Holdings Bhd, discusses these issues, plus other items lik...

China is discouraging its citizens from visiting Australia due to reports of racist attacks. It has also slapped tariffs and restrictions on certain Australian products after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for independent investigation of the pandemic outbreak. In light of ongoing tensions, we speak with Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, HE Andrew Golędzinowski on balancing Australia...

The Economic Action Council (EAC) in its many guises have been called each time the country faces a crisis since 1997. The Covid-19 pandemic and the economic scar tissue it leaves behind is no different. The EAC was revived in March comprising of leading corporate figures, successful entrepreneurs and of course key government officials. So we speak to it's Executive Director, Professor Tan Sri Dat...

Jalil Rasheed President & Group Chief Executive of Permodalan Nasional Berhad, discusses his plan to internationalise the RM300 billion fund's returns profile within the next two years while also upping governance controls within its investees. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Should online marketplace Carousell be concerned over Facebook's growing presence in the scene? Carousell is an online marketplace that’s been primarily known for second-hand goods and has essentially app-ified the classifieds. Since its founding in 2012, it has since grown to become one of the largest and fastest online classifieds marketplaces in the world with over 250 million listings an...

Global CO2 emissions have decreased dramatically as countries around the world have gone into forced movement restrictions, amid fears of the global pandemic. Yet the change is not sustainable, since it has not been underpinned by structural reform. To get some insight into what infrastructure and attitude changes we need to see in order to really make a dent in the climate crisis, we speak to Cor...

Should Grab and GoJek be worried about Lalamove’s growing presence in the region? Hong Kong Unicorn Lalamove has been described as the Uber for logistics. While primarily a B2B service, the platform’s awareness in Malaysia has grown as merchants & customers used Lalamove as an alternative to GrabFood during the Movement Control Order. Roshan gets into their potential IPO, expansion...

In a global environment where many organisations have had to rapidly adapt to remote working due to Covid-19 and digitise their processes, does this accelerate the use of cloud applications? To answer this question we speak to David Webster, Asia and Japan President of Workday, one of the world’s leading cloud-based enterprise technology solutions providers focusing on human capital and fina...

Tourism and travel have been badly hit across the world. Many tour agencies and hotels have closed completely. Mario Hardy, CEO of PATA or Pacific Asia Travel Association has some insights on how the region could be recovering. It might be sooner than we think. Also how will Covid-19 reshape the industry? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While some recovery in footfall has been noted in recent weeks, the pandemic has ravaged the country's retail sector, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands unemployed and thousands of small business bankrupt and insolvent, with even the largest mall owners suffering. More needs to be done, including extending and widening loan moratoriums to all business loans, waiving interest and statutory p...

George Taitim Tulas, CEO of Sabah Credit Corporation tells us the objectives of this non-financial institution while giving us their strategy for growth despite only having a presence in the state. We also ask about how Covid 19 has impacted the local economy and whether they do contribute to the high indebtedness of civil servants. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.