The Breakfast Grille

Malaysia's first digital wealth management platform comes back on The Breakfast Grille to get into the new and old competition and whether it can manage with the unprecedented uncertainty in the economic landscape. We also get into the impact of COVID-19 on their business and growth, potential partnerships with local unit trust products and FinTechs, as well as concerns over the aggressive quantit...

Stephanie Sitt, CEO of Inmagine group founded the company with her husband Andy and grew their business to become the fourth largest stock image repository in the world (123RF). The group also owns Pixlr, the online photo editor that has been installed over 100 million times. Sitt discusses her plans for Inmagine and how she works effectively with her husband. Image by: 123RF.com See omnystudio.co...

With one of the highest death and infection rates from Covid-19, Italy will be significantly impacted. We speak to Dr Ugo Panizza, Professor of Economics and Pictet Chair in Finance and Development at The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies to find out what policy options the country has to reduce the economic scar tissue from the lockdown. We also discuss the European resp...

Covid-19 has thrown many industries into confusion, as companies try to adapt to a new normal. One such player is Kelington Group Berhad, which is a Ultra High Purity gas and chemicals delivery company, looking to expand into the industrial gas production space. We speak to Raymond Gan, CEO of KGB, about the company's new factory, expansion plans, and mitigating coronavirus disruption. See omnystu...

Monocle is a recognisable name for business communities around the world. But with Covid-19 affecting travel and media ad-spend, is their niche position enough to survive? Is there still appetite for the kind of lifestyle that Monocle embodies? We talk about all this and more, with Tyler Brûlé, Monocle's Founder and Editor-in-Chief. Photo credit: strangerpixel / CC BY-SA (https://crea...

Hua Fung Teh, the Group President of ONE Championship, a Singapore-based global sports media platform and known as Asia’s answer to the UFC, talks about his brand's appeal in the region and how it is adapting to the fallout from the pandemic. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We examine the government's strategy to combat Covid-19 with Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Public Health Special Advisor to the Prime Minister. She also talks about what to expect next, Malaysia's involvement in drug trials, and how we could secure access to vaccines, if any is discovered. She is the founder of Mercy and has served several international bodies in leading responses to emergency and h...

With schools and universities shut, and physical distancing now more of a priority than ever before, BAC Education, like many other universities faces an unprecedented disruption. Today on the Breakfast Grille, we speak to Raja Singham, Founder and Managing Director of BAC Education, which manages several private institutions including Brickfields Asia College, about the future of education, prese...

Income inequality has been on the rise, and it is estimated about 70-80% of the Malaysian working population has savings to survive 1-2 months. Their plight has been most acute in this Covid-19 pandemic. Nurhisham Hussein, Chief Strategy Officer at EPF and Ahmad Yazid Othman, the CEO of MTEM or Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Melayu discuss if the government is doing enough to help, and how it can be more...

Since acquiring KiplePay in 2017, Green Packet has been out to transform itself from a traditional communications services company, into a digital services provider. Just a week out from its flagship foray into proptech, we speak to CC Puan, Group Managing Director and CEO of Green Packet, about the company's financial performance, plans to navigate the new normal, and when they will return to the...

With oil prices hitting new lows, cutting capex and terminating projects is to be expected. So how will oil and gas companies weather this downturn? Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin, CEO of Sapura Energy, one of Malaysia's integrated oil and gas companies tell us what's up his sleeve to weather this crisis and can they renegotiate the refinancing of their RM10 billion debt. See omnystudio.com/listener f...

Food aid for the B40 community has been a hot topic during this Movement Control Order, with the government catching criticism for its handling of food distribution. To speak more about this, as well as issues within the Petaling Jaya constituency and the wider country, we speak to Maria Chin Abdullah, former chairperson of Bersih 2.0 and Petaling Jaya MP. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

In the post pandemic world, the inequality that already exist will likely exacerbate but what can be done to reduce this? And what will happen to the Malaysian aviation sector which has come to a grinding halt? Dr. Nungsari Ahmad Radhi, former Chairman of the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) tells us his views on the matter and is merging airlines the solution. See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

In 2008, the financial crisis was caused by reckless and over leveraged banks but this time, world economies are brought to their knees by a health crisis. However will financial systems which are the bedrock of any economy then follow in tandem and go into shock? Thorsten Beck, Professor of Banking and Finance at Cass Business School tells us what needs to be done to avoid this whilst also tellin...

What is the impact of anxiety on an election choice? We explore this with James Bisbee as he explains his thoughts behind the fall of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primary race, how he thinks the Presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump could look like, how the Congressional and Senate races could play out and what kind of measures the US could adopt to facilitate their elections la...

Anthony Gerald, the Group CEO of business solutions firm Cuscapi Bhd, discusses how the business is dealing with the fallout from Covid-19, given that its main clients are in F&B and autos, two sectors most-hit by the worst virus since SARS in 2003. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Leader of Pakatan Harapan and President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim discusses Pakatan Harapan's priorities now, whether he still wants to become Prime Minister, and when he is prepared to let go of the reins as President of PKR. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Leader of Pakatan Harapan and President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim discusses Pakatan Harapan's priorities now, whether he still wants to become Prime Minister, and when he is prepared to let go of the reins as President of PKR. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bank Pembangunan Malaysia is the country’s oldest development financial institution with a twin mandate of national development and profitability, but is coming off a chequered past of funding projects owned by 'connected' parties. Now, Arshad Ismail, President / Group CEO since April 2019, wants to up risk and governance standards while evolving into a policy driven bank. He discusses deliv...

With travel restrictions now in place across most of the globe, higher education institutions are facing an uncertain future. Here in Malaysia, the postponement of SPM and STPM examinations, as well as fears over the coronavirus, have also meant that enrolment of domestic students is in limbo, in addition to the inability of some international students to enter or exit the country. To look into th...

With the movement control order, availability of food has become a priority for Malaysians and this also includes our favourite snacks. So we speak to James Kane, Managing Director for Malaysia & Singapore of Mondelez International, one of the largest snack food companies in the world on the challenges they face during this period. We also ask what are the snacking habits of this country and d...

With the Movement Control Order in place, children around the country have been told to stay at home. E-learning and TV broadcasts are how they continue their studies- but is this enough? And what will education look like in a post-MCO Malaysia? For this and more, we speak to Chan Soon Seng, CEO of Teach For Malaysia, as well as former Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching, today on the Breakfas...

With hardly any planes flying, borders closed and most countries in some form of a lockdown, we speak to Yap Lip Seng, CEO of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) and Nigel Wong, Honorary Secretary General for Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) to find out how badly their sector has been affected. We also take a deeper dive on whether the government is providing adequate...

Covid-19 took the world by surprise as infection rates soared while countries took turns to go into lock-downs. With that, came the inevitable shortage of essentials including medical supplies as global supply chains became affected. Dr Khor Swee Kheng, a physician and public health specialist tells us why it is critical that we start thinking of a Pandemic Production Act to overcome these problem...

The Covid-19 pandemic has placed uncertainty at the forefront. When will cases peak? What kind of a recovery will we see? Will shuttered economies be able to reopen? Amid this global guessing game, we speak to Ramanan Laxminarayan, Affiliate Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington, and Director and Senior Fellow, The Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, about mod...