The Breakfast Grille

The unprecedented growth in Islamic finance has put increasing pressure on the supply of good quality human capital in this industry. Already anticipating the demand for Islamic finance talent more than ten years ago, Bank Negara had, in 2005, set up the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF). Ezamshah Ismail, Dean of INCEIF’s School of Professional Studies joins us o...

It is interesting that the crescendo of rulings and proposals from regulatory authorities like Bank Negara and the Securities Commission on corporate governance is coming at a time when we are still trying to grapple with unfinished 1MDB business. Will businesses be reined in without corresponding action on political corruption? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Integrated poultry company DBE Gurney Resources is making inroads to diversify downstream with its newly-launched HARUMi brand of fried chicken products. Datuk Alex Ding gives us an update of the group's progress on this front and the agreement to supply its products to KFC outlets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Demographics are driving strong property demand in Malaysia and we've seen our fair share of controversial projects that potentially destroy green spaces and native lands. Is there a way to bridge the gap between unfettered money-making and safeguarding social and environmental aspects of living?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In April 2016, the Attorney General proposed amendments to the Legal Profession Act of 1976. The president of the Malaysian Bar, Steven Thiru discusses why he thinks this change has negative ramifications for the legal profession, and how this will undermine the independence of the Bar.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahmad Izham Omar, CEO of Primeworks Studios Sdn Bhd, the content creation subsidiary of Media Prima Bhd, discusses accusations of divisiveness and segregation in the Malaysian media landscape, falling profits and scant corporate support. He also talks about the future, which lies in international audiences and vast possibilities in animated movies and programming. See omnystudio.com/listener for p...

Sean Murphy, Global CEO, Procurri Group, communicates ambitious plans to be the global, independent sharing platform for data centre equipment and lifecycle services, following its debut on Singapore Exchange's Main Board last month. Sean Murphy discusses how the company plans to continue its growth post-listing and its prospects ahead.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

Eupe Corporation Berhad is moving beyond its home base in Kedah to the crowded Kuala Lumpur property market, with its maiden housing development Novum in Bangsar South. We ask Eupe's Group Managing Director Dato' Beh Huck Lee if there is still space for new players in the KL property market. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AWC is having a watershed year with a RM700m bumper contract renewal from the federal government, bringing total orderbook up to RM1.2b so far in financial-year 2016. The future of AWC's strategic purpose might be to reduce reliance on government-related contracts and build the green waste management and rainwater harvesting businesses. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The MRMA-driven (Malaysian REIT Managers Association) proposals under the auspices of the Securities Commission want real estate investment trusts to be allowed do more property development work compared to their largely investing role currently. At stake are the REITs' supposedly low-risk status and the preference of their investing clientele. The SC is seeking public feedback for such proposals...

Tan Keng Liang, Gerakan Youth Chief and Vice President, explains why and how Gerakan is still relevant in today's political landscape despite the heavy losses it received in the previous two general elections. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahead of the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics, we take a trip down memory lane to the last Summer Olympics, the London Games in 2012. Lord Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games, shares with the Breakfast Grille the challenges a host country faces in organising an international sporting event, the economic multiplier effect of hosting the Oly...

Out-of-home advertising media company, Big Tree Outdoor, is set to gain more advertising space on RapidKL's new LRT extension lines. BFM speaks to Jeff Cheah, CEO of Big Tree to find out more about the challenges of the advertising industry and Big Tree's current and future business plans. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gary Brown, CEO of 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad, is excited about the future of convenience despite weak conditions and a shrinking ringgit, thanks to its reach, product variety and yes, convenience. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Based in Singapore, Kapital Boost is a crowdfunding platform which hopes to address the lack of financing option for SMEs, whilst allowing members to invest in accordance to Syariah principles. Erly Witoyo, Managing Partner of Kapital Boost shares his views on new frontiers of crowdfunding within the Islamic finance space. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SMEs are usually the heartbeat of a country's economy. However, funding them proves challenging since they carry different risk profiles compared to corporate customers. Funding Societies aims to solve this problem through P2P lending. Listen to Kelvin Teo, Funding Societies CEO, on how they intend to capture a burgeorning niche market. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listed on NASDAQ in 1996, Monster.com was one of the first public online job search platforms. However, Monster.com had lost more than 90% of its market capitalisation between 2007 and 2014, during the tenure of its then CEO Sal Ianuzzi. Has the company fully recovered from its lows? We ask Sanjay Modi, Managing Director APAC & Middle East for Monster.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

With an agency force of below 1,000 currently, RHB Asset Management plans to beef up the number to something that is closer to its competitors which range from thousands to tens of thousands. The selling of financial products will see an interesting confluence of traditional agency models and the incipient fintech methods. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Syed Nabil Aljefri, Secretary General of the ASEAN Business Council, discusses economic integration among the bloc's ten countries and the challenges and opportunities therein. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

E-Commerce giant, Lazada is flush from a US$ 1 billion investment from Alibaba. We speak to Lazada Malaysia CEO, Hans-Peter Ressel on how Lazada intends to leverage this new relationship to scale their business to greater heights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysians are very familiar with GSK's products - Panadol, Horlicks and Eno. Today, we cover a myriad of topics with Ramil Burden, General Manager of GSK Malaysia & Brunei as we ask him about the Pharmaceutical Bill, GSK's ability to make sales post-patent protection, and also on their FMCG business. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CIMB Islamic was once the world's fastest growing Islamic Banks. However, after years of enjoying unbridled growth, they now have to face reality, operating in a more established world of Islamic finance. Listen to Rafe Haneef, CEO of CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad explain how their Shariah compliant bank intends to push growth forward. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Manipal Group is a household name in India and Malaysia. The Manipal Institute of Technology is a globally recognised and respected educational institution. A substantial portion of Malaysian doctors is also alumni of the Manipal University in India. In this breakfast grille we get an update on Manipal's hospital in Klang as well as the expensive new campus of Manipal International University...

Homegrown digital payments firm Soft Space has developed a device that works with smartphones to accept credit card payments. CEO Chang Chew Soon shares why Soft Space had to go overseas to get their start, and his dreams of Malaysia becoming a "cashless society". See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The slogan 1Malaysia was inaugurated in 2009 during Najib Razak’s debut Budget speech as Prime Minister. The slew of measures announced were designed to mark of his Administration from that of his predecessor. The speech started with the slogan “1Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” and ended with “1Malaysia, Together We Prosper”. In between there were references...