Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) organised its inaugural PNB Corporate Summit with the theme ‘Rebooting Corporate Malaysia’ on the 30th of October 2019.

The summit officiated by Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was aimed to trigger the transformation of corporate Malaysia by providing local, regional and international perspectives and insights.

The rebooting of corporate Malaysia begins with managing talent, encouraging learning and increasing productivity.

Dr. Mahathir stated that the ‘reboot’ conducted by the government has seen a sense of normalcy returning to the system of governance and administration.

“Given the symbiotic relations between the government and the private sector, without doubt, corporate Malaysia will need the reboot as well and we believe as the government gets back on track, so will the corporate sector,” he added. 

As of now, Malaysia is part of the new members of the Asian Tigers along with Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Being a part of the new members of the Asian Tigers, Malaysia is working towards strengthening its economy and fiscal status by 2021 and being a hub for Industry Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) in Southeast Asia.

Digitalisation, technology and Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) are important matters that Malaysia needs to focus on, as Corporate Malaysia is involved in many traditional industries.

PNB Group Chairman Tan Sri Dr Zeti Aziz started by saying that she hoped the PNB Corporate Summit would motivate the participants to drive Corporate Malaysia to its next stage of growth and development.

“To harness this inherent potential and drive sustainable growth, Corporate Malaysia must be a key proponent in strengthening the nation’s institutional foundation and creating more a resilient economy, including enhancing transparency and corporate governance frameworks,” she said.

Zeti elaborated that there are three imperatives for the public sector, firstly is to enhance efficiency and productivity. The second is having a strengthened education system, while the third is towards strengthening the financial position of the public sector.

On the other hand, the private sector must have stronger corporations that are in-line with global trends.

She added that government-linked investment companies (GLICs) and government-linked companies (GLCs) must be mindful of their role in the economy and to reassess their priorities.

PNB President and Group Chief Executive Jalil Rasheed said there has to be an organisational transformation of corporate Malaysia in how companies are structured and layered. There should be a collective responsibility among three layers including asset owners, boards of directors and management.

During the summit, the discussion sessions provided insights to corporates on global occurrences and how they can improve in their role as board members for the success of the companies.

Jalil explained that the summit is the initial step in gathering all PNB’s investee companies together to hear the message and learn about the best practices from other regional companies.

“Hence, the summit helps Corporate Malaysia address the similarities of what is happening globally and understand what needs to be done better,” he says.

Furthermore, Jalil also emphasises that the long-term plan is to see Corporate Malaysia expanding to different sectors and industries.

IQI Global Chief Economist Shan Saeed shares his opinions toward Malaysia’s journey into becoming an economic powerhouse. He said that Malaysia is currently emulating variables that other Asian Tigers are applying which include political stability, maintain economic confidence, solid macro fundamentals, enhanced skill set and productivity, price inflation is under control, and balance sheet is on solid footing.

Besides that, Malaysia needs to look into improving its skill sets and productivity so that income levels can gradually increase, which in turn will benefit the masses at the macroeconomic level.

When there is a technology-driven workforce, it will support the growth of many economies internationally in the next 10 years.