The Panel Session themed ‘Opportunities for Enterprises’ featured three speakers who were able to offer different perspectives on finding opportunities even in challenging circumstances. They each addressed the theme from government, private sector and personal angles. This session was ably moderated by Datuk Rafiah Salim, the former Vice Chancellor of University of Malaya.
Building an International platform for Malaysian Business
The first panelist, Dato’ Kaziah Abdul Jadir, who in her capacity as the Deputy Director General 1 of MIDA was involved in designing Malaysia’s Industrial Master Plans and developing the country’s profile international trade and business arena. Now retired from government service, she continues to be active as an Advisor on Investor Relations for the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC).
Dato’ Kaziah provided an overview of the government’s efforts to build a platform for Malaysia to develop as a major trade partner on the global stage. Detailed analyses of market trends and prospects were made to identify industries, products and activities for support. These have been further assisted by painstaking bilateral trade negotiations and participation in ASEAN initiatives that have resulted in Free Trade Agreements that have now opened the way for Malaysian products and services to penetrate new markets.
With the IMP3 (2006 – 2020) the main thrust of the Plan is to deepen the manufacturing sector with more high-end products and to enter into new growth areas. IMP3 seeks to facilitate the expansion of domestic-oriented services with a particular emphasis on business and professional services, logistics, tourism, education and ICT. The third thrust of the IMP3 is to take Malaysia offshore, something which is facilitated by a more open trade environment and the reduction or elimination of tariffs on most merchandised goods, and the gradual removal of barriers to investment and services.
However, Dato’ Kaziah cautioned that the new global trade climate could be a double-edged sword if Malaysian businesses are complacent and do not equip themselves to become much more competitive. A freer trade market could also mean that Malaysians could also lose local market share in Malaysia with the in-flow of cheaper products and higher quality services from other countries.
In addressing the Summit audience, a large proportion of whom hail from the private sector, Dato’ Kaziah highlighted the need for both the government and private sector stakeholders to work more closely and collaboratively – a relationship that is best modeled by countries like Japan and South Korea. She urged professional bodies and stakeholders from the various stakeholders to build or strengthen organisations so that they can collectively represent their interests to government with whom they can jointly outline a plan of action.
Taking a critical but constructive look at the current situation in the country, Dato’ Kaziah said that there seemed to be a critical disconnect between the government and the private sector. This, she believed stemmed from a lack of trust between the two which has arisen from a poor understanding of the government’s policies, rules, regulations and actions by the private sector. Similarly, the business models, plans and interests of local enterprises are not well understood by public officers. She felt it was important to find ways to bridge this gap in order to create a more effective partnership between the government and private sectors.
For the government’s part, an important step would be to be more transparent in its dealings and more efficiently share knowledge and information with the private sector. For their part, the private sector could play a role by organising itself into professional industry-specific associations and to regularly engage the Government on matters of mutual interest. Ultimately this will see all parties aligning efforts and resources as it moves forward to advance Malaysian business interests in the world market.
She concluded by encouraging summit participants to investigate business opportunites which can be found in abundance in the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC), many of which involve linking up with small women-owned businesses in the East Coast.
Remove “Adversity’ through Diversity
The second panelist was Bobbi Dangerfield who joined Dell Global Business Centre in Malaysia as its Managing Director in 2008. Addressing the Summit on the topic ‘Opportunities for Enterprise’ she shared her perspective as both a working mother of two, and a senior manager of a global corporation striving to lead her team and keep her company competitive.
Bobbi took a moment to introduce the Summit participants to her family. She acknowledged her supportive husband whose vocation as an artist affords him the flexibility to care for their teenage twins an enables her to prove herself in the corporate sphere. She admitted that for women climbing the ladder in the corporate sector, work life balance remains an elusive concept and succeeding has a lot to do with making choices and compromises.
Bobbi’s career roadmap certainly demonstrates that a woman’s career development is anything but predictable. Graduating with a Degree in Computer Sciences and Math, Bobbi went on to serve in a number of companies in several evolving-capacities starting with software programming and technical support, and going on to sales, customer service, marketing and finally joining the management team helming the global computer manufacturing giant, Dell.
Throughout this journey, her simple philosophy of never turning down an opportunity has served her well. In reflecting on her career progression, she exhorted the Summit participants to “Take Risks!” and never to rule themselves out of the running because they feel they lack the experience or a proven track record. In her view, leaving one’s comfort zone makes it possible to discover one’s capabilities. “If you are given an opportunity, then use it to knock the ball out of the park!” she emphasized, borrowing a popular American expression.
Prior to being posted to Malaysia, Bobbi served as General Manager to Dell in El Salvador, leading Customer Tech Support, Consumer Sales and Care for both the US and Latin America markets. Taking on the position in El Salvador was undoubtedly one of those comfort zone leaving challenges! Bobbi had never previously lived abroad and had to take up intensive lessons in Spanish. But these challenges paled in comparison to the guilt of uprooting her children from their home, school and friends. She conceded that it is certainly difficult for a mother to put her children through tough changes. However, she is pleased to say that her family readily adapted to their new setting and today wholly appreciate the broader perspectives gained from living in different countries.
Bobbi shared that in challenging economic times, it is essential to ensure that you have the best business team. A key component to this is empowering women and embracing diversity within your organisation. Dell’s support of Diversity and Inclusion involves making a commitment to ensure that there are more women and minorities in senior levels of management. The company has a support network for women within the organisation called Women in Search of Mentoring or WISE. This is particularly important as they increasingly take on male-dominated disciplines and management roles. Through WISE, women come together to network and seek guidance from experienced colleagues, and also address work life balance issues. “As we strive to bring more diversity into our workplace, as we talk about adversity, this kind of activity helps to remove some of the obstacles that women in particular face as they try to manage their work and their life outside of work”.
The equal opportunity agenda aims to treat people fairly, to remove barriers to this and to redress existing imbalances, so that groups which continue to be disadvantaged gain access to opportunities for full participation in the workplace and wider society.
The words diversity, equal opportunity and gender mainstreaming are often interpreted to deal with feminism and women’s rights. This perception is misleading. Bobbi took a little time to make clear what diversity and inclusion are not. “Equal opportunity is not about reducing standards, it is not a distraction from more important issues, it is not just about tokenism and political correctness and finally, it is not about removing our prejudices – it is about recognising they exist and then questioning them before we act,” she said.
Although Dell’s 80,000 strong global workforce may have a common culture and shared values, this does not compromise individualism. Managing and valuing diversity means that you seek difference, value it and capitalise on it. According to Bobbi, diversity in the workplace places companies in a better position to cater to their customers.
Bobbi concluded by saying that making the most effective use of the differences and similarities between people and cultures contributes to creating working environments that understand and respect differences and relate these to our common humanity.
“It helps us to better understand our customers and take many points of view into consideration as we develop products and services, marketing and sales campaigns and customer experience requirements,” she said.
Is there Opportunity for Enterprise? The answer lies within you
The final panelist, Christina Chia, who is a successful lawyer and speaker, asked the Summit participants to take a more introspective look within themselves to evaluate their personal and professional goals and what they can do today to achieve them. Christina needs to look no further than her own life experience in order to find proof of her convictions. She was a bright young girl and had dreams of becoming a scientist. However her personal circumstances made this dream a near impossibility. Her family was poor and as the eldest of eight siblings, she had to do her part to contribute financially. She became a dental nurse but began to study law part-time. It was a struggle, but she manage to obtain her qualification and join the profession and in her own words she has “never looked back.”
It was the great philosopher Socrates that first instructed ”Know yourself.” Christina emphasised that this wisdom is relevant event today. “The better you know yourself, the better the decisions you make. The better the decisions you make, the better your life will be,” she enthused.
The second lesson to learn was to Understand the Laws of Nature. Everything has got its time, reason and season and in every adversity there lies within a seed of equivalent or better benefit. She addressed people that might be facing challenging circumstances and encouraged them to look for this “seed of equivalent or better benefit”. Rather than give in to pessimism, it is infinitely more valuable to be positive and persevere no matter what the situation
The third lesson she highlighted was Success or Failure is a HABIT. “We are all creatures of habit and are influenced by our regular practices. She shared a short poem which illustrated why good habits are the keys to all success!”
Sow a thought and reap an action;
Sow an action and reap a habit;
Sow a habit and reap a character;
Sow a character and reap a destiny
Decide to be a success.
Napoleon Hill, the renowned motivational author and speaker, is most famous for this statement “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.” Christina broke this declaration down into an easy to remember – CBA – Conceive, Believe and Achieve so that it is possible to remind ourselves not to give up easily.
Finally, she reminded the audience that “Thoughts are things“. Everything
begins with a seed of thought, and we are each today the sum total of all our thoughts, deeds and actions. “Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think,” she advised.
She highlighted an interesting scientific fact that the subconscious mind cannot differentiate between positive and negative, and right and wrong thoughts. Therefore, it is critical that women pay attention to controling negative and disempowering self-talk. She encouraged women to break this habit and begin sowing the seeds of change in their life by simply changing their thought habits. In her recent book, Mind Garden, she powerfully illustrates these points, and provides practical steps for women to take charge of their thoughts, change their habits and take a more pro-active approach to challenges and achieving their goals.
View a Gallery of Speakers and Panelists at the 2009 Summit
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