SOBA workshops to feature wide range of speakers

Source From (The Star Online): http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/6/9/business/11445903&sec=business

Published: Saturday June 9, 2012
By WONG WEI-SHEN
weishen.wong@thestar.com.my

IT is in troubling times like these, that uncertainty and volatility cloud the future of businesses and businesses need something to hold on to, something to motivate them to keep pushing forward although they are not able to see past the fog.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) constitute 99.2% of business establishments and contribute 56.4% of total employment in Malaysia. The Star Business Awards (SOBA) Learning Series workshops will feature speakers from organisations such as Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Bhd (Exim Bank), Branding Association of Malaysia (BAM), Media Specialists Association (MSA), and Malaysian Franchise Association (MFA).

The workshops will be held in four different cities over a one-month period starting June 15.
Exim Bank managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Adissadikin Ali says participating in SOBA will give SMEs exposure in benchmarking themselves against its peers and competitors.
“Most importantly, SOBA gives SMEs the ability to learn from the experience of others through active engagements with fellow SMEs and other participants,” he says.

BAM president Eric Chong says SOBA leaves an impact on winners and participants alike. “The walk-through of the criteria gives the company a thorough health scan and can serve as a troubleshooting opportunity,” he says.

On the other hand, MSA president Ranganathan Somanathan says SMEs constantly look for growth opportunities and use product innovation to drive that.
“SOBA recognises this and fuels the Malaysian SMEs by evaluating and recognising them across various facets of organisation development and management,” he says.

Ranganathan adds that through SOBA, The Star brings world class thinking in organisation development to SMEs.
MFA chairman Abdul Malik Abdullah says SOBA can be used as a marketing tool and an assessment tool.

“It inspires enterprises to boost their performance, and continue developing its business processes. It also promotes a more competitive industry,” he says.
Addissadikin will be speaking on the topic of Export with Absolute Confidence.

“I will be sharing some general views on several markets across the globe in terms of economic, political and legal systems; our views on the key success factors in cross border trade, and also about the available funding and risk mitigation tools available in the market including Exim Bank's offerings,” he says.

He adds SMEs can export with confidence only if they are aware of the risks that they face, and if they are equipped with the proper risk mitigating tools to venture into such businesses.
BAM's Chong will be speaking about Brilliance Through Branding, which he says will be an interesting topic.

“My topic not only discusses the importance of branding for business organisations, it also reveals branding strategies that can truly work wonders for SMEs,” Chong says.
Without brand building, it is hard for a brand to be differentiated. He says, “When a name becomes branded', more consumers will be drawn to it. It is always easier to do business when customers look for you than if you have to constantly look for customers.”

Ranganathan will be speaking on the topic of The Role of Media in Building Brands. He acknowledges that media plays a critical role in brand building. He will be talking about how to leverage media well to build brands and drive growth.

“With the media options available today, the world is their market place. How SMEs communicate to their customers will dictate the pace at which their business grows. Smart deployment of media spending is a blend of sophisticated art and science,” Ranganathan says.

“Franchising The Way Forward” is Abdul Malik's topic. “The number of existing franchises in Malaysia has increased by almost 200% over the last 15 years,” Abdul Malik says.
42 local franchise brands have established their presence in over 51 countries. “It is evident that our very own franchise brands are able to compete with foreign brands,” he says.

He concludes that with adequate training, financing, incentives and brand development among other supporting programmes, SMEs can make significantly advance in the international market arena.
This year's SOBA sees some significant enhancements. For one thing, the awards are divided into two broad categories the top-of-the-class awards and outstanding achievement awards. There are eight sub-categories for top-of-the-class awards and three for the outstanding achievement awards.
Now in its third year, the awards will reward winners with almost RM1mil worth of advertising space and airtime.

Exim Bank is the presenter of the awards, and is supported by Bursa Malaysia. The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur is the official hotel partner. Red Tomato is the official Chinese newspaper, while the official radio stations are 988FM and RedFM. The awards auditor is BDO.

For more information on SOBA and the workshops, call 03-7967 1388 ext 1244/1237/1475.