The Breakfast Grille

Samir Gupta, CIMB's Group CEO of Consumer Banking explains how the banking institution will operate in the age of increasing digitalisation. From fintech to data analytics, we scrutinise CIMB's strategy to capitalise on ASEAN's young and vibrant consumer market.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Strategy-wise, Celcom operator Axiata, has not received the kind of reporting prominence as Maxis and Digi, the local leaders in respectively in the post- and pre-paid markets. The huge holdings in regional mobile service providers are a wildcard that may offer strategic funding. Axiata is also making small but possibly meaningful investments into the digital future.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Founded in 1905, German cosmeceutical company Dr. Wolff is now shifting its gaze to Asia as part of its new growth markets. Eduard R Doerrenberg, the great grandson of company founder Dr. August Wolff, tells us what it takes to keep a company in the family for 111 years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vitrox has a market capitalisation of RM 900 million. With customers like Intel, Fujitsu, and Cisco, they boast a niche business that is set to soar to greater heights. We speak with their CEO, Chu Jenn Weng to see if the company is set for the challenges that lie ahead.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tune Talk is one of the smallest virtual telco players in the country. However, they are tied to large and potential strategic partners in AirAsia and Axiata. We speak to their CEO, Jason Lo, to see how the company survives in an intensely competitive environment, and how they can find synergy with their stakeholders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Karim Raslan, founder and CEO of Southeast Asian public affairs consulting firm KRA Group, has authored many books, including the long-running ‘Ceritalah’ column. He joins us on the Breakfast Grille to share some of the stories he has discovered across the region, whilst writing his new 'Ceritalah ASEAN' columns.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The RM3.2b impairment losses EPF wrote down in the second quarter isn't so much about the losses itself but what it means for the fund's investing philosophy and whether there are opportunities for further foreign investments.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the first woman Vice Chancellor, Dr Sharifah broke the glass ceiling on the professional trajectory of women in the country. We take a look at women and education in Malaysia. As part of 'The Breakfast Grille Unity Series' we celebrate the accomplishments of women while recognising the dangers of forces of intolerance that seek a roll-back on the advancement of women. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rubber gloves industry is a world leader, exporting over 135 billion gloves in an industry that is worth RM15b in 2016. And yet, MARGMA feels that a little bit of help from the government goes a long way. Denis Low is a featured speaker at the 8th International Rubber Glove Conference & Exhibition (8th IRGCE 2016 ), scheduled to take place on the 6 to 8 September 2016 at Kuala Lumpur Convention CentreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The National Unity Consultative Council was set-up to look into issue related to national-unity and our guest was deputy chairman of the initiative. We speak to him about the perennial anxiety about the trajectory of the nation, as part of our series of National Unity Breakfast Grilles.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Morning Run celebrates Merdeka and Malaysia Day with 'The Breakfast Grille Unity Series' - conversations with thought-leaders, to take stock of how far we've come as a country and how to keep pushing ourselves to be better. Tan Sri Razali Ismail, the newly-appointed chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) shares his plans to improve the country's track record on issues of human rights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DagangHalal is an e-commerce platform that allows for halal products to be searched and sold effectively over the internet, globally. We speak with their CEO, Hazli Hussain on how the company is faring after their listing exercise in the UK.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We live in fearful times with the twin threats of terrorism and cybercrime looming over our heads. Secura Group Limited is a listed Singapore based company that provides an integrated suite of security businesses. CEO Paul Lim enlightens on what the state of all things related to security is like in Singapore, and what the future portends.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Low Chin Guan, the Managing Director of Adventa Bhd, explains the patience shareholders need to exercise with his company, which three years after disposing of his medical gloves manufacturing business, has yet to turn a profit. His new business? Kidney dialysis machines.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 on the Breakfast Grille to discuss what the global marketplace needs for Islamic finance to flourish.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 privacy information.

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 information.

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 with a deadline of 13 September 2016.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Olympics, and the future of the Games. Lord Coe was in KL last October, as a featured speaker at the Global Transformation Forum, organised by Pemandu.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 privacy information.

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 in Nilai. Dr Arun also shares his opinion on testy issues like the TPPA and the proposed dispensary separation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 to 1Malaysia Clinic, 1Malaysia Sukuk, 1Malaysia Retirement Scheme and 1United, Innovative Malaysia. In that same speech Najib spoke about his trip to Saudi Arabia and the sovereign 1MDB which has come to taint the Administration despite protestations of innocence. Chandra Muzaffar is best known as a public intellectual, founding the Aliran movement and magazine, and heading organisations such as JUST World Trust. He is a social scientist by training, and a long time observer of Malaysian politics. Yayasan 1Malaysia was established a few months before the Budget 2010 speech and just celebrated its 7th anniversary.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia has more graduates now more than ever, but does this make Malaysia a better nation that before? We ask the Minister of Higher Education on what this means for the future of Malaysia, and much more   In Malaysia, university enrollment rates are increasingly higher in 2016, almost 40% of those eligible to enrol in universities do enrol in university. This number was actually a far cry just about 40 years ago. In 1979, only 4% of total Malaysians available to apply for universities actually enrol in universities. Because of this importance in the role of tertiary institutions in Malaysia, the government has set up a special ministry called the Ministry of Higher Education to look into this. In the studio with me this morning is Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh, he is the Minister of Higher Education and he is here to tells us how the ministry has been doing, particularly when it was just shy of 2 years ago you were here, Dato. First of all, thank you for your commitment in coming back and defending your track record as the Minister of Higher Education. If you have any questions for Dato’ Seri Idris, you can text us 0162019000 or you can tweet us @bfmradio. Dato’ Seri, let me start off with Selamat Hari Raya and let’s start with the notion of universities getting lesser funds in Malaysia right now. Based on the budget presentation as well as the supplementary budget presentation by the Prime Minister, the Higher Education Ministry is getting less funding this year than it would had last year and this trend will continue on considering the government is getting less in terms of revenue.   Interview Transcript Do you think that the diminishing budget allocation from the government is going to pose a problem for the Higher Education Ministry? You have to look at our blueprint. Whatever we do at the moment in the ministry is based on our blueprint. Blueprint is based on our consultation, the memorandum that we read, the communication, the open halls that we have with people, focus group, our consultation with UNESCO, World Bank and it’s a global matter. It’s not just an issue. So when we look at the financial sustainability of our universities, we are 80%-90% dependent on the government which is not sustainable. But this budget has been trimmed by RM2.4 billion. Some of the universities, in fact, 19 out of 20 universities will face cuts as much as 20%. So while we understand that we can’t be over reliant on the government and we never should be over reliant on the government, can these universities cope with these cuts? Do they have lead time to actually find other sources of revenue? As I said, it’s based on the blueprint has been agreed upon, they understand why it’s being done and from what I see, of course there’s going to be pain here and there. But this is a pain we have to go through to ensure that universities are going to be financially sustainable in the long run. I was quoting to you, I was telling that our Thammasat is only 30% dependent on the government. We’re not saying that it has got to be 30% but we’re saying that we cannot be 80-90% dependent on the government. So you’re speaking on the pain, that these little bits and pieces of pain that people have to go through, actually is quite serious because, I’m quoting The Sun Daily news here, that over 150 contract professors between the ages of 61-70, they claim and the word that they use is, ‘termination of contracts’ of professors because of budget’s tax cut. Do you think that these professors being terminated is a direct repercussion of the budget allocation being cut to the ministry? You have to understand that this is not termination, okay. Those professors are above 60 years old so their contract expires when they are 60. So those who are unneeded by universities are going to be continued on contract basis. So it’s not termination, it’s not being  continued because they have completed their contract and again I said, the dean, the senate of the university will look into those whom they think are required to universities and will continue giving them contract to serve universities. Some of these professors, even though they are quite senior in age, some of them are heavily specialised in their training, particularly professors in the medical field, where you’re gonna see doctors that have specialised in that particular field of medicine for over 40 years. Isn’t it a shame to let them go because of bureaucratic processes? No, I won’t say it’s bureaucratic. I say again, we give money to give funds to the universities and I said the dean of that particular university or the senate of that particular university will choose whom they think is still fit to teach and they need as a contract professor in the universities. But I do throw a challenge before, if you think there is any particular,as what you s

The world is preoccupied with size as a competitive factor and Islamic banking is no different. How does an entity like Hong Leong Islamic Bank survey the Islamic competitive landscape especially given that half of their customers are non-Muslims. Fintech can also assail a small bank at the other end of the size spectrum with their disruptive intentions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Telecoms tower firm Edotco is fast expanding in Asia, leveraging on increasing demand for data and connectivity in the region. Suresh Sidhu, CEO, shares more about the company's steady expansion in in Myanmar as well as its relationship with its parent company Axiata.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Putra Business School, formerly the Graduate School Management at Universiti Putra Malaysia, sees the need for the principles of human governance to be taught in B-school programmes. Professor Arfah Salleh, Founding President and CEO  of Putra Business School explains why.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year, business school INSEAD topped the rankings of the Financial Times' annual Global MBA Rankings for the first time - dislodging the previous year’s leader, Harvard Business School. It is also the first time a business school with a one-year MBA programme made it to the top of the list. We speak to Professor Ilian Mihov, the Dean of INSEAD on how INSEAD is adapting to a changing business education landscape.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ADUN for Sungai Pinang, a member of the Selangor state government Executive Committee as well as chairman for the Standing Committees for Investment, Industry & Commerce, SMEs, and Transportation, Dato’ Teng speaks to is about the push for increased investments in the state. We ask him what impact government initiatives like the Bio Council, the Aerospace Council as well as dozen of trips overseas, have had on investment levels in view of the Ministry of International Trade and Industries move to streamline Investment Promotional Agencies.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the age of digital communication, postal services around the world are trying to evolve to keep up with the changing times. Datuk Mohd Shukrie Salleh, Group CEO of Pos Malaysia joins us on the Breakfast Grille to discuss the group's push to transform into an integrated logistics player.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) aims to nurture a vibrant entrepreneurial hub in Malaysia, while creating an ecosystem that provides the necessary support for the development of entrepreneurs. We ask MaGIC's new CEO Ashran Ghazi how he plans to achieve this.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brexit has shocked markets around the globe. Malaysian asset management firms will be under pressure to relook at their asset allocation and restructure asset classes within their portfolio. Listen to Teng Chee Wai, MD of Affin Hwang Asset Management discuss how they will perform under such climate.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bank Negara wants consumers to get a better deal out of insurance products. The liberalisation of insurance pricing, called 'detariffication' in industry speak, has taken a long time to materialise but will be implemented in the next few years. We find out how this will impact the general insurance industry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two years ago, Lay Hong Berhad, the public-listed integrated poultry player and the producers of the Nutriplus brand of eggs, was the target of an unsuccessful hostile takeover by QL Resources. The company is now moving on from the corporate saga by rolling out new plans to boost market share. Yap Chor How, Group Executive Director shares these plans with us on the Breakfast Grille.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.