20 August 2009

More than 350 delegates flocked to the Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur on 20 August 2009 to participate at the Perdana Leadership Foundation Industry Insights Seminar 2009. Titled, "From the Trenches: Insights and Perspectives from Industry Leaders", the Seminar gathered forty industry leaders from various sectors who shared their business experience and approach to overcome the present crisis as well as provided views on the future of their industry.

The Seminar started with Opening Remarks by the Executive Director of Perdana Leadership Foundation, Tan Sri Nik Mohamed Nik Yaacob who welcomed the delegates to the event. This was followed by a plenary session titled, "Whither Malaysia's Economy? A Bird's Eye-View of the Malaysian Economy and Where It Is Headed". Tan Sri Dato' Azman Mokhtar of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Ms Yvonne Chia of Hong Leong Bank, Prof. Emeritus Datuk Dr. Mohamed Ariff of Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, Dato’ Zainal Abidin Puteh of Mobile Money International and Dr. Mahani Zainal Abidin of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies were among the panelists at the session.

Following the plenary discussion were six concurrent sessions that focused on specific industries which include: "Realities of Malaysia's Properties and Construction Sector", "Challenges and Opportunities in Malaysia’s Energy Sector", "The Future of IT and Telecommunications in Malaysia", "Marketing in Tough Times", "Revving Up Malaysia’s Automotive and Logistics Sectors" and "Trends and Potentials of Malaysia's Plantations and Natural Resources Sectors". Among the speakers were Tan Sri Gnanalingam, Dato’ Seri Lee Oi Hian, Dato’ Sri Che Khalib, Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, YTM Dato' Tunku Putra Badlishah ibni Tunku Annuar and Datuk Nadzmi Salleh. The presentations of these sessions will be posted up on our website shortly.

The closing event of the Seminar featured a closing speech by the Honorary President of Perdana Leadership Foundation and the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on the topic, "Crisis Management". In his speech, Dr. Mahathir mentioned the government needed to form targeted groups with access to data, knowledge and expertise to better understand the problems faced by the various sectors.