The second year of the Global Marketing Summit (GMS) was officially announced today by the Chief Executive Officer of INSKEN (Institute Keusahawanan Negara), Muhd Firdaus Azharuddin. INSKEN will once again organise the GMS 2018, which is powered by TERAJU – the government's strategic unit to advance and accelerate Bumiputera participation in the nation's economy.
This Summit will be held at the Grand Hyatt, Kuala Lumpur on 8th November.
Entrepreneurship is going through a mini-upheaval of sorts with many e-businesses trying to gain a foothold; and traditional ones struggling to hold on.
In light of the “New Malaysia” era, businesses too need to reinvent, re-energize and re-strategise to stay relevant in an ever more demanding marketplace – both terrestrial and virtual. In short, it's a sink or swim dichotomy for any business wishing to STAY IN BUSINESS!
INSKEN as the leading agency for National Entrepreneurship Development and National Entrepreneurship Resource Centre, understands these challenges intimately.
This agency, instead of “force feeding” local entrepreneurs with rehashed business doctrine, aims to develop highly knowledgeable, resilient and capable “movers and shakers” who embrace the tech-driven, app-enabled and disruptive environment that entrepreneurs operate in today, without sacrificing their sense of humanity and fair-play.
EXPANDING THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AGENDA
For this year's Summit, the officiating address will be delivered by Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, Minister of Entrepreneur Development. This will be followed by a list of renowned speakers and corporate practitioners, who will share invaluable insights and knowledge on how to navigate the intricacies of global entrepreneurship and the tools needed to become successful, and most crucially: How to Make the Sale, which is the theme of this year's GMS.
The invited speakers at the Summit include, Rob Craven (Sales Advisor for Microsoft and Airbus); Vinita Bali (Former Marketing Director for Coca-Cola & Cadbury); Ashraf Sinclair (Actor & Owner of TGI Fridays Indonesia) and Neelofa (Founder of Naelofar Hijab, 2017 Forbes 30 under 30 Asia) who have steered the companies they had worked for to greater profitability and built their brand to become successful internationally. Most importantly, they will share their experience in approaching sales differently and effectively at the Summit, which will be invaluable for local entrepreneurs looking to take their own businesses to the next level.
According to Muhd Firdaus Azharuddin, although INSKEN is a modest government agency, it was still able to organise such an impactful Summit like this to benefit local entrepreneurs.
“Entrepreneurs nowadays are looking and willing to pay (to listen to) credible speakers and attend world-class programmes”, said Firdaus. “One of the identified issues regarding knowledge for entrepreneurs today is the ability to sell, market and brand a product”, he stressed, adding that GMS 2018 was organised based on the positive feedback received from those who attended last year's event.
“They have learned and benefited a lot from GMS 2017. Therefore, this year's Summit is to create opportunities for local entrepreneurs to meet and learn from more influential speakers who will touch on sales and marketing in building their international brands.”
THE JOURNEY SO FAR
Since 2015, INSKEN has successfully trained 28,330 local entrepreneurs via 1,109 entrepreneurship development training programmes held throughout Malaysia. These programmes were divided into several categories, namely Public Outreach, Start-Up Programme, Scale-Up Programme, High Performing Programme, and Ecosystem Enhancement, to ensure every strata of entrepreneurs in this country is empowered according to their experience and strengths.