It's the time to pause and reflect

AND it's a wrap! Already in the last leg of the year, we will soon bid farewell to 2012. For all of us at SME Corp, this year has been full of colours, rainbows and, of course, uncertainties.

Source from (Business Times): http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/fesah/Article/
Published: December 24, 2012

But above all these, we continued to pave our way with hopes that we will reach the desired destination with minimal glitch.

Personally, it is indeed a good time for us to pause to reflect and ponder on how we've fared in the past 11 months or so.

Just to recap, we kick-started the year with full of energy, parading our way nationwide to reach out to the micros, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and provide them a platform to showcase their products as well as engage them with the public, government ministries and agencies through the Jom Niaga series.

Jom Niaga series were held in Kelantan, Kedah and Selangor, and were aimed at encouraging more involvement in the business industry. Every micro entrepreneur was invited to participate and learn the tricks in the hat of expanding their businesses.

Our journey continued with the organisation of our annual event, which needs no further introduction, the Smidex 2012. It was held back-to-back with the Asean India SME Conference and drew 7,000 trade visitors.

The three-day event recorded potential sales negotiations value of RM233.402 million through business matching sessions. A total of 210 such sessions were materialised during this event.

This year's event saw the participation of large companies with strong global presence as well as innovative companies.

The nation's SMEs development chapter recorded another history when the "living document" that acts as a game-changer for the development of SMEs was unveiled to the public by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak during the National SME Development Council meeting in July.

The growth of SMEs will be guided by the SME Masterplan untill 2020.

In our effort to promote SME growth further especially towards achieving the country's objective of becoming a high-income nation, we also included programmes for the younger generation as we realised that they play a significant role in shaping Malaysia's future. The SME Internship Championship, which was the icing on the cake for the SME University-Internship Programme, saw scores of students from local universities coming together to present their ideas on how to improve businesses.

Through such programme, it is hoped that the entrepreneurial spirit can be inculcated in our students, maybe not the Gangnam-style, but definitely Malaysian-style!

Moving on, we had the premier brand forum where we had the honour of two distinguished guests gracing our inaugural Malaysian Brand Forum 2012. The first was a royal guest, Raja Dr Nazrin, the Crown Prince of Perak, who presented trophies and certificates of the National Mark of Malaysian Brand to 24 companies and also launched The "Brand Transformer".

The other was none other than the man who himself has helped brand Malaysia through Proton, Sepang International Circuit and iconic Petronas Twin Towers - former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed.

The end objective of this event was to promote the trust mark, the symbol of excellence, quality and distinction of Malaysian products and services.

Closing the year with a blast, the Enterprise 50 Award Dinner was recently held to honour the top 50 SMEs in the country. The award dinner was an astounding success as it was a night of celebration for those who attended.

I am honoured to note that 14 per cent of the companies that won the award this year are led by women. This shows that women are slowly but surely entrusted and given more responsibilities to lead companies.

For every beginning, there will always be an ending as all good things must come to an end. The year may have come to an end, but we already have events lined up for next year.

Let me give you a sneak preview.

In June 2013, we are again given the honour of organising another world-class event, the Global Summit of Women 2013, in Kuala Lumpur. It will gather the most influential women in the world for the sharing and exchanging of knowledge and experience. Themed "Women: Creating New Econo-mies", this year's summit will touch on several topics such as launching creative enterprises, partnering for successful global alliances, developing caring and equitable workplaces, enabling technology access worldwide and nurturing a fragile environment for all.

Building up to the high-profile event next year is the Legacies of Women Forum, to be held on February 27 at Dewan Canselor Tun Abdul Razak, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). This signature event by the Global Summit of Women will be co-organised and hosted by the Women's Leadership Centre of UKM, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry Malaysia, through its agency, SME Corp Malaysia.

The Legacies of Women Forum is a paltform for women business leaders to share experiences learnt from their own paths to success and leave a legacy of practical advice. The objective of the forum is for students and academicians to learn as much as possible from the speakers. Four renowned panellists have been invited.

So stay tuned with us as we embark on another exciting journey in 2013.

On a parting note, I leave you with the words of Winston Churchill, "This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. It is instead the end of the beginning".

Have a good break and see you in 2013!