As Malaysia prepares to host SME Venture@ASEAN 2025 in October under its ASEAN Chairmanship, the spotlight is on how local businesses can break past domestic limits and seize regional opportunities. But while ASEAN is often touted as a natural growth market for Malaysian SMEs, the journey beyond our borders remains filled with challenges.



We speak with Rizal Dato’ Nainy, CEO of SME Corp Malaysia, about the real barriers holding SMEs back from scaling regionally, from structural hurdles to mindset gaps. We discuss what “export readiness” actually means, how SME Corp is driving innovation and digital adoption, and why events like SME Venture@ASEAN must go beyond networking to deliver real business impact.

As Malaysia prepares to host SME Venture@ASEAN 2025 in October under its ASEAN Chairmanship, the spotlight is on how local businesses can break past domestic limits and seize regional opportunities. But while ASEAN is often touted as a natural growth market for Malaysian SMEs, the journey beyond our borders remains filled with challenges.We speak with Rizal Dato’ Nainy, CEO of SME Corp Malaysia, about the real barriers holding SMEs back from scaling regionally, from structural hurdles to mindset gaps. We discuss what “export readiness” actually means, how SME Corp is driving innovation and digital adoption, and why events like SME Venture@ASEAN must go beyond networking to deliver real business impact.

Helping you navigate the ever-changing universe of business, from headlines to the bottom line

Helping you navigate the ever-changing universe of business, from headlines to the bottom line

Enterprise Explores

Going Regional: What It Takes for Malaysian SMEs to Scale Across ASEAN

When taking on outside capital, founders often misunderstand who truly holds the power. Owning the majority of your shares doesn't guarantee control, in fact, the board of directors ultimately holds the authority to fire a founder CEO.



David Lim, Founding Partner at TSF Law, joins Enterprise Explores to unpack the hard legal realities of founder-investor relationships. He reveals how shareholder agreements actually dictate boardroom power, the hidden dangers of investor veto rights, and how asking the right questions early on can save your company from public legal battles.



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The Illusion of Control: Why retaining a majority shareholding does not guarantee control if investors hold a board majority, appoint key management like the CFO, or possess veto rights.


The Power of the Board: How Section 211 of the Company's Act grants the board of directors, not the shareholders, the default authority to manage the business, including the power to fire a CEO with a simple majority vote.


Reserve Matters & Forced Buyouts: How specific operational decisions requiring investor approval can slow down a company, and how breaching these reserve matters can allow investors to trigger a mandatory buyout or liquidate the company.


Critical Shareholding Thresholds: The legal importance of owning 75% for special resolutions (like changing the constitution), 51% for ordinary resolutions (like changing directors), and 10% to formally request a general meeting.


Strategic vs. Financial Investors: How financial investors prioritise exit economics and put options to protect their capital, while strategic investors focus on operational control and securing board seats.


Building Resilient Partnerships: Why the healthiest founder-investor dynamics rely on setting clear expectations upfront, establishing simple quarterly KPIs, and preventing investors from interfering in daily operations.

When taking on outside capital, founders often misunderstand who truly holds the power. Owning the majority of your shares doesn't guarantee control, in fact, the board of directors ultimately holds the authority to fire a founder CEO.David Lim, Founding Partner at TSF Law, joins Enterprise Explores to unpack the hard legal realities of founder-investor relationships. He reveals how shareholder agreements actually dictate boardroom power, the hidden dangers of investor veto rights, and how asking the right questions early on can save your company from public legal battles.Learn More About:<ul><li>The Illusion of Control: Why retaining a majority shareholding does not guarantee control if investors hold a board majority, appoint key management like the CFO, or possess veto rights.</li><li>The Power of the Board: How Section 211 of the Company's Act grants the board of directors, not the shareholders, the default authority to manage the business, including the power to fire a CEO with a simple majority vote.</li><li>Reserve Matters &amp; Forced Buyouts: How specific operational decisions requiring investor approval can slow down a company, and how breaching these reserve matters can allow investors to trigger a mandatory buyout or liquidate the company.</li><li>Critical Shareholding Thresholds: The legal importance of owning 75% for special resolutions (like changing the constitution), 51% for ordinary resolutions (like changing directors), and 10% to formally request a general meeting.</li><li>Strategic vs. Financial Investors: How financial investors prioritise exit economics and put options to protect their capital, while strategic investors focus on operational control and securing board seats.</li><li>Building Resilient Partnerships: Why the healthiest founder-investor dynamics rely on setting clear expectations upfront, establishing simple quarterly KPIs, and preventing investors from interfering in daily operations.</li></ul>

Firing Founders, Boardroom Battles & Reserve Matters

The paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz is a geopolitical iceberg threatening global manufacturing, with ripple effects crippling supply chains now and in the longer term. Prof. Shardul Phadnis, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the Asia School of Business unpacks the implications, risks and why boards must treat supply chain resilience as a capital asset.



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The Hormuz Shockwave: How disruptions at this critical choke point severely affect non-energy manufacturing by restricting crude oil feedstocks used for plastics, coolants, and paints.


The Ripple Effect: Why missing a single weekly ocean port call can severely disrupt asset-heavy chemical plants that schedule their production campaigns months in advance.


Rapid Exposure Analysis: The critical steps mid-tier manufacturers must take to map tier-1 supplier manufacturing locations, identify shipping vulnerabilities, and navigate shifting trade policies.


The Death of Traditional Forecasting: Why major geopolitical disruptions violate the core assumptions of probabilistic forecasting, forcing supply chains to abandon historical data for safety stock planning.


AI-Powered Scenario Planning: How AI accelerates scenario creation from several months to just one or two weeks, shifting its application from long-term strategy to 6-month tactical planning.


Valuing Resilience as an Asset: Why treating adaptability as a capital asset, much like Toyota stockpiling a six-month supply of chips after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, is logically necessary despite the tension it creates with short-term quarterly profits.

The paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz is a geopolitical iceberg threatening global manufacturing, with ripple effects crippling supply chains now and in the longer term. Prof. Shardul Phadnis, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the Asia School of Business unpacks the implications, risks and why boards must treat supply chain resilience as a capital asset.Learn More About:<ul><li>The Hormuz Shockwave: How disruptions at this critical choke point severely affect non-energy manufacturing by restricting crude oil feedstocks used for plastics, coolants, and paints.</li><li>The Ripple Effect: Why missing a single weekly ocean port call can severely disrupt asset-heavy chemical plants that schedule their production campaigns months in advance.</li><li>Rapid Exposure Analysis: The critical steps mid-tier manufacturers must take to map tier-1 supplier manufacturing locations, identify shipping vulnerabilities, and navigate shifting trade policies.</li><li>The Death of Traditional Forecasting: Why major geopolitical disruptions violate the core assumptions of probabilistic forecasting, forcing supply chains to abandon historical data for safety stock planning.</li><li>AI-Powered Scenario Planning: How AI accelerates scenario creation from several months to just one or two weeks, shifting its application from long-term strategy to 6-month tactical planning.</li><li>Valuing Resilience as an Asset: Why treating adaptability as a capital asset, much like Toyota stockpiling a six-month supply of chips after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, is logically necessary despite the tension it creates with short-term quarterly profits.</li></ul>

Hormuz Shockwave: Expect Prices to Rise

Is the return of GST really the silver bullet for Malaysia's fiscal deficit and cascading business costs? Dr. Veerinderjeet Singh, Senior Advisor on Tax Policy at KPMG in Malaysia, debunks GST & SST myths.



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The RM50+ Billion Math: Why reintroducing GST at a low 3% or 4% rate is "suicide" for the fiscal deficit, and how the expanded SST is already outperforming historical GST revenues.


The GST Breakdown: Why the 2015 GST implementation failed, from crippling government refund delays to intense political pushback.


Solving the Cascading Tax: How the current SST relies on targeted B2B exemptions to prevent the "tax-on-tax" compounding effect across the manufacturing supply chain, and why enforcing it is still a work in progress.


Exemptions vs. Refunds: Why the current SST's reliance on business exemptions is operationally superior to the GST's cash-draining refund mechanism.


The E-Invoicing Evolution: How the ongoing rollout of e-invoicing will effectively replicate the auditable paper trail that made GST so appealing to authorities.


The Ultimate Tax Road Map: Dr. Veerinderjeet’s proposal to merge the currently separate Sales Tax and Service Tax acts into a single, aligned-rate legislation to ensure policy continuity for the corporate sector.

Is the return of GST really the silver bullet for Malaysia's fiscal deficit and cascading business costs? Dr. Veerinderjeet Singh, Senior Advisor on Tax Policy at KPMG in Malaysia, debunks GST &amp; SST myths.Learn More About:<ul><li>The RM50+ Billion Math: Why reintroducing GST at a low 3% or 4% rate is "suicide" for the fiscal deficit, and how the expanded SST is already outperforming historical GST revenues.</li><li>The GST Breakdown: Why the 2015 GST implementation failed, from crippling government refund delays to intense political pushback.</li><li>Solving the Cascading Tax: How the current SST relies on targeted B2B exemptions to prevent the "tax-on-tax" compounding effect across the manufacturing supply chain, and why enforcing it is still a work in progress.</li><li>Exemptions vs. Refunds: Why the current SST's reliance on business exemptions is operationally superior to the GST's cash-draining refund mechanism.</li><li>The E-Invoicing Evolution: How the ongoing rollout of e-invoicing will effectively replicate the auditable paper trail that made GST so appealing to authorities.</li><li>The Ultimate Tax Road Map: Dr. Veerinderjeet’s proposal to merge the currently separate Sales Tax and Service Tax acts into a single, aligned-rate legislation to ensure policy continuity for the corporate sector.</li></ul>

Going Regional: What It Takes for Malaysian SMEs to Scale Across ASEAN

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