We’re roughly 3 months into the reopening of our borders for travel. Most restrictions have been lifted and international tourists are once again coming into Malaysia in droves. We’ve met the initial goal of 2 million international tourists and the new target is set at 4.5 million. We sat down for a conversation with Hannah Pearson, founder of Pear Anderson and Regional Director at the Adventure Travel Trade Association for an update on the travel industry. 

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As we transition into endemicity, we explore the current job market in Malaysia and how it has changed over the past few years. Are we equipping our younger generation with the right skill sets to enter the modern working environment? We get into how digitalisation and technology has challenged the traditional job market and what key areas we should be focused on going into IR 4.0. To get a clearer insight into what all this means, we speak to Sam Baxendale, Director & Co-founder of Kinetik, a talent acquisition platform. 

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According to the EY 2022 Work Reimagined Survey, employees around the world, including Malaysia, have more influence in the job market. This is driven mostly by demand for better wages, career opportunities, a thinning labour market and more jobs offering flexible work arrangements. 

To get a clearer insight into what else we can gathered from the survey, we’ll be speaking to Anil Shivadas from Ernst & Young Consulting Sdn Bhd.

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Marketing is considered an important aspect of most businesses and a crucial part of the entrepreneurship journey. But how can startups effectively promote themselves? We dive into the marketing strategies new businesses or startups can use to make themselves known in the open market. Joining us to share his thoughts on all this is Sharizal Shaarani, a seasoned entrepreneur with a keen interest in tech and digital economy.

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It’s not easy navigating how to make friends at work. How close should you be with your co-workers? Too much, and you might feel difficult to say ‘no’ and let your workload pile on. But too little, and you miss out on collaboration and maybe even forming a meaningful relationship between people you spend half of your time with in a week. So should you make friends at work? How do you draw the line between personal and professional friendships? We speak to Elaine Fernandez, Social Psychologist & Curriculum Manager at GIFT.ed for more in depth discussions.

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In the modern work environment driven by technology, digital upskilling has become more crucial as employees seek to adapt in the new environment while addressing skills gaps that could make them redundant or obsolete. We discuss what digital upskilling means and how MDEC’s MYWiT program aims to help bring more Malaysians into the digital industry. 

Apply before 31st August for MYWiT incentives. Find out more at mdec.my/mywit. Terms and conditions apply.

Brought to you by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, MDEC

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Environment, Social and Governance or ESG has always been seen as something only MNCs or public-listed companies do. But is this true? The Department of Statistics Malaysia recorded roughly 1.2 million MSMEs which accounts for 97.4% of the total establishments in Malaysia. This translates into a contribution of almost 40% of Malaysia’s GDP with SME exports recorded at more than RM 117 billion for 2020. So with that number in mind, can MSMEs still remain on the sidelines when it comes to ESG practices in today’s global market? We will be speaking to Margie Ong, CEO of Thoughts In Gear (TIG) to understand why MSMEs need to join the effort.

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While many organisations are growing aware of the threat of cyberattacks and are strengthening their security, a successful attack is almost inevitable, resulting in system downtime, loss of customer trust and most critically - loss of important data. This is why data backup and recovery is considered a crucial part of cyber hygiene, however over 40% of Malaysian businesses don't practice this. We speak to Sandy Woo, Country Director of Veritas Technologies to understand the importance of data backups and recovery as well as how it can help businesses.

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Are Malaysians paid fairly for the work they do? That is the question many Malaysians are asking after an article on World of Buzz highlighted the large wage disparity between Malaysia and Singapore. While there are many factors such as cost of living that might have been a factor here, there are other granular reasons that also play a role in enlarging the gap. We speak to Tan E-Hun from REFSA to understand the causes behind this wage disparity. 

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Local lingerie brand Jujumello closed down their business last month after 6 years of operations. Mel Chai, the Co-Founder of Jujumello joins the conversation as we dive into pitfalls that might lead a business to cease its operations or “fail” and how entrepreneurs could overcome and learn from failure and overcome the fear of failure.

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