The Breakfast Grille

• Timor Leste is working hard to join ASEAN, aiming for full membership at the upcoming summit this October. H.E. Lisualdo Gaspar, Ambassador of Timor Leste to Malaysia, shares the country’s efforts in infrastructure development, economic integration, and also reflecting on its journey of peace and reconciliation after years of conflict with Indonesia.

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We dive into the world of POPMART, the brand that's taken Asia by storm with its wildly hyped blind boxes and designer toys. We speak with POPMART’s Head of Southeast Asia and Middle East, Jeremy Lee, to unpack the youth-driven culture, creative strategies, and global expansion behind the craze.

This interview comes as the Chinese toy firm announced yesterday that its profits for the first six months of the year are expected to jump by at least 350%, with revenues more than tripling.

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ASM Automation Group Bhd, a provider of end to end automated machinery solutions for food and beverage packaging recently debuted on Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market earlier this month. We speak to Kamalam Kurup Krishnan, their Executive Director about the utilisation of their proceeds, their strategy for growth and if it's time to buy their shares.

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Samaiden Group Berhad, once purely an EPCC contractor, is now transitioning into a renewable energy asset owner. Datuk Ir Chow Pui Hee, Samaiden's Group Managing Director, shares how the company is navigating government programmes like CGPP and LSS5+, investing in land for future solar farms, and aiming to build recurring income streams.

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Loi Tuan Ee, Managing Director, Farm Fresh Malaysia gives us an update on how the company is doing, its expansion plans including East Malaysia as it grows its product portfolio, such as ice cream, and accelerates it expansion to Philippines and Cambodia.

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Animated films are a bright spot for the Malaysian industry, with Ejen Ali the Movie 2 breaking box office records this year. How does the homegrown studio view the prospects and ecosystem of the local animation industry? We discuss this with Wau Animation CEO Usamah Zaid Yasin.

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At our bi-annual investment outlook and with a plethora of headwinds, what is the best investment strategy to adopt? How can you build a resilient portfolio and what are the money making ideas? Anand Pathmakanthan, Head of Regional Equity Research, Maybank Investment Banking Group and Patrick Chang, Chief Investment Officer for Affluent Product & Proposition, CIMB Bank Berhad tells us.

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Philip See will be joined by Freddy Wong, Executive Director, Wentel Engineering Holdings Bhd on today’s Breakfast Grille. They’ll be discussing the company’s finances, listing exercise, its new plant in Johor, whether there’s a worry of product concentration, and more.

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• US President Donald Trump has threatened an additional 10% tariff on countries that orient themselves along the “Anti-American policies of BRICS” as leaders of the bloc were meeting in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, for its Summit. Discussing how this might affect Malaysia, and whether we will see any trade opportunities arising out of the Summit is Bunn Nagara, Director and Senior Fellow, BRI Caucus for Asia-Pacific & Honorary Fellow, Perak Academy.

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ASEAN aims to become the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2045. Achieving this requires deeper regional integration and inclusive, sustainable growth. But with rising scepticism toward free trade, what will it take to achieve that goal? We speak with Tan Sri Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, Director of IDEAS and former APEC Secretariat Executive Director, and Tan Sri Nazir Razak, Chairman of ASEAN-BAC Malaysia.

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