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MNRB Holdings Bhd has established a commercial paper (CP) programme of up to RM500 million in nominal value to raise funds for its working capital, investments, capital expenditure and other corporate purposes. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the company said it had lodged the required information and relevant documents for the proposed CP programme with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) on Sept 1, 2026, under the Lodge and Launch Framework. The seven-year CP programme will allow MNRB Holdings to issue commercial papers from time to time, subject to a maximum nominal value of RM500 million throughout the duration of the programme. The first issuance of CPs is required to be made within 90 business days from the lodgement date, or such other period as may be prescribed by the SC, giving the company a defined timeline within which to begin utilising the facility. The CPs will carry tenures of between one and 12 months, provided that each issuance matures before the expiry of the overall CP programme, offering MNRB Holdings flexibility in how it structures its short-term borrowings under the facility. RAM Rating Services Bhd has assigned a short-term credit rating of P1 to the programme, reflecting a strong assessment of the company’s capacity to meet its short-term financial obligations. MNRB Holdings said proceeds from the CP issuances will be utilised for general working capital, strategic and/or general investments, capital expenditure, refinancing, other general corporate purposes, and/or expenses related to the CP programme itself, giving the group broad flexibility in how the funds raised will ultimately be deployed across its operations.

There is a strange contradiction at the heart of facility management. When it is done badly, everyone notices. A building is dirty. Equipment fails. Water systems malfunction. Repairs take too long. Operations are interrupted. When it is done exceptionally well, almost nobody notices at all. Things simply work. That largely invisible responsibility is the business NATIONFACILITY (M) SDN BHD has built itself around. The company provides cleaning and facility maintenance services alongside water and sewerage maintenance, civil works and mechanical services for commercial, industrial, infrastructure and government clients. Its proposition is straightforward: respond when needed, maintain consistent standards and help customers keep their facilities operating reliably. But as expectations around buildings and infrastructure change, the definition of good maintenance is changing too.   Maintenance Is Becoming a Business Issue There was a time when facility maintenance could largely be viewed as a supporting function: something organisations needed, but rarely considered strategic. That distinction is becoming harder to maintain. Poorly managed facilities can affect productivity, operating costs, safety and the experience of everyone using them. An unresolved maintenance problem can quickly become an operational problem. NATIONFACILITY identified an early gap around consistency and responsiveness. Customers needed service providers that did not merely complete assigned work, but could respond quickly and deliver reliably each time. Today, those expectations have expanded. Clients increasingly expect accountability, efficiency and evidence that their service providers are helping them manage facilities more effectively over the longer term. For NATIONFACILITY, that has meant thinking beyond individual maintenance jobs towards the performance of the entire service relationship.   Fix It Before It Breaks One of the most important shifts in maintenance is also one of the simplest: preventing a problem is usually better than responding to one. NATIONFACILITY has placed greater emphasis on preventive maintenance and resource planning as part of its operational approach. The economics are compelling. Emergency repairs can create disruption, unplanned expenditure and downtime. Preventive maintenance, by contrast, creates an opportunity to identify problems earlier and allocate people and resources more effectively. Digital documentation is becoming part of that process as well. Better records can improve accountability, allow work to be tracked more systematically and provide greater visibility into what has been completed and what may require attention next. These changes may lack the excitement associated with more fashionable forms of digital transformation. But in facility management, relatively small improvements in planning and execution can have significant cumulative effects. Less waste. Better productivity. Fewer surprises.   Knowing When Not to Grow The company is equally deliberate about expansion. NATIONFACILITY wants sustainable revenue growth, stronger customer retention and a larger market presence. But it does not want to achieve those things by accepting work that exceeds its operational capacity. That distinction matters in a service business. Winning a large contract can increase revenue immediately. Delivering it poorly can damage a reputation that took years to build. NATIONFACILITY’s approach is therefore to strengthen capability alongside growth, investing in its people, operational processes and technology while expanding the range and scale of work it can confidently undertake. The objective is not simply to accumulate projects. It is to create customer relationships that endure. That makes retention as important as acquisition—and operational excellence as important as sales.   The Business Behind the Building The company’s next phase is centred on strengthening its position as an integrated facility maintenance provider. Its combination of cleaning, facility maintenance, water and sewerage services, civil works and mechanical capabilities gives it the opportunity to address more of a customer’s requirements through a coordinated service model. Achieving that at greater scale will depend on the same things that have shaped its strategy so far: people, systems, responsiveness and consistent execution. Facility management will probably remain one of those industries most people rarely think about. That is partly because its best work disappears into the background. The floors are clean. The systems operate. Maintenance happens before failure becomes disruption. People arrive at work without wondering what it took to make the building ready for them. For NATIONFACILITY, that invisibility is not a weakness of the business. In many ways, it is evidence that the business is working.

Kerjaya Prospek Group Bhd, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Kerjaya Prospek (M) Sdn Bhd, has secured a RM223mil contract from Sunway Majestic Sdn Bhd for the construction and completion of main building works for a proposed small office/home office (Soho) development in Johor Baru, Johor. Kerjaya Prospek chief executive officer and executive director Tee Eng Tiong. The construction group said the project comprises 1,012 Soho units spread across two 34-storey buildings, supported by a 10-level podium car park and two levels of mezzanine commercial space, among other facilities. Construction is scheduled to begin on Sept 1, 2026, with completion expected within 32 months. Kerjaya Prospek chief executive officer and executive director Tee Eng Tiong said the latest contract would strengthen the group’s presence in the southern region, particularly within the Johor Baru City Centre, which is expected to benefit from the upcoming Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link. “We are grateful for Sunway Majestic’s trust and confidence in Kerjaya Prospek, and we look forward to contributing our construction expertise and capabilities to the successful delivery of this development,” he said. Tee added that the project marks Kerjaya Prospek’s third new contract win in Johor Baru since 2025, highlighting the group’s ability to tap opportunities within the strategic growth corridor. With the latest contract, the group’s year-to-date financial year 2026 new contract wins have reached RM2.4bil, surpassing its initial full-year target of RM2bil. Together with an outstanding order book of RM5bil, Tee said the group is well positioned with strong earnings visibility in the coming years. An analyst also maintained a positive view on the latest contract win, noting that the RM223mil Sunway Majestic project further strengthens Kerjaya Prospek’s sizeable order book and supports its near-term earnings outlook. The analyst said Malaysia’s construction sector is expected to sustain its positive momentum through the remainder of 2026, underpinned by continued private-sector investment in data centres, industrial facilities and commercial developments. Johor is expected to remain a key growth market, while major infrastructure projects including the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), RTS Link and Penang LRT are likely to provide additional long-term support to the construction sector. For the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, Kerjaya Prospek recorded a 24.5% increase in net profit to RM57.3mil from RM46mil in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. Revenue, however, declined 5.3% to RM446.8mil from RM472mil previously, mainly due to slower progress in construction activities during the quarter. Its construction segment remained the group’s largest revenue contributor, recording RM478.7mil in revenue, an 11% decline from RM537.2mil previously due to slower construction progress. Despite the lower revenue, construction segment profit rose to RM55.8mil from RM51.95mil a year earlier. Meanwhile, revenue from the property development segment increased to RM68mil from RM49.1mil, supported by contributions from The Vue @ Monterez and Papyrus @ North Kiara developments.

Hextar Portfolio Sdn Bhd has launched a conditional voluntary takeover offer, on behalf of Datuk Ong Choo Meng, to acquire all remaining shares in Hextar Retail Bhd not already held by the offeror and its ultimate offeror. The offer is priced at RM0.43 per share. Dato Eddie Ong Choo Meng. According to the offer document, Hextar Portfolio currently holds 142.29 million shares in Hextar Retail, representing a 30.6% stake in the company. Meanwhile, Datuk Ong Kook Liong, who is acting in concert with the offeror, holds an additional 0.6% stake. The offer price of RM0.43 per share represents a 7.5% premium over Hextar Retail’s last traded price of 40 sen on Aug 7. It also translates into premiums ranging from 0.3% to 7.8% over the company’s five-day, one-month, three-month and six-month volume-weighted average market prices, reflecting a consistent premium across various trading periods leading up to the offer. The takeover offer is conditional upon Hextar Portfolio and Ong Choo Meng securing valid acceptances that would bring their combined shareholding to more than 50% of Hextar Retail’s voting shares. If this condition is met, it would give the offeror and its concert party a controlling stake in the company, potentially paving the way for further corporate restructuring or a change in the company’s strategic direction. As of the time of the offer, no additional details have been disclosed regarding the offeror’s future plans for Hextar Retail should the takeover succeed, including whether the company would maintain its listing status on the stock exchange or undergo any operational changes.

Longevity in business is rarely about doing the same thing well for decades. More often, it is about knowing what should remain unchanged — and recognising what must evolve. For Salleh Food Industries Sdn. Bhd., almost four decades in Malaysia’s food manufacturing industry have been shaped by precisely that balance. Established in 1987, the company began with products deeply familiar to Malaysian consumers: kerepek ubi, kerepek pisang and a variety of traditional snacks made from locally sourced agricultural produce. Chief Executive Officer di Salleh Food Industries Sdn Bhd – Mohd Fauzie Salleh. The flavours may be rooted in tradition, but the business behind them is increasingly looking forward. Today, Salleh Food distributes its products throughout Malaysia via retailers and distributors while embracing newer channels including e-commerce and TikTok Shop. Behind that expansion is a wider transformation taking place across the company — one that involves strengthening its brand, modernising systems, developing people and preparing the organisation for its next phase of growth. For a business approaching its fourth decade, the question is no longer simply how to sell more products. It is how to build an organisation capable of remaining relevant for decades more.   The Business Behind the Snack Salleh Food may be recognised as a snack manufacturer, but its role extends further along the value chain. The company takes locally grown agricultural produce and transforms it into accessible, higher-value consumer products. In doing so, its business connects farmers and suppliers with consumers while creating economic opportunities across the communities that support its operations. There is also an emotional dimension to the products it makes. Traditional food occupies a distinctive place within Malaysian culture. A familiar snack can carry memories of childhood, family gatherings and traditions passed from one generation to another. Preserving that connection has remained important to Salleh Food even as the expectations surrounding food manufacturing have changed. The challenge is to retain the familiarity consumers appreciate while ensuring the business behind the product continues to advance. That means bringing modern processes, technology, stronger quality standards and contemporary distribution into a category that has traditionally been dominated by smaller producers.   When a Good Product Is No Longer Enough When Salleh Food began operating in 1987, the opportunity in the market was relatively clear. Demand for local snacks was strong, but many smaller producers faced challenges in maintaining consistency, developing their brands and reaching consumers beyond their immediate markets. Building greater structure around these areas created room for businesses such as Salleh Food to grow. Nearly 40 years later, the market gap has changed. Producing something that tastes good remains fundamental, but it is no longer enough to guarantee success. Consumers have more choices. Brands are discovered through social media as much as supermarket shelves. E-commerce has changed how products are purchased, while digital platforms allow new competitors to enter the market much faster. Trust, consistency, visibility and convenience have become increasingly important. This has pushed Salleh Food to think beyond manufacturing. The company is now focused on building the infrastructure around the product — from its brand and distribution capabilities to its internal systems, people and leadership. Its strategic direction centres on three priorities: strengthening the brand, developing systems and talent, and expanding into larger markets. It is a deliberately focused approach. Like any business, Salleh Food operates with finite time, capital and management resources. Rather than pursuing every opportunity available, the company is increasingly assessing opportunities according to their ability to contribute to long-term organisational value.   Growing Stronger, Not Simply Bigger The distinction between getting bigger and becoming stronger has become increasingly important to Salleh Food. Sales growth is one measurement of success, but the company believes genuine growth should also be reflected in the organisation’s ability to operate without excessive dependence on any single individual. That requires processes that can be repeated, people who can make decisions and leaders capable of taking responsibility. As organisations expand, this becomes significantly more difficult. A management approach that works with ten employees may become ineffective with 50 or 100. Communication becomes more complex. Informal decision-making begins to create bottlenecks. Responsibilities must become clearer, and maintaining alignment around a common vision becomes a leadership challenge in itself. For Salleh Food, scaling has therefore required a shift in the way leadership is approached. Where a leader may once have been heavily involved in solving day-to-day operational problems, the next stage requires becoming what the company describes as a “builder of leaders”. Instead of solving every problem, leadership must develop people who can solve problems themselves. It is a fundamental transition for any growing organisation — particularly one that has evolved from a family-founded enterprise. The objective is to create a business that can continue progressing because capability has been distributed throughout the organisation rather than concentrated at the top.   What Four Decades Really Teach a Business Remaining in business for almost 40 years inevitably means operating through very different economic and commercial environments. Salleh Food has experienced changing consumer preferences, rising costs, operational pressures, new forms of competition and the disruption created by the pandemic. Through each period, the company’s competitive advantage has not necessarily been something consumers can see on its packaging. It has been adaptability. Products can be copied. Prices can be challenged. New competitors can enter a category. What is considerably harder to replicate is an organisation’s ability to continuously learn, adjust and recover when circumstances change. This willingness to evolve has become one of Salleh Food’s most important strengths. While consumers see the final product on a shelf or online, behind it sits an ongoing process of improvement — refining operations, strengthening systems, developing employees and responding to what the market requires next. That mindset is particularly important for established businesses. Longevity can be an advantage, bringing experience, market knowledge and consumer familiarity. But history alone does not guarantee future relevance. The companies that endure are often those willing to challenge the very practices that helped them succeed in the past.  

Revenue can grow while a business gets weaker. It is one of those uncomfortable realities that entrepreneurs tend to discover only after running a company for some time. A strong sales month does not necessarily mean strong cash flow. A profitable year does not automatically mean a business is financially prepared to expand. And a company that is completely compliant with its tax obligations can still be making poor financial decisions. Founder of KPL Corporate Advisory Sdn. Bhd. – Shu Yi Kuek. This is why KPL Corporate Advisory Sdn Bhd believes the relationship between an SME and its accountant needs to change. The Malaysian taxation, audit, accounting and corporate advisory firm works with business owners who are often very good at what they do. They know their customers. They understand their products. They can spot an opportunity and instinctively know when something might sell. What they do not always have is the financial clarity to know whether the business is actually moving in the right direction. And that can become expensive.   Compliance Is the Starting Point Tax has to be filed. Accounts have to be prepared. Regulations have to be followed. KPL does all of that. But compliance tells a business owner surprisingly little about what decision to make on Monday morning. Should another employee be hired? Is there enough cash to open a second location? Why is turnover increasing but profitability barely moving? Is the business financially structured for its next stage? What risks are quietly accumulating? These are not accounting questions in the traditional sense. They are business questions that happen to require a strong understanding of the numbers. That distinction has increasingly shaped KPL’s work. The firm has moved towards becoming an adviser that can sit alongside an entrepreneur and translate financial information into something commercially useful. No unnecessary jargon. No assumption that the person sitting across the table has an accounting degree. Just: What do these numbers mean for my business?   SMEs Have Changed. Their Advisers Have To Change Too. The Malaysian SME of today can move remarkably quickly. A small e-commerce company can suddenly be selling nationwide. A family business can move into export markets. A founder-led operation can become an organisation employing dozens of people within a relatively short period. The financial complexity grows with it. KPL saw early that accounting and taxation were still frequently treated as obligations to be dealt with after the fact. Professional advice could also be overly technical, creating distance between advisers and the very business owners who needed to understand it. Digitalisation has since raised expectations further. Clients want answers faster. They expect better visibility. And increasingly, they want advisers who understand commercial realities rather than simply regulatory requirements. That has pushed KPL towards three priorities: technology, deeper advisory capabilities and people.   Bigger Isn’t the Objective There is an interesting restraint to KPL’s growth philosophy. The firm does not necessarily want every client. It has become increasingly selective about the businesses it works with, favouring organisations that value transparency, ethical practices and sustainable long-term growth. The logic is simple. Taking on more work means very little if the quality of advice deteriorates. For KPL, a better measure of growth is whether clients trust the firm with more complex decisions, whether relationships become deeper, whether employees become stronger professionals and whether internal systems allow the organisation to handle greater complexity without becoming impersonal. That philosophy also explains why rapid expansion holds limited appeal if it comes at the expense of culture or service.   Technology Should Make Advice More Human Accounting is one of many professions being transformed by technology. KPL has increased its adoption of digital workflows and paperless processes, improving efficiency while reducing unnecessary operational waste. Further digital integration forms an important part of its next phase. But the interesting question is not whether technology will replace parts of traditional accounting work. Inevitably, some repetitive processes will become easier to automate. The more important question is what professionals do with the time that creates. For KPL, the answer should be more advisory, not less interaction. If technology can process information faster, professionals can spend more time interpreting it. If systems can handle routine workflows, advisers can devote more attention to understanding the client, identifying risks and discussing decisions. In other words, technology should make the relationship more valuable rather than more distant.   The Growing Pains Are Internal Too KPL faces the same challenge it advises many clients about: scaling changes the organisation itself. In a small team, information moves informally. People know what everyone else is doing. Decisions can happen across a desk. Growth makes that increasingly difficult. The firm has had to strengthen workflows, improve delegation and create clearer processes while investing more heavily in developing its people. Leadership has consequently shifted from personally overseeing work towards building teams capable of taking ownership. The balancing act is maintaining the responsiveness associated with a smaller advisory firm while developing the discipline required of a larger professional organisation. That is not always easy. But neither is building a sustainable SME—which is precisely why KPL understands the clients sitting on the other side of the table.   The Question After the Numbers KPL’s next phase is centred on becoming recognised less as a company businesses visit because they have to file something and more as one they speak to because they are about to make an important decision. Taxation, accounting and audit will remain fundamental. The opportunity is what happens after them. Because when a business owner receives a set of financial statements, the most valuable conversation should not end with: “Here are your numbers.” It should begin with: “So, what are you going to do next?”  

Growth is one of the most celebrated words in business. More customers, bigger contracts, higher revenues and wider market reach are typically seen as signs that a company is moving in the right direction. But after almost three decades in business, Kimal Awning & Iron Works has learned that growth presents a different challenge: becoming bigger without becoming less dependable. Founder and Head of Kimal Awning & Iron Works Sdn Bhd – Chin Mee Yoke. Established in 1998 and incorporated as a private limited company in 2012, Kimal has accumulated more than 28 years of experience in Malaysia’s construction and metal fabrication industry. Today, the company specialises in awning systems, structural steel, stainless steel works, aluminium products, gates, railings, fencing and customised metal solutions for residential, commercial, industrial and government clients throughout Malaysia. What began as a business centred on fabrication and installation has gradually evolved into something more comprehensive. Kimal now manages projects from design and technical consultation through fabrication, installation and after-sales support, supported by its own factory, specialised machinery, transportation fleet and experienced technical team. That evolution has taught the company that longevity is not simply about staying in business. It is about continually adapting the way the business operates while protecting the standards that established its reputation.   The Market Doesn’t Stand Still When Kimal entered the industry, customers faced a relatively straightforward problem. Quality could be inconsistent, customisation was limited and dependable after-sales service was not always easy to find. The company saw an opportunity to provide greater control over the finished product by investing in its own manufacturing capabilities, equipment and quality processes. But the definition of good service has changed considerably since 1998. Today’s clients expect more than workmanship. They want faster turnaround times, greater design flexibility, stronger safety standards, regulatory compliance and clear communication throughout a project. They also expect suppliers to coordinate effectively with other stakeholders and solve problems rather than simply manufacture what appears on a drawing. Kimal has consequently shifted from thinking primarily as a product supplier to operating as a project partner. Its work increasingly begins with understanding the problem a customer is trying to solve. An awning may be required to protect a commercial space from Malaysia’s weather. A steel structure may need to improve an industrial facility’s functionality. Custom metalwork might be required to increase safety, create additional usable space or improve the long-term value of a property. The finished structure matters, but so does everything required to deliver it correctly.   Not All Revenue Is Good Revenue Perhaps one of the most valuable lessons accumulated over 28 years is knowing when an opportunity is worth pursuing. Kimal’s current strategy is deliberately focused on long-term sustainability rather than expansion for expansion’s sake. Investment is concentrated on improving manufacturing efficiency through technology and modern equipment, developing employees, strengthening digital systems and pursuing higher-value projects that make use of the company’s customised engineering capabilities. Every significant investment is considered against three practical measures: whether it improves customer value, strengthens operational capability and contributes to sustainable profitability. The same discipline applies to projects. Kimal does not believe in competing through unsustainably low prices simply to secure more work. Nor does it intentionally pursue projects that could compromise quality, safety or profitability. Expansion into unfamiliar sectors purely to increase turnover is approached with similar caution. It is a philosophy that places reputation ahead of short-term numbers. Recognition including SME Corp Malaysia’s 4-Star SCORE rating, Golden Eagle Award 2018, Golden Bull Award 2019 and SME100 Award 2025 reflects the business foundation Kimal has established along the way.   The Hard Part Starts When You Get Bigger Interestingly, Kimal does not identify winning projects as the hardest part of scaling. It is maintaining consistency. As projects become larger, more departments become involved. Sales needs to communicate effectively with design. Procurement must align with production. Production affects logistics. Logistics needs to coordinate with installation, while customer service must remain informed throughout the process. What might once have been managed through direct conversations now requires structured systems. This has forced leadership itself to change. Instead of senior management being involved in every operational detail, Kimal has invested in standard operating procedures, digital management tools, production planning, inventory management and structured reporting. The objective is to give teams clearer responsibilities while providing management with better visibility across the organisation. Leadership increasingly becomes less about solving every problem personally and more about developing people capable of solving those problems themselves. For an established SME, that transition can be just as important as investing in new machinery.   Reputation Compounds After 28 years, Kimal’s definition of growth has therefore become considerably broader than revenue. Productivity matters. Technical capabilities matter. Developing employees matters. But repeat customers, long-term partnerships and a reputation for delivering what was promised have become equally important measures of progress. That may explain why the company continues to emphasise quality control and end-to-end project management despite operating in a market where price competition can be intense. A cheaper project can win business once. Reliability can win it repeatedly. The structures Kimal fabricates are designed to endure weather, daily use and the demands of the environments around them. There is an obvious parallel with the company itself. Twenty-eight years in business has taught Kimal that growth does not always mean moving faster or becoming bigger. Sometimes, the strongest form of growth is having the discipline to know what to improve, what opportunities to pursue—and what standards should never be compromised.  

In business, longevity is often celebrated. Staying relevant, however, is the greater achievement. Consumer tastes change, lifestyles become faster, retail channels evolve and new brands continuously enter the market. For a family business built around something as deeply personal as food, surviving across generations requires more than preserving old recipes. It requires knowing what should change—and what should never change. For Rajas Flour Mill Sdn. Bhd., that balance has been more than 70 years in the making. Established in 1952 as a humble spice and flour mill, Rajas began by serving local communities with freshly ground spices, curry powders and flour. Three generations later, it has developed into a Malaysian food manufacturer serving households, retailers, wholesalers, restaurants, caterers, food manufacturers, OEM customers and increasingly, international buyers. Yet at the heart of the company remains something remarkably familiar: taste. Rajas has built its identity around what it calls the “Royal Taste of Tradition”—flavours shaped by generations of knowledge, carefully selected ingredients, traditional roasting techniques and consistent blending. Its portfolio today ranges from meat and seafood curry powders to sambar, rasam, briyani and kurma blends, alongside pure spices, flour products and other food solutions. For consumers, these may appear to be everyday kitchen staples. For the family behind Rajas, they represent decades of accumulated knowledge. Understanding how spices respond to roasting, recognising differences in raw ingredients and preserving a familiar aroma from one batch to another are skills developed over time. This “taste memory” has become one of the company’s less visible competitive advantages—particularly in a food industry increasingly shaped by mass production.   Tradition Meets the Modern Kitchen The modern consumer, however, lives very differently from the customer Rajas served in 1952. Time has become a luxury. Families cook differently, convenience matters more and younger consumers may not possess the same knowledge of traditional food preparation as previous generations. For Rajas, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity. The company is currently researching ready-to-cook products and convenient premixes that make traditional dishes easier to prepare while retaining familiar flavours. Existing and developing solutions span products such as Chicken 65, briyani, fish fry and payasam mixes. The objective is not to replace traditional cooking, but to make it easier to carry forward. In that sense, Rajas is solving a distinctly modern lifestyle problem: how do you preserve the taste of one generation within the lifestyle of another? Its answer lies in combining heritage recipes with convenience, consistency and modern food manufacturing standards. Products are also positioned around changing expectations for food safety, with the company highlighting products certified as free from preservatives, colouring and MSG while strengthening its Halal, hygiene and quality-control practices.   Taking a Family Business Further Behind the products, an equally significant transformation is happening within the company itself. Moving from a traditional family operation towards a structured manufacturer has required changes in systems, people and mindset. Processes that may once have relied heavily on experience increasingly require formal SOPs, documentation, quality controls and clearly defined responsibilities. Rajas has consequently directed investment towards production automation, machinery, certification, laboratory testing, packaging, branding and digital tools. At the same time, employees are being trained to embrace greater discipline around hygiene, food safety and consistent manufacturing. Leadership has evolved too. The challenge for the current generation is not simply to inherit the business, but to prepare it for a marketplace dramatically different from the one their predecessors knew. That means becoming more comfortable with corporate buyers, exhibitions, digital commerce, distributors, OEM opportunities and international markets while protecting the authenticity that made the brand valuable in the first place. It is a transformation many multigenerational businesses eventually confront: professionalising without becoming impersonal.   Growth Without Losing the Recipe That philosophy influences how Rajas approaches expansion. The company’s ambition is to become a more structured, scalable and export-ready Malaysian heritage brand, strengthening its presence across retail while pursuing HoReCa, B2B, OEM, private-label and international opportunities. But growth is not being defined purely by sales. For Rajas, it also means better systems, stronger people, improved manufacturing capability and greater confidence to enter new markets. Modernisation must strengthen the business without diluting the recipes, relationships and family values accumulated since 1952. Sustainability forms part of that transition. Solar panels have been installed at its facility to support cleaner energy use, while automation and improved process controls are intended to reduce production errors, packaging mistakes and material waste. The company is also strengthening responsible sourcing, food safety and community initiatives, including food-related contributions during festive periods. These may appear to be very different priorities, but together they point towards the same objective: ensuring the business is strong enough to be handed to another generation. Perhaps that is the most interesting aspect of the Rajas story. The company began in an era before e-commerce, social media, modern supermarkets or today’s sophisticated food manufacturing systems. Seven decades later, the tools of the business may have changed considerably, but the product still ultimately faces the same test it did in 1952. Someone opens the packet. Someone cooks with it. A family sits down to eat. And the taste has to feel right. As Rajas itself puts it: “Grinding spices may be easy, but growing with spices is what defines us.” For a three-generation business preparing itself for the next chapter, preserving that connection between yesterday’s recipes and tomorrow’s consumer may prove to be its most valuable ingredient of all.  

ADTEC (Advanced Technology Centre), under the Manpower Department (JTM), and Asian Supply Base Sdn Bhd (ASB) have formalised a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening technical talent development and expanding industry exposure for trainees. In a recent Facebook post, ASB said the collaboration, sealed through a memorandum of understanding (MoU), is expected to pave the way for joint initiatives covering technical and professional training, competency development, expertise sharing, and industrial exposure in line with current industry needs. The MoU was signed at Wisma Asian Supply Base by JTM director-general Datuk Rospiagos Taha and ASB chief executive officer Datuk Japar Esteban. “The partnership represents a strategic initiative to strengthen linkages between industry and technical education and skills training institutions, particularly in developing a workforce equipped with relevant technical competencies. It also reflects the commitment of both ASB and ADTEC JTM to producing highly skilled, competent and competitive human capital capable of meeting evolving industry needs,” the statement said. ASB said the collaboration is expected to give trainees greater exposure to real industry practices, while knowledge and expertise sharing between industry practitioners and training institutions will help keep training programmes aligned with workplace demands. The partnership is also expected to support the development of local talent and strengthen the pipeline of skilled workers needed by industries in Labuan and the wider region, it added. The signing was witnessed by ASB Human Resources Department head Zulainahwaty Sulaiman, along with senior representatives from JTM and ADTEC campuses. Among those present were JTM Research and Planning Division director Alina A. Rahman@Othman, ADTEC JTM Labuan Campus director Imalistyahusnanjaya Mat Hussin, ADTEC JTM Kota Kinabalu Campus director Sudirman Hammade, ADTEC JTM Sandakan Campus deputy director Suhaidi Mustar, and JTM Industry Relations Unit head Ganesan V. Murugesu.

SME Corp Malaysia has allocated RM1.5 million under its Next Level CEO Programme to strengthen the leadership and management skills of senior executives from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The programme aims to train 90 CEOs, managing directors and founders of high-growth and high-value MSMEs, helping them strengthen their businesses and contribute to Malaysia’s economic growth. The initiative is part of the Programme for Enhancement of Strategic Industry and High Growth Enterprise 2.0 (Prestige 2.0) and focuses on improving leadership, strategic planning and business competitiveness. SME Corp said the programme will equip MSME leaders with stronger strategic knowledge, leadership capabilities, innovative thinking and a broader global perspective. These skills are intended to help business leaders transform their organisations, improve productivity and compete more effectively in international markets. Participants will also receive practical executive learning through a combination of training, coaching, mentoring and exposure to industry best practices. To deliver the programme, SME Corp has appointed Heriot-Watt University Malaysia Sdn Bhd, ASB Management Sdn Bhd and Efficient Frontier Consulting Sdn Bhd as implementation partners. The programme under Heriot-Watt University Malaysia was officially launched on Friday by SME Corp CEO Rizal Nainy, together with the university’s Provost and CEO, Prof Dr Mushtak Al-Atabi. The appointed partners will be responsible for developing training modules, conducting leadership and coaching sessions, carrying out the SME Competitiveness Rating for Enhancement and monitoring the programme’s overall impact. Rizal said the initiative represents a strategic investment in leadership development, as strong organisational transformation begins with business leaders who have the vision and ability to drive change. He said Malaysia needs more MSMEs that can move beyond resilience and develop into high-value businesses capable of competing globally. Through the programme, SME Corp hopes to develop more capable business leaders who can expand their companies, improve productivity, capture new opportunities and contribute to Malaysia’s wider economic development. The ASB Management component of the programme is scheduled to launch in mid-August, while the programme with Efficient Frontier Consulting is expected to begin in September.