Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 9, 2021 - August 15, 2021

ENTREPRENEURS form the backbone of any economy. They are the drivers of change and innovation, following a path that is littered with both heartbreak and breakthroughs before a taste of success is ever realised.

It is for this singular reason that corporate stalwart Ernst & Young has always made it a point to put the spotlight on them through its Entrepreneur Of the Year (EOY) Programme. In Malaysia, the EOY is currently in its 20th year, a milestone given the current pandemic times.

In fact, according to Philip Rao, partner at Ernst & Young Advisory Services Sdn Bhd (EY Malaysia), last year’s event almost did not happen.

“We were toying with the idea of whether we should stop the programme for a year because of Covid-19. We thought that having the awards, in these difficult times, may not look so good in the eyes of the public.

“Ultimately, going back to our motto that entrepreneurs are unstoppable, we decided to go ahead with it, but we did it virtually given the current circumstances,” Rao says.

There were some surprises, however. The EY Malaysia team turned up at the doorstep of overall EOY winner Kamarul A Muhamed of Aero­dyne Group, to deliver the award in person.

“We decided that if we couldn’t surprise him at a black-tie gala dinner with 500, 600 people, we would [do it] in a different way,” Rao recounts.

Rao: We see ESG becoming a very, very big agenda for any organisation to think about

But beyond the glitz and the streamers, Rao says it is the build-up to the presentation of the award that is more important — the process of learning about the story of the entrepreneurs and showcasing their stories in a befitting manner. In that instance, having a globally connected firm with deep ties to the business community helps.

“The thing about Asian culture is that we often are taught not to show off, to keep ourselves humble. But we have broken those barriers; we have broken that significantly with the types of individuals that have come through our programme.

“Aside from the winners, we have even managed to provide judging capabilities globally. We have had many of our judges and entrepreneurs speaking and providing input at a global level. So those, to me, are very much the highlights because they showcase that Malaysians really can do a lot in the global space.”

There is no doubt that the award itself carries a level of prestige. Founded in the US 35 years ago, the global programme is now in more than 60 countries and over 145 cities around the world. Its alumni include visionaries from a number of disciplines, ranging from India’s biotech trailblazer Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw to founder of Cirque du Soleil Guy Laliberté.

At home, past EOY winners include the likes of AirAsia Group Bhd’s Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Eco World Development Group Bhd’s Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin and YTL Corp Bhd’s Tan Sri Francis Yeoh.

According to Rao, the reason why there remains a high level of regard for the EOY programme has to do with the fact that the set of judging criteria does not vary no matter where the event is held. They are entrepreneurial spirit, purpose-driven leadership, innovation, value creation, national and global impact, and strategic direction.

For Kamarul, bagging the award certainly threw some weight behind the company’s name when it went out into the world.

“Since winning the award, we have been very busy globally actually. Despite Covid-19, we closed several major deals around the world, and to be honest, being able to say that our CEO is an EOY winner definitely adds a lot of credibility and trust, and trust is everything in this business,” says Kamarul.

Kamarul: Being an entrepreneur after all is about problem-solving

Grit and determination

This year, Kamarul will be able to train the spotlight on his peers as he will sit on the judging panel. Nominations are currently open and are set to close on Aug 27.

Because entrepreneurs span such a wide spectrum, ranking them against each other can sometimes prove a daunting task. Who, after all, is to say that an entrepreneur with a staff number of 20 cannot have as much impact as a start-up with a staff strength of 100?

According to Kamarul and Rao, while the faces and business may change, there are a few common factors in successful entrepreneurs, namely grit and determination to succeed, and binding all of it together is clarity of purpose. Last year in particular, the pandemic decimated the economy, causing a number of businesses to stumble and fall. Rao says the ones that managed to pick themselves up and grow stronger will help the economy recover.

“The need for entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship — the way they can influence the people and the organisations they lead — is something I don’t think we can ever forgo. We cannot keep relying on the government to support the economy; it is the entrepreneurs that drive it, by creating jobs and new technologies,” he adds.

For Kamarul, adaptability is an important skill that he will be on the lookout for when it comes to judging, given his close brush with several crises over the past few years. Even so, he reminds himself that every crisis also presents an opportunity.

“Aerodyne being in the drone business, although business was good, we were affected too. We had existing projects that we couldn’t execute because of travel. It got to a point where we were really at a crossroads and considering layoffs.

“So we had to pivot and forge ahead. We used our scarce resources to develop a new engine of growth, and one of the areas we are in is agriculture. We offered solutions that would help with labour issues and now we are helping large plantation companies, and even created a super app for agriculture that we can deploy regionally,” he says.

He adds that it is important for entrepreneurs to tell their entire story, warts and all, and that none of them should ever be ashamed of failing just as long as they managed to pick themselves up.

“You need to be true to yourself, don’t hide anything. Talk about overcoming challenges, be proud of them. Being an entrepreneur after all is about problem-solving and the creativity in your problem-solving.”

Both of them say the battleground for entrepreneurs in the future will be technology. In fact, Kamarul thinks the world is approaching  technology singularity, where the collective intelligence of artificial intelligence will transform the future of business, and that entrepreneurs need to be ready for that.

However, the difference now compared with earlier technology booms is an equal focus on environmental, social and governance or ESG. Simply put, most investors these days are placing just as much emphasis on a company’s conscience as on its business, and an organisation’s ability to leave the world in better shape than when it started.

“More and more today, even as a firm, we see ESG becoming a very, very big agenda for any organisation to think about. We ourselves have committed to a net-zero situation. We think it’s very important to be very clear about your ESG pathway, and entrepreneurs going forward will have to be serious about ESG,” says Rao.

Kamarul says it all boils down to “what your impact is”. “Great entrepreneurs are the ones that make a huge difference to mankind. How are we solving the problem of inequality, famine, or even this pandemic? The bigger the problem you are solving, the bigger you are as an individual,” he says.

 

The Edge is the media partner of EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Malaysia 2021

 

 

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