This article first appeared in Corporate, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on June 6 - 12, 2016.
WHAT started out as a small tea gathering to honour the country’s top entrepreneurs has become one of the most prestigious corporate events to watch for each year. Seven judges for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) Malaysia awards will meet for the 15th time this year to select the overall winner from a shortlist of industry captains.
The award programme has been around since 2002 and according to Philip Rao, partner of Ernst & Young Advisory Services Sdn Bhd and programme director of the EOY Malaysia awards, the list of nominations has continued to grow.
“There’s no shortage of qualified entrepreneurs in the country, but of more concern [to EY] is whether they are willing to come forward to be interviewed, submit their accounts [for scrutiny] and have their achievements recognised. In fact, it has always been a challenge to pick the overall country winner from among the four category winners,” he tells The Edge.
Rao cites as an example the woman entrepreneur category, which saw the highest number of nominations in 2014. “The potential candidates were credible ones, too,” he says, making it hard for the judges to choose a winner.
He is aware that some entrepreneurs may be “intimidated” by the strict judging guidelines of the EOY Malaysia awards and decide not to go ahead and nominate themselves for the award programme.
“It is not easy to go through our programme because the entrepreneurs will have to be interviewed, they need to provide us with their companies’ financial information and due diligence will be conducted, [among others]. Basically, we need to know their life history and for a lot of those who make it, it has a humbling effect.
“There have also been potential nominees who were not ready [for the awards], but I applaud them for having the courage to submit their application. Indeed, we sometimes act as mentors to help them refine their business plan if they want to return and participate in the award programme later,” he says.
There are four categories in the EOY Malaysia awards — Emerging Entrepreneur, Technology Entrepreneur, Woman Entrepreneur and Master Entrepreneur. An overall country winner is chosen from one of the winners of the four categories. The deadline for nominations this year is June 17.
Last year’s overall winner was Datuk Tan Say Jim, group managing director and CEO of Iris Corp Bhd, who will represent Malaysia in the competition for the World EOY title in Monte Carlo, Monaco, this week.
An independent judging panel
According to Rao, nominees will be assessed by a panel of independent judges guided by a set of globally benchmarked criteria that include entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, strategic direction, financial performance, community/global impact and personal integrity/influence.
“The judges are independent from us (EY). For the EOY Malaysia awards, our panel of judges include representatives from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Bursa Malaysia Bhd, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Bhd and past winners. They will assess all the nominations and draw up a shortlist for each category. They also conduct interviews with the candidates and select the winners. We (EY) only serve as a moderator of the award programme.”
Rao, who joined the EOY Malaysia award programme in 2007, says the judging criteria have principally been the same over the years.
“Some people think the EOY Malaysia awards are just about organising a gala dinner and giving out awards. I want to dispel that impression that it is a social event.
“We are strict. We make sure the award programme has a proper nomination period and interviews are conducted with all qualified nominees. We compile dossiers on the nominees for the judges to study and shortlist the finalists. The judges’ decisions on the winners also remain confidential until the announcements at the awards,” he stresses.
“Our judging criteria have never been lowered. [That’s because] we don’t want the EY EOY brand to be jeopardised. We do not simply pick a winner each year — the entrepreneur needs to have done something special because he or she will go on to compete against 60 of the world’s top entrepreneurs for the EY World EOY title.”
Indeed, Rao recalls that in 2010, the judges had failed to name a winner for the national emerging category as they did not think that the nominees were good enough. “We view their decision positively as it shows the power of our independent judging panel. We tell them if it is not adequate, they can drop the list [of nominees]. Even if they cannot find a country winner, we will respect their decision.”
Those shortlisted for the EOY award programme have a recognised accolade they can add to their curriculum vitae.
In the past 14 years, winners of the EOY Malaysia awards include Tan Sri Francis Yeoh of YTL Corp Bhd, Tan Sri Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh of Nadicorp Holdings Sdn Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd’s Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai, Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing of Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes of AirAsia Bhd, Datuk Seri Edmund Santhara of Masterskill Education Group Bhd and Tan Sri A K Nathan of Eversendai Corp Bhd.
Others are Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin of SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, Datuk Seri Stanley Thai of Supermax Corp Bhd, Eco World Development Group Bhd’s Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, Chia Song Kun of QL Resources Bhd, Tan Sri Ngau Boon Keat of Dialog Group Bhd and Goh Peng Ooi of Silverlake Axis Ltd.
“We believe our award programme is one of the world’s best and probably the best in Malaysia as it recognises the entrepreneurs’ capability and their entrepreneurial spirit, and it is not just about giving away awards — it is carefully run.
“Take AirAsia’s Fernandes, for example. He was named the Emerging Entrepreneur Of The Year — Malaysia in 2003 and the overall country winner in 2006. This shows that we recognise his ability to scale [up] a business and achieve [success],” says Rao.
Fernandes tells The Edge, “No one believed me when I said I wanted to start an airline, so the award was a vindication of sorts. But while awards are nice, winning accolades is not what gets me out of bed in the morning. Malaysians tend to think they are not good enough and I want to show them that we can be world-beaters. In that sense, how I do things hasn’t changed. I still want to prove that if we dare to dream, we can achieve anything.”
According to Rao, the judges will look at perseverance and if an entrepreneur has grown and improved, they may consider him or her. “A lot of the entrepreneurs have interesting stories. Like A K Nathan [who was named Malaysia’s Entrepreneur Of The Year in 2008]. He was a printing machine operator and insurance agent before becoming one of the country’s top entrepreneurs. For them to scale to that level, it has to be something within them that drives them.”
Origins of EOY award programme
The award programme was started by two EY executives in 1986 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the US.
“They wanted to do something to promote the EY brand and to relate themselves to the entrepreneurs there. So, they came up with the programme to recognise the entrepreneurs in their city,” says Rao.
The programme caught on in the US and by 1987, it was held across 11 US cities. Then, in 1993, it started to expand internationally. In 2001, EY decided to go global with it and started the World EOY. Held annually in Monaco, the event sees EOY country winners competing for the World EOY title.
Today, the programme spans more than 140 cities in 60 countries.
For Malaysia, Rao says a key recognition was when YTL Corp’s Yeoh became the first Asian to chair the judging panel of the EY World EOY 2011 in Monte Carlo.
“We told him (Yeoh) that it would be a great honour for us if he were to accept the invitation to become the chairman of the World EOY judging panel. It is a big thing being a judge of the world nominations — he must have a certain standing to do that. That was a big recognition for Malaysia.
“EcoWorld’s Liew [was also] invited to be on the international judging panel in 2014, alongside nine other top entrepreneurs from around the world, to determine who would be named the World EOY 2014,” says Rao.
Too many awards spoil the broth
“When we started in 2002, there were hardly any award programmes. EY’s EOY Malaysia awards were considered the pioneer. Today, there are many in Malaysia. The government needs to relook at all [of them] because if there are too many, there would be a dilution in quality,” says Rao.
“Many entrepreneurs and business leaders use award programmes to open doors to other things. The award must mean something and is an achievement and it should not be for the sake of giving an award.
“We don’t want to be in that diluted category. We set ourselves apart. We believe the government recognises that as well. The fact that we have a representative from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in our judging panel means that they recognise our award programme,” he adds.
“Often, we are said to be judging our clients. That is not true. Fernandes [for instance] is not our client. Of course, we would like to work with him more, but the EOY Malaysia awards are not for our clients. The programme is for any entrepreneur in the country.
“Of course, we want to build our brand with them and we want them to undergo our mentoring programmes, but it does not mean that they have to sign a contract. Malaysia is an emerging economy and thus, we need a lot of entrepreneurs to drive the economy forward,” Rao remarks.
Meanwhile, he notes that access to funding remains the top challenge among entrepreneurs.
“I don’t think the entrepreneurs lack the ability to look for funding but some of them may not be aware of how funding can come to them or how to bring their ideas to the table. To this, I would say the government should create more awareness across the [different] demographics, age and gender of access to funding, and not just to a certain group of entrepreneurs.
“The power of Malaysia lies in its diversity and the country needs to harness this power, give access to all walks of life … to be able to bring an idea to fruition will help Malaysia become a harmonious country as all will have an equal opportunity to build a business, bringing in different parts of its culture and thinking, and helping it grow into a global economy,” says Rao.
“While access to funding is a challenge, there needs to be awareness and motivation. We can help through our mentoring programmes. We want to be that thread that weaves the deal. We are a global brand and we are in Malaysia. We have all these [attributes] to maximise to bring change to entrepreneurship and harness diversity and inclusiveness, as seen in our categories.
“I anticipate more participation from women and technology-driven sectors going forward. Entrepreneurs must come forward to be recognised, not just for themselves but also to become icons and mentors for others. Malaysia has a lot of potential.”
For EY, the challenge is to continue to reimagine the EOY Malaysia awards.
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