00:00The nation's top exporters were celebrated at the prestigious Export Excellence Awards
00:09EEA 2024 Gala Night, recognizing outstanding contributions in propelling Malaysia's global
00:15trade presence. Organized by Star Media Group in partnership with Standard Chartered Malaysia,
00:21the EEA marks its fifth year as a premier platform showcasing exemplary Malaysian exporters
00:26who have demonstrated innovation, resilience and excellence in the international marketplace.
00:32SMG Group CEO Chan Seng-Fat says, while the EEA spotlights Malaysian exporters who have
00:38successfully carved their mark in global markets, it also underscores the growing importance of
00:43digitalization and sustainability in trade.
00:46Well, as we celebrate tonight's high achievement of the winner, I think I must say that, you
00:53know, this is not the final destination. In fact, it's just a milestone for the winner
01:00to continue their longer journey. And I encourage them to continue with their hard work and innovation.
01:07And definitely their past experiences and commitment in their endeavour have helped shape Malaysia
01:13to leave a mark in the worst stage of the world trade era. And I certainly want to encourage them
01:19going forward, be more inclusive and be more diversified and sustainable and also with digital transformation.
01:26That should be the area that we should emphasise.
01:28Standard Chartered Malaysia CEO Mark Jun Nien remarked that the country's performance in the EEA was notable,
01:35where over 60% of submissions since 2019 have come from high-value industries.
01:40You know, it's five years where I think it will go down in the history books. It's been a very,
01:47very volatile and very uncertain environment globally. And to see Malaysia come out of it
01:53looking stronger, it's phenomenal. And looking at all the exporters, we've had over 200 nominees and winners.
02:02And the shift in the winners to a very high-value industry is, again, testimony to how well
02:09Malaysia has been resilient and how well the country has done throughout this whole period.
02:14Among the distinguished guests present were SMG Chairman Tanshri Wang Funming,
02:19Standard Chartered Malaysia Chairman Datuk Yvonne Chia,
02:23Standard Chartered Malaysia Independent Non-Executive Director, Tanshri Sharil Rizuan,
02:28Matrade Export Promotion and Market Access Division Senior Director, S. Jai Shankar,
02:34PKT Logistics Group Group Chief Executive and Managing Director, Datuk Sri Dr. Michael Teo and SMG Chief Operating Officer, Lydia Wang.
02:44PKT Logistics Group co-sponsored the EEA 2024, with Matrade serving as patron.
02:50I think the wonderful thing about these awards is that it gives you different shades of the exporting community, right?
02:56You have the young exporter, you have the most seasoned manufacturer, you have those who are in the product segment,
03:03you have those in the services segment, right?
03:05So it sort of gives you a nice overview of the Malaysian export sector, which is unlike a lot of other countries.
03:12Our diversity in terms of product portfolio and services that we can offer is a true testament ultimately for the resilience of the Malaysian exporters.
03:21When you want to do export market, you have to learn about the international markets and difficult to penetrate into another country where you need to get a lot of certification and whatnot.
03:32So we always consider Malaysian exporters like our local heroes.
03:36We would like to honour them today if you are the winner.
03:39Of course, this year also we are facing some challenges.
03:43I'm sure a lot of winners after winning this award also coming back to the office, facing the challenge of the tariff war that is happening around this region.
03:53A total of 30 outstanding exporters were honoured across 14 award categories, celebrating their achievements across various sectors and company sizes.
04:02Notable accolades included the special awards.
04:04The Rising Star Trophy was presented to Eurofacade Malaysia Sandirian Burhad, the SME category Woman Exporter of the Year Trophy to Joanne Tay of KJH Wood Industrial Sandirian Burhad,
04:16and the Mid-Tier and Large Companies category Woman Exporter of the Year Award to Sarah Ho of Hovid Burhad.
04:23In the export world, it's really male-dominated.
04:27And being a female, I do encounter challenges in particular parts of the world.
04:33So, yeah, it really means a lot that I'm being recognised for this.
04:39But having said that, actually I couldn't have done this without any of my team members, which somehow happens to be mostly males.
04:47But, yeah, it's actually all their effort that we can get this award today.
04:52Other than happy, it's more on the gratitude because I'm like, this is a kind of recognition for my own hard work so far.
05:00And as a woman, it's never easy to call on the business, especially exporting.
05:06There's a lot of travelling and maybe a lot of people will see like, my life is very good.
05:11I always travel around the world.
05:12But actually, there's a lot of sleepless nights along the way that people don't see.
05:17It's a huge, what they call, recognition for us because we have been doing export activities for quite some time.
05:24And finally, we are able to get this award, which is very, what they call, a very exciting experience for us.
05:33We will continue to do our best and to strive for more exports for Malaysian products.
05:40The top trophies of the night, the Exporters of the Year Award, went to GPRO Global Sandirian Berhad and SWIFT PMAS Sandirian Berhad for the SME and Mid-Tier Large Company Categories, respectively.
05:53This actually is a big recognition for my companies and actually this effort I would like to pass on to all my team.
06:01Without my team, I think we cannot have this award.
06:04So, this is a very big motivation to my team and hopefully for the next year, we will participate again and hope next year will be a greatest sales for us.
06:13It is a lot of recognition in the sense of all the hard work that we have been putting in over the last 11 years has paid off.
06:20And we felt that this award will help us to go to the next level for exporting and to make our name known in the export market.
06:27For more information on EEA 2024, go to exportawards.com.my.
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