- 5 hours ago
Malaysia’s MSMEs make up 96.9% of all businesses and contribute nearly 40% of GDP. Yet many still rely on founder-led selling, referrals and ad hoc sales processes to drive growth.
As competition intensifies and expansion becomes more challenging, is sales capability becoming the next major productivity gap for Malaysian businesses?
On NIAGA SPOTLIGHT, Tehmina Kaoosji speaks with Niranjan Singh, CEO & Chief Geek of Sales Geek Malaysia, on why scalable revenue systems matter, the rise of fractional leadership models, and what it takes for SMEs to grow without the cost of a full-time executive team.
If you’re a founder, CEO, business owner or commercial leader, this conversation gets to the core of business scaling in 2026.
As competition intensifies and expansion becomes more challenging, is sales capability becoming the next major productivity gap for Malaysian businesses?
On NIAGA SPOTLIGHT, Tehmina Kaoosji speaks with Niranjan Singh, CEO & Chief Geek of Sales Geek Malaysia, on why scalable revenue systems matter, the rise of fractional leadership models, and what it takes for SMEs to grow without the cost of a full-time executive team.
If you’re a founder, CEO, business owner or commercial leader, this conversation gets to the core of business scaling in 2026.
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NewsTranscript
00:01Hello and welcome to Nyaga Spotlight with me Tamina Khosji. Nyaga Spotlight takes us through
00:05the week in economic analysis and future affairs. Well today on future affairs our
00:11spotlight falls on the sales gap and what's holding SMEs back. Now Malaysian MSMEs make
00:17up around 96.9% of all businesses and contribute nearly 40% of the nation's annual GDP. Yet of
00:25course as competition intensifies and businesses face pressure to scale, one critical capability
00:32which often receives far less attention than financing, digitalization or AI is the puzzle
00:39piece of sales. Now many SMEs still depend heavily on founder-led selling and informal networks
00:46which creates growth bottlenecks just as they're seeking to expand. So the question now is, is
00:53Malaysia facing a sales productivity gap that could be holding back its next generation
00:59of business champions? Joining me online to discuss this very timely issue today is Nyaranjan Singh,
01:06CEO and Chief Geek with Sales Geek Malaysia. A very good morning to you Nyaranjan. Thank you
01:11for taking time to join us. How are you today? I'm good. Very good morning Tamina. It's a pleasure
01:18to be on your show. So thank you very much. Fantastic. So Nyaranjan, let's dive straight
01:23into it. Now Malaysia's SMEs account for the vast majority of our businesses, yet many are
01:28still relying on the founder as the personality to be driving every major sale. Tell us from
01:35your experience with Sales Geek, now which is in Malaysia too, at what point does founder-led selling
01:41stop being a strength and it starts actually becoming something which can potentially constrain
01:47the growth of fledgling SMEs, which are doing really well in the beginning, but then they start
01:52facing these hiccups with growth. Right. A very interesting question for the SMEs in Malaysia.
02:00Actually, founder-led selling is actually a strength in the beginning of the companies or the MSMEs,
02:08you know, because when you are at the start of the business, the founders really know where the
02:16market is going. They have a full trust on the product, the vision, the market and the customer
02:22that they are targeting. So they are the right person to win the first few customers and win the trust
02:29of the market and establish credibility. So founder-led selling is definitely a strength in the beginning.
02:39However, if you get into the growth stage, let me quote you a very good example over here.
02:46For example, let's take the example of Grab. When Grab started, the founders really had to go out to
02:55the market to talk to the taxi drivers to really make them understand the importance of the platform
03:02and how it's going to help them, while only a few drivers were having smartphones at that point in
03:09time. So when you are at the startup, it's basically educating the market, you know, testing the model,
03:16whether it works into in the market or not. But that that goes only till a point. And after a
03:25point of time,
03:25when you are crossing, say, a revenue of over 1 million USD, I think that's where system kicks into
03:32place. So you need to have the right sales frameworks process, the pipeline, you know, revenue visibility,
03:41pipeline visibility, and all of that. That's where sales kicks come into play. We come with the
03:48international proven methodology. However, we want to adapt to the Malaysian local context and deliver
03:55this products and services so that SME can, you know, sort of build a sales engine
04:03to drive their growth in the dynamic market of Malaysia. Yeah, that's how I want to put it,
04:09Tamida. Fantastically said. Now, of course, that also is about ensuring that businesses and SMEs can
04:15scale commercially speaking, right? So Neuranjan, we often hear these discussions about financing gaps,
04:21talent shortages, even digitalization. On the other hand, what are your perspectives on whether
04:27Malaysia has overlooked a more fundamental challenge, this kind of sales capability gap,
04:32which is preventing businesses from converting potential growth into actual revenue? I think
04:39the example you gave us earlier was excellent in situating us along the fact that you can not
04:44continuously rely on just one personality or perhaps a small group of founders to continue on unless you
04:52build that commercialization channel, right? Right. I think rightly said and rightly put,
05:00you know, the conversation of financing, you know, digitalizations, all of this are, you know,
05:07conversation that is happening actually in all the markets. And I feel that these are the macro topics
05:14that SMEs cannot afford to ignore. However, these topics need to sit alongside the conversation of
05:22sales capability. You know, for example, funding and talent and digitalization can definitely fuel
05:33the companies and the businesses. However, it is the sales capability which will turn Malaysia's
05:39great market potential into commercial outcomes. That's where, you know, Sales Geek wants to come in and say
05:48that yes, digitization is important, which is, I mean, happening in a very random pace in Southeast Asia,
05:54including Malaysia. Yes, funding is important. Yes, we need to develop the workforce in the market. But
06:01until unless you don't have a proven world class sales methodology and framework and process in place,
06:10how are you going to turn that market potential into commercial outcomes?
06:14That's where Sales Geek comes into play in Malaysia and provide that much needed sales leadership
06:22that SMEs do not have at present at a fraction of a cost. So I do not want to deny
06:28that digitalization,
06:30funding and talent are not important. But those conversations need to sit along with the conversation
06:38of sales capability. That's the kind of emphasis that I want to put here.
06:43And clearly, when we see so much of hyper digitalization happening, particularly during
06:48the pandemic years and the survival that came with that. So these SMEs have actually invested
06:53very heavily in digitalization, but they have not caught up yet to building that structured
06:59sales capacity. Thanks for that, Neerajan. So, of course, speaking about the fact that many
07:05companies, they invest heavily in the marketing and lead generation, but the struggle is still about
07:11growing consistently. Where do you see the biggest disconnect between generating demand and then
07:18actually converting it into sustainable sales channel, particularly once you're past the first
07:25one to three years of existing and being a market presence?
07:31Right. You know, Tamina, a lot of companies invest a lot of funds in marketing, social media,
07:38digitalizations and ERP and CRM and all of that in order to generate leads, because we feel that,
07:45you know, if we invest in lead generations, agencies and machines, we're going to have these leads
07:52coming in. But the biggest disconnect happens the moment demand is created. It is not about
07:59the problem of creating demand, but the moment that demand is created, there is a disconnect.
08:06Because this SMEs and the organizations, business organizations do not have the proper sales
08:13frameworks, they don't have a revenue visibility pipeline visibility, you know, and also the lack of
08:24qualifying the quality leads, it's not the number of leads, which is important, but qualifying the real
08:30leads that would probably convert into customers and revenue for you. So no matter how much amount of
08:39money that you spend in marketing and lead generation, the real things happens once the demand is created.
08:46For example, research proves that the moment a query comes in and a demand comes in, if you follow
08:53up within one hour, there is seven times more likely that you will convert that sales into,
08:59sorry, that leads into revenue. So that is the kind of understanding this small medium enterprises
09:06lack in the emerging markets of Asia. So I would like to point out at the bottom line,
09:17that it is not necessarily a marketing problem, but it is a problem of sales operating system.
09:23And we need to fix that. Absolutely. Managing that leads so that it actually converts into actual sales
09:31is where the sticky point is. And we actually see this even with some of the biggest brands that are
09:36present in the market. But again, then they have to manage their socials well to ensure that customers
09:41aren't disappointed if they can't get a hold of them. Now, also, quickly, being in 2026,
09:48economic uncertainty near Anjan has also made customers wiser or even a little more cautious
09:53with spending. How has the sales environment transformed over the last two years? And what type
09:59of challenges or mistakes are businesses making when trying to sell into a more conscious customer
10:07market? A very relevant question at this point in time, when we are living in a very volatile market?
10:26Yes, absolutely. That's okay. So when it comes to a more hesitant market, usually in slower economic conditions,
10:33you will actually see customers will be scrutinizing value a little more closely, right? So how can SMEs
10:40basically ensure their customers that, well, they're not just still around, but they're ready to do business?
10:47Right. I think we live in a very constrained market conditions right now. I mean, you know,
10:55the global pressure is on, you know, a politically very volatile time. So we in sales gig community,
11:04we have a combined lived in experience of more than 1600 years of sales experience.
11:09And what we have experienced with the businesses around the world is that, you know, people are spending
11:16more cautiously and people are more value driven. And businesses are looking for more options, trying to
11:24seek value for the money that they pay and the highest ROI that they get. So the sales cycle is
11:30taking
11:31longer and then you cannot be one of those sales companies where you are pushing the sales. Because
11:38when you push the sales, you are compromising on the margin and the revenue that you are going to earn
11:43for
11:44the company. So the market has become very cautious. So according to the different customer segments and the
11:51different markets that you enter, you cannot only use a proven global methodology, but you need to adapt
12:00those methodology as per the customer segment, as per the country market that you're entering. And
12:07and that requires a local customization. For example, in in Malaysian market, we really need to understand the
12:15cost structures of Malaysia, how the consumer behaviors are here and how businesses are done in the local context.
12:23Thank you for all the conversation so far, Niranjan. We take a short break. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right
12:28back with the rest of the show.
12:38Welcome back to Niagara Spotlight. Still with me, Tamina Khosji. And the focus today is on SMEs, technology and closing
12:45the sales gap when it comes to them. Joining me online and coming back in right now is Niranjan Singh,
12:51CEO and
12:52Chief Geek with Sales Geek Malaysia. Niranjan, jumping right back into the conversational. Let's talk something which has gained a
13:00lot of traction, even though it's not something new. But this year in particular, we're seeing a lot of fractional
13:06leadership gaining traction globally, particularly among SMEs. Can you tell us your thoughts on what is driving this shift? And
13:15why are more companies choosing access to expertise over the usual traditional full time
13:22executive hiring roles? Right? Hiring fractional leadership is gaining traction, because SMEs need expertise to senior leadership. It could be
13:36finance, it could be HR operations. You know, business SMEs do not have the kind of a global senior, you
13:44know, expertise that they can gain, because it's very costly.
13:47So before they go for a full executive hire, when you offer them fractional sales leadership, it enables them to
13:56access global sales leadership, number one, and also the timings that they can afford. I mean, if you're going for
14:05a full time hire, it's going to be really, really expensive in a city like Kuala Lumpur.
14:09So the SMEs cannot afford, so the SMEs cannot afford, have a long term commitment on such cost. So they
14:16can fall back to the fractional cost, while accessing the senior leadership of sales. That's why it is very, very
14:24important. And how wonderful is that fractional leadership as a concept, that you have limited funds as a small businesses,
14:33but you are accessing global world leadership and expertise.
14:38And they're there to guide you strategically month on month, just probably one or two days. So it's become cost
14:45effective. It's not only about cost flexibility, but also enabling them to access this world class sales frameworks, which otherwise
14:54they could not have afforded by hiring a full time executive.
14:58Clearly so. And of course, it also helps that when it comes to fractional leadership, you're then able to perhaps
15:05access those who may have been actually laid off from within domestic markets, because perhaps some of the smaller SMEs
15:13were unable to absorb the cost of a full time executive as well. Right.
15:19So, yeah. Thanks for that, Niranjan. Now, moving into some other common assumptions. The common assumption is also that sales
15:27related issues for SMEs can be solved simply by hiring more salespeople. Let's combat that.
15:36Right. You know, as companies grow bigger and we often feel that the team needs to be big and we
15:44go for big hiring because the revenue is growing and you have a feeling that, yes, we are doing extremely
15:50well.
15:50But the real deeper picture is that, you know, the more you hire, you know, there could definitely be more
15:59sales activity, but there is no results coming in for the for the business.
16:04And why the result is not coming in is because we have not developed the system first, small and medium
16:12enterprises, often what they forget is that before even you develop team, one of the fundamental, you know, layer of
16:21growing the business is developing systems.
16:23And that includes sales systems and frameworks. So you can throw no matter how many bodies that you want at
16:30a broken system, but it's not going to, you know, produce the kind of results that you are expecting.
16:35So it is recommended very much that such small enterprises need to have, you know, sales systems and processes in
16:45place so that they really know how to, you know, generate leads and follow up those leads, qualify those leads,
16:53have a pipeline visibility and, you know, revenue forecasting for themselves.
17:00And if you want to have such, you know, insights, then you definitely need a senior sales leadership.
17:07That's where sales geek comes in and tries to help this small medium enterprises.
17:15So the bottom line comment that I want to make is that it does not make good use if you
17:24throw, I mean, any number of bodies that are broken system,
17:29you need to fix the system first before you throw in more sales team.
17:33So sales geek can help with that.
17:36Absolutely. And also when SMEs experience such challenges, quite often they will then yo-yo between having a large headcount
17:45when it comes to sales personnel to then cutting down on the sales personnel
17:49because they presume that it's the fault or it is the responsibility entirely of the sales team because there may
17:56be a lack of sales rather than actually fixing their systems or processes.
18:02So clearly it's actually about instating the processes in the first place so that they're not going between this yo
18:08-yo.
18:09Right. Thanks for making the point.
18:11So now, Niranjan, many SMEs also struggle to survive beyond that first five landmark, first five-year landmark.
18:19Now, looking at the businesses which are able to then successfully scale,
18:24what would you say would be a primary factor which separates companies that are able to build revenue engines from
18:35those who are still trapped in the founder or the first two-year survival mode?
18:42Right. I think it's fairly easy for any aspiring business owner to start business and, you know, you have a
18:51dream of, you know, time freedom and money freedom, right?
18:54But as you build the business, rather than the business helping you, sometimes we end up with, you know, a
19:01cash-eating monster which is eating away all the money that you're earning.
19:05And finally, you are not only, you know, you are not only going on loss, but you are really in
19:12a big trouble.
19:13So if you look at, you know, the survival rate of startups, like say something which started in 2019 has
19:22a survival rate possibility of 69.9% in 2024, you know?
19:27So that's the kind of survival rate that startups do have.
19:30Now, in order to, you know, start, carry on the journey from the point of survival to scale up, I
19:38would like to put it simply three fundamental questions to the business owners or the founders.
19:44There are three questions that we need to answer.
19:47Number one, most of the businesses do not know who they are selling to, meaning to say they do not
19:55know who their customers are.
19:56You know, if we segment them well, and if we narrow it down well, and you know your customers well,
20:02there is a 100% chance that any leads which comes in will turn into sales.
20:09So number one, we need to know who our customers really are.
20:13Number two, we need to know what products and services are they buying from us.
20:19And number three, why are they even buying the services and products from us, right?
20:27And many of these three questions seems very simple, but it'll be very difficult for any founders to answer in
20:35a very crisp and specific manner.
20:37The fourth question that I would like to throw at is that if you know these three questions, then how
20:44do you know them?
20:45Can you show me the data that you know these three answers so well?
20:51So, Tamina, if business owners and founders are able to answer these three questions properly backed by data, with evidence,
21:01I think we can definitely go from survival to scaling up.
21:05And this is the kind of insights and this is the kind of, you know, conversations that we have with
21:12founders and startups within the sales gig community.
21:15And certainly, survival mode is not ideal to be trapped within, but they actually do require predictable revenue generation.
21:24This can only come if they're able to not just collate the data that they have from all the sales
21:31which have been happening over that time,
21:32but also, as we move into 2026, moving towards a new decade as well, things are going to significantly shift.
21:42Niranjan, now, as Malaysia is pushing for higher productivity and also being part of the greater regional competitiveness within the
21:51very healthy ASEAN market as well,
21:54what role should stronger sales leadership play?
22:01Tabina, like, in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is the first country that Sales Geeks has entered.
22:08And it's a very strategic move for us to enter Malaysia first because of the kind of market opportunity that
22:16Malaysia offers.
22:17The stage of growth that Malaysian market is at right now.
22:21So, if you look at the, you know, the SMEs base, like just now, a few minutes ago, you were
22:27mentioning about, you know, 96% subject to correction, you know, of SMEs base you have in Malaysia.
22:35So, it's a dynamic market, you know, the core foundation of which is the SMEs over here.
22:42So, you have the SMEs base, you have the digitalization initiative going very strongly backed by the government and the
22:50private enterprises.
22:50And you have the talent workforce, which is English speaking.
22:54So, I think it's a great market.
22:57And the founders and the businesses from Malaysian community, they have a great capabilities.
23:05And I have seen it myself by meeting people and all of that.
23:09They have great products.
23:11But the only thing that we could do when we go for regional competitiveness is, you know, how we could
23:17translate that capability into a meaningful value propositions for the new markets that will enter in Southeast Asia.
23:26And also, some of the few sophisticated competitors that we may find in Southeast Asia.
23:32So, I feel very strongly that Malaysia is a great base for Southeast expansion.
23:39And that is the reason why SalesGeek entered Malaysia in a very strategic move.
23:44In the coming years, we feel that Malaysia has the right resources, not only for SalesGeek, but for other Malaysian
23:52businesses and Malaysian brands to expand into Southeast Asia and go global from here.
23:59Niranjan, before we leave, perhaps what would be one top tip that you would give to our SME and entrepreneur
24:06leaders out there to deal with the headlong challenges of 2026, particularly if they're interested in scaling beyond our domestic
24:16markets and also competing internationally.
24:18The problem usually isn't that they don't have a great product.
24:22They do.
24:22But you can still fail to launch, right?
24:25Right.
24:26I would like to put it in a very simple way, because I feel that simplicity is very powerful in
24:32my way of working and doing work.
24:35You know, there's a lot of talk, whether it's in South Asia, Indian subcontinent or Southeast Asia, about digitalization, startups,
24:43funds, VC, talent, and all of this that we spoke through the interview.
24:49Those are very, very, very important, you know, topics, and they need to, what I need to emphasize is that
24:56they need to sit alongside the sales conversations.
25:00And no matter how much AI will come into the market, but at last, the agent which makes the deals,
25:08the agent which makes the sales are the human emotions and the handshake and the eye contact and the conversations
25:14that we make with our clients.
25:15AI may assist us and automate our work processes and, you know, in the sales process.
25:22However, it's the human emotions and the community that makes the sales because sales happen from human to human.
25:31It does not happen from machine to human.
25:33So my biggest tip for 2026 for the Malaysian SMEs is that you need to have a world-class sales
25:41capability to expand your market beyond the boundaries that you are operating right now.
25:46And in order to do that, if you need help for global expertise, which needs customized processes here in Malaysia,
25:56I think SalesGeek is the organization that you need to go to.
25:59And we will be very happy to help you.
26:02Well, thank you very much, Niranjan, for your insights.
26:05That was Niranjan Singh, CEO and Chief Geek with SalesGeek Malaysia.
26:08Now, clearly, if Malaysia wants more SMEs to become regional champions, growth cannot depend on the founder alone.
26:14So building these scalable sales systems and stronger commercial leadership will prove just as important as tech, talent and capital
26:21in the years ahead.
26:22That's all we have time for today.
26:24Here's to a productive week ahead.
26:25I'm Tamina Kausji, signing off for now.
26:58I'm Tamina Kausji.
27:14Assalamualaikum, Salam Sejahtera.
27:16Saya Nazriqah, ini Agenda Awani.
27:18Malam ini kita ingin berbicara dan memberikan sedikit analisis bagaimana situasi ekonomi negara dengan keadaan di Asia Barat masih tidak
27:27menentu.
27:27Keadaan, walaupun sedang berlaku kejahatan senjata, tetapi agak fragile dan bila-bila masa saja.
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