Boasting strategic location, sophisticated connectivity and developed infrastructure, Selangor is set to become the gateway to ASEAN for trade and investments. With that in mind, the State Government through Invest Selangor, the state investment arm tasked with attracting investors from across the world, has come up with the Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS), which is an annual event that congregates and connects local businesses with potential international industry players and investors.
SIBS 2019 offers four exciting programmes that will run concurrently for four days at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) in Kuala Lumpur from 10th to 13th October 2019.
THE JOURNEY
SIBS began with the vision of making Selangor a global trading hub when Y.B Dato’ Teng Chang Khim, Selangor State Senior Executive Councillor (EXCO) for Investment, Industry and Commerce and SME took the portfolio in 2014. Realising that to be a global trade hub, organising an exhibition was essential for Selangor; a maiden expo called the Selangor International Expo was launched in 2015.
In the second year, the Smart City and Digital Economy Convention was introduced and
subsequently in 2017, the event expanded to include the Selangor ASEAN Business Conference, which Dato’ Teng believes is the first of its kind in the ASEAN region.
“Having three major annual programmes running concurrently, the Selangor Government
thought it needed to rebrand the event and came up with the Selangor International Business Summit.
2019 marks the third year for SIBS and Selangor ASEAN Business Conference, while Smart City and Digital Economy Convention is in the fourth year and Selangor International Expo is in the fifth year respectively. Expanding exponentially, we are introducing another event this year, the Selangor R&D and Innovation Expo, which brings the number of events under SIBS 2019 to four,” Dato’ Teng says proudly.
“For the first three years, the events were only held in Selangor, but as the event got bigger, we needed better facilities and new venue that would cater to the growing number of crowd, as such last year we started holding SIBS in MITEC.”
According to Dato’ Teng foreign participation in SIBS had been very encouraging, in fact it’s higher than local participants in 2018. He added that there had been a steady increase in the number of participating countries since 2016, from only 15 to 33 countries in 2018.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Selangor emphasises on creating value through collaboration and advancement in product R&D, therefore SIBS 2019 will see another addition – the Selangor R&D and Innovation Expo.
The expo will have Malaysian universities showcasing their researches in major clusters.
Meanwhile, this year’s Smart City and Digital Economy will see gaming developers showcasing their latest products and services which are key to growth in the digital economy.
Last year SIBS was held across 18,808 square metres in MITEC, with a total of 548 exhibition booths. The summit saw a total of 23,737 visitors and recorded a negotiated trade transaction valued at RM194.6 million. SIBS 2019 expects to attract some 30,000 visitors and with attractive programmes to woo foreign buyers, transactions are expected grow to RM250 million. The event will occupy all floors of MITEC with more than 850 exhibition booths.
“The Selangor International Expo focuses on the food and beverage, while Smart City and Digital Economy Convention’s focus is on technology and innovation, artificial intelligence and e-commerce. This year the focus will be more on gaming sports as Selangor moves towards setting up its own AI centre,” an elated Dato’ Teng says.
SIBS has been collaborating with the ASEAN Business Council to get prominent speakers such as ASEAN ministers to attend the international event. Among VIPs who are scheduled to grace the event are Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad who will deliver the keynote speech and YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Minister of Economic Affairs.
The summit will also host many exciting programmes on the sidelines of SIBS 2019 such as
the Malaysia International Tea & Coffee Expo with Battle of The Tarik competition back for its second year, 9th Malaysia-China Entrepreneur Conference, Selangor International Halal Conference and Selangor International Culinary Festival.
BENEFITS TO SMES AND MICRO BUSINESSES
For SMEs and Micro Businesses who aims to go global, SIBS acts as a springboard. Dato’ Teng says through SIBS, businesses with great potentials to grow are identified and taken on trade missions abroad to market their products. Citing examples, he said a company which was introduced to the Japan market during a trade mission, secured a central
kitchen contract and another SME which was brought to join Selangor Pavilion in an exhibition in Hong Kong successfully secured orders there.
“I would like to strongly encourage the participation of SMEs to take this opportunity to
grow by forging collaborations with international participants and industry leaders,” Dato’ Teng concludes.
