According to Berjaya Corporation Bhd (BCorp) Group CEO Jalil Rasheed, it has been a mixed bag for BCorp in 2021 but he says the company expects 2022 to be a better year with three primary objectives as drivers of the organisation moving forward.
“BCorp will prepare for international borders to open and I will be focusing my energy on internal transformation efforts as well.
“As per the three-year strategic plan, my focus includes paring down debts and continuing divestments to accelerate bottom-line recovery. We have identified what is core and what isn’t so going forward we are clear about where to allocate more resources.
“Within the core businesses, we have our ears peeled as we are looking to get into new areas of growth while also re-investing in existing product lines. The only caveat is that it needs to add long-term value to the group, so we won’t rush into it just for the sake of beefing up.
“It needs to make sense and fit within the wider businesses we have in the group,” he says.
In terms of the 2022 outlook, Jalil wishes for international borders to reopen considering in terms of tourist expenditure the nation heavily relies on foreign travellers.
“What I would like for 2022 is for international borders to reopen. In terms of tourist expenditure, the country lost about RM135 billion in 2020 and current estimates put the 2021 losses at RM165 billion.
“Given that the country has always relied heavily on tourism and that the domestic market is too small, it is critical for border restrictions to ease up so that the industry can start to pull itself out of the hole it has been put in.
Currently, according to Jalil, in order to maximize a leaner framework and better execution in the organisation, Bcorp is re-evaluating the existing internal process and will be switching up to those that have no purpose to the companies.
“This is to establish clearer frameworks and to implement better people and organisational optimisation. Currently, we are re-evaluating many existing internal processes and I am keen on switching up those that no longer serve us well,” he concludes.
