Tony Osude, Commercial & Marketing Director, CIPD Asia Ltd
The CIPD has been championing better work and working lives for over 100 years. We’re the professional body for human resources (HR), learning and development (L&D), organisation development (OD) and all people professionals – experts in people, work and change.
With more than 160,000 members globally – and a growing community using our research, insights and learning – we give trusted advice and offer independent thought leadership. And we are a leading voice in the call for good work that creates value for everyone.
We will have had members in Malaysia for many decades dating back to the post-Independence. Today we have a growing network of organisations, business leaders, members, academics and their institutions, and students. One of our proudest moments (of a few) is the most recent inauguration of the CIPD Advisory Committee in Malaysia. I say this because we value the time and commitment of the most senior and influential HR business leaders in Malaysia in looking to shape the profession in Malaysia, and the undoubted impact they have already started having.
Based on your overall experience of doing business in Malaysia, name the advantages and challenges of doing business in Malaysia.
The exciting opportunity in Malaysia is that it is a sizable, fast growing, fast diversifying economy with high, and achievable aspirations. CIPD services its members, organisations and students across several dozen countries. Malaysia is a clear strategic choice to enter due to its market size, diversity, number of graduates seeking professional qualifications and careers, thriving educational sector and the government’s own agenda to drive the economy forward. Coupled with the nation’s fluency in English and similarities between the nation and the UK in terms of business and legal systems, underscores why it is timely to grow our footprint in Malaysia.
We also recognise there is still a big gap in the ratio of the number of People Professionals (HR) to line managers and the working population – particularly when compared to developed economies. We believe that by working with, organisations, universities and government institutions, we can quickly start to close that gap, improve work and working lives, which in turn will drive productivity and development.
This is why we set up the first CIPD Advisory Committee in Malaysia, chaired by Datuk Dr Nora Manaf, Chief Group Human Capital Officer, Maybank, together with 12 other senior leaders and professors, to elevate the people management and development agenda and standards in Malaysia.
Of course, there are always challenges in developing your presence in any market, and Malaysia is no different. For us the challenges have been firstly to keep abreast of the changing economic, political and institutional landscape – BMCC have been very useful in this regard. Our operation is based in Singapore and we expect to open an a staffed office in KL in the coming months. So our teams travelling back and forth, whilst productive has been expensive and tiring for them. We also know that we need a permanent presence to achieve what we see the potential is for Malaysia. We are anticipating some regulatory stickiness in navigating and setting up a permanent establishment and acquiring the right talent but we are braced and prepared for those.
Given the prospect of growing the profession in Malaysia and making HR a career and profession of choice to the 560,000 graduates a year, we are clear that these are challenges worth facing into, and they are no doubt surmountable. We are pleased to have BMCC by our side as they have been invaluable in assisting us with this.
What are the top 3 reasons for your organisation joining the BMCC?
We joined the BMCC as we wanted a partner that would:
- Point us in the right direction where we had questions, we wanted answers to;
- Introduce us to a network of organisations where we had shared challenges and could learn from each other; and
- Assist us in building our profile in Malaysia so we could grow and make the desired impact for better work and better working lives.
Through the BMCC and its member organisations, we look to share our expertise, open up our network and be part of a community that fully embraces the value of HR and the impact it needs to have in the world of work.
