Teo briefing the local media on the upcoming 3rd Asian SME Conference 2015 which will be held at Meritz Hotel.
MIRI: The Asia Council for Small Business (ACSB–Seoul Korea) is collaborating with the International Council for Small Business (ICSB–Washington DC) to hold the third Asian SME Conference 2015, the first of its kind in the country and in Miri.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, one of the committee members of Asia Council for SME, John Teo, revealed that the conference would be held from October 26 to 30 at Meritz Hotel.
“We are honoured to announce that the event, which will be hosted by the International Council for SME & Entrepreneurship (Icsmee) Malaysia (an affiliate of ICSB), will be targeting over 400 participants from around the world including Korea, Japan, USA, Europe, South America, Australia, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Mauritius, Singapore and other Asean countries.
“It shall be a great opportunity to introduce Miri and its places of interest to the participants and more importantly, we hope the participants will enjoy their stay here.”
Themed ‘Asian Entrepreneurship: Fostering Cross Border Collaboration (Eco-system, Innovation & Sustainability)’, the conference will help entrepreneurs to leverage on IT revolution and develop cross-border collaboration to generate value for businesses.
Reputable speakers who will be presenting papers on various topics critical to SMEs and entrepreneurship development in the Asian and Asean regions include Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong; CEO of SME Corp Malaysia Datuk Hafsah Hashim; executive director of ICSB USA Dr Ayman El-Tarabishy; founder and CEO of Markplus Inc, Indonesia Hermawan Kartajaya; director of Nanyang Technopreneurship Centre and Nanyang Technological University of Singapore Associate Prof Dr Hooi Den Huan; and chairman of ICSMEE Malaysia Tan Sri Abdul Rahman.
Some of the interesting topics to be discussed include Entrepreneurs & SME Financing – Strategies & Challenges; Cross Border Connectivity and Collaboration – Issues, Challenges and Case Studies; Asian SME and Sustainability – Succession Planning and Intrapreneurship; and SME Development & Capacity Building.
The event is expected to be officiated by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
Registration fee for the conference is RM1,500 per person. It is still open to interested local small businesses.
For group registration of three persons and more, the price is RM1,200. Registration can be done online at www.acsb2015.icsb-acsb.org. For an addition of RM400, participants can take part in the industrial visit to a palm oil plantation and mill in Miri and LNG plant in Bintulu, to learn about the ‘spin-off’ of oil palm industry to SME development and global energy scenario and its impact on SME development worldwide. These visits will take place on Oct 26 to 27 prior to the conference proper.
“In order to encourage local Sarawakians to participate in the conference, we have agreed to reduce the fee to RM600 per person, so that more locals can come and learn more about SMEs,” Teo said.
Teo can be contacted at 085-417 888 (Meritz Hotel) and 0111 266 5900 (mobile phone).