Masidi (centre), Foo (fifth right), Callee (fourth right), Kai Teck (third left), Poon (fifth left) and others in a group photo at the Sabah roadshow of the PBA2022.
KOTA KINABALU (July 25): The multiple challenges businesses face in Sabah have brought out the best in them, said Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.
He said Sabah is slightly disadvantaged due to our distance from Kuala Lumpur, which is about 2,000 kilometres away, and relatively small population compared to that in West Malaysia.
He said the infrastructure in Sabah is nothing compared to those in Peninsular Malaysia, while power supply is also one of the challenges businesses face here.
“We are faced with multiple challenges in Sabah, but that actually bring out the best in us,” he said when officiating at the Sabah roadshow of the Platinum Business Awards 2022 (PBA2022) by SME Association of Malaysia (SME Malaysia) here on Monday.
He said the PBA should spur industry players to be better than their counterparts in other parts of the country.
“We want to prove that despite all these multiple challenges and shortcomings, we can still excel.”
Masidi said the award is also a platform to showcase the talents in Sabah.
“If some of the individuals or companies in Sabah win, we can show the rest of the country that we can do better despite the shortcomings in Sabah.
“Imagine if we have the same facilities as West Malaysia, we would be soaring.”
He added that the PBA does not only highlight Sabahan talents, but also widen their market reach of their products and services.
The PBA is an annual awards programme organized by SME Malaysia since 2002 to honour outstanding SMEs and individuals for their contribution and achievements in business.
This year sees four new award categories by nomination – SME Environmental, Social and Governance Adoption Award, SME IR 4.0 Adoption Award, SME Business Resilience Award and SME Sustainable Development Goals Excellence Award.
There are 18 awards by nomination and four awards by invitation for PBA2022.
Award nominations are now open till August 31. Winners of PBA2022 will be announced on October 6 while the awards presentation and gala dinner will be held on November 29.
Also present at the roadshow were SME Malaysia national vice president Datuk Ada Poon, SME Sabah founding president Prof Foo Ngee Kee, SME Sabah deputy president Datuk Tan Kai Teck and SME Sabah Women Entrepreneur director Callee Tan Kai Lee.