It is almost 3pm and I was still swimming through piles of paper work at Fasfik corporate office, Damansara Perdana. Natasya knocked and entered my room reminding me of the 330pm appointment at the Grand Bluewave hotel, Shah Alam which I had replied to attend.
I was in my usual polo t'shirt today. Last year, I changed my daily working attire from the normal tie & suit to a casual polo t'shirt and sometimes in jeans adopting Tony Fernandes dressing down approach. Dressing down is more approachable and less intimidating for customers, staff and suppliers. Somehow, the American casual daily working attire is friendlier than the conventional British formal long sleeve, tie and suit but I am too casual for the CIMB function that clearly wrote: 'Working Attire' as the dress code on the invitation card... I am sure it refers to the usual long sleeved shirt and tie.
Being buried in paper work for almost two weeks I could not missed the opportunity to meet other business owners at the CIMB function. Socialising and networking is important for business which i have failed in favour of desk bound glued to computer routine. Nonetheless, there is a presentation on government guaranteed schemes that I wanted to understand. I have not met any business that qualify or have obtained approval under the recent stimulus package especially when the scheme is being offered through Banks.
I wore my blazer over the polo t'shirt to be less casual and arrived at the function in time for Mr Tan Leng Hock, CIMB Head of Business, Banking Division speech. Mr Tan indicated although the present trade environment is less encouraging, CIMB loan approval and disbursement has been healthy with 38% increase compare to the same period last year.
Paun Eliza Abdul Aziz, CIMB Head of Product Advisory group then presented the 2 government schemes under the Ministry of finance 2nd financial stimulus that is available to various businesses. The two government scheme that can be applied through commercial banks are the Working Capital Guarantee Scheme and the Industrial Restructuring Fund Guarantee scheme. The WCGS is for a minimum of Rm50,000 up to a maximum RM10million with a maximum shareholding of RM20m. The IRFGS is up to a maximum RM50m but the shareholding may exceed RM20m. The WCGS is open to all businesses in every sector but the IRFGS is only for a selected sector. For more information visit any CIMB branches or contact En Azali @ 0193168738 or Nurul @ 0192129844.
The speaker Steven Wong, Assistant Director General, Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia gave an informative overview of the world economic collapse and Malaysia current economic condition. Steven reiterated in America 40,000 companies are bankrupted this year thus far. Although various economist forecasting a world depression, Steven believed otherwise and expect the economy to slowly recover by year end.
Regrettably, I had to leave the function early to attend another appointment and missed the closing speech by Sulaiman Mohd Tahir, CIMB Head of Consumer Sales.
Sent via BlackBerry from Maxis
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