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Malaysia is short of remisiers to further promote the local stock market to retail investors, according to Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Yusli Mohamad Yusof when speaking to the press.

According to him, they are currently about 6,000 registered remisiers in Malaysia, but he is not sure how many of them are still active today. The number of remisiers have not been increasing ever since the financial crisis that hit Malaysia in 1997/1998 even though the number of stockbroking branches had increased over the year.

In view of this, stock broking firms are urged to recruit and train more young remisiers to cater for younger generation of investors as brokers and remisiers play a key role in sustaining interest in Malaysia share market.

However, in response to Yusli’s statement, The Remisiers Association of Malaysia voiced that ‘Malaysia has more than enough remisiers’ and ‘it is unfair to blame remisiers for the lack of performance in retail market’, adding that people today do not have much interest in becoming a remisier due to unattractive earnings.

Technorati Tags: malaysia remisier, bursa malaysia

The government has again urged Malaysians to look into biotechnology sector as a new field to venture. This is because it will incur less cost than operating a manufacturing plant. Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha said the Malaysia government is encouraging any party to set up and run biotechnological plants in the country.

The manufacturing sector is also currently facing stiff competition from other nations in the region, including the boom of China and India market. The cost of land, labor and operation cost has also been increasing year by year.

He also said that Malaysia has a lot more room to improve in terms of biological advancement and the government is also offering vast marketing opportunities.

Technorati Tags: biotech, malaysia biotech, biotechnology in malaysia

Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Badawi has assured Malaysians that SME loans will be given to small and medium sized industry business owners regardless of their races.

He told the press that the SME banks are not only  government-linked institutions but also commercial and financial institutions.

What it means is that any entrepreneurs wishing to get some capital from the banks will be able to do so provided the meet all the required guidelines.

Some parties have been asking questions of whether the loans by SME banks are biased towards bumiputras only.

An expected total loan of more than 3 billion ringgits are being committed to make the SME development program a success.

Technorati Tags: sme bank, sme bank malaysia

Majlis Amanah Rakyat, MARA is set to train more entrepreneurs in various fields to create Malaysian entrepreneurs success stories. Aspiring entrepreneurs will be trained in different careers and sectors including cloth making, cosmetics, automotive, reflexology and others.

This is part of Malaysia’s government effort to produce more than 10,000 entrepreneurs for the 9th Malaysia Plan project. There will be a total of 28 courses available to choose by participants.

In view of this, MARA has already signed memorandum of understanding with a few major companies including Naza Bike Sdn Bhd, Samata Industries and Prima Export Food Complex. These companies have agreed to provide on-job training for youths and those aspiring to be entrepreneurs.

Technorati Tags: mara, majlis amanah rakyat, malaysia entrepreneur, malaysia government

Finally, Malaysia Airlines decided to offer major discounted price for the passengers travelling domestically within Malaysia. As many as 250,000 discounted tickets will be up for grab, which price will be as cheap as RM9 for a one way journey.

The fares to 23 destinations range from RM9 to RM199 and are available from today until Feb 6.Â

The offers are also to promote higher volume of tourist movement within Malaysia in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia year 2007.

Even though the overall Mas discounting policy is much way below of those offered by its counterpart Air Asia, but this is a good sign for healthy competition to come. Air Asia has gone a long way by offering 1 million free tickets for 2007 season, and is even planning to send flight between Malaysia to Europe at a staggering price of RM9!
To book you ticket, MAS official website at www.malaysiaairlines.com

Technorati Tags: mas, malaysia airlines, malaysia airlines system

Yesterday News Straits Times Malaysia reported that a woman from Terengganu took home roughly RM100,000 of income in 2006 by selling cosmetics products to villagers and other people.

Zainun Tahir, a full time housewife, spent more than 12 hours per day promoting Avon’s products including lipstics, compacts, brooches, lingerie, shampoo and many others. As a result, she won the 2nd top distributor prize of all Avon distributors in Malaysia.

She would go around the village convincing people to buy Avon products, and she managed to get around 30 people buying her products every day.

Well, 12 hours a day sounds like a very taxing job, but don’t you think the final rewards are very much worth it? After all, RM100,000 means a gross monthly income of RM8,000 per months, higher than most of the mid level managers in corporate organizations in Malaysia.

If a housewife can do it, why not us?

Technorati Tags: nst malaysia, news straits times, avon malaysia

Kedah, the rice bowl of Malaysia, is fast growing from an agriculture-based economy to an industrial economy, reports The Star

It has started attracting foreign direct investment by the billions.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said that Kedah can expect at least RM4bil in foreign direct investment (FDI) this year.

Kedah is enjoying a sound macro economic environment with Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) growth exceeding 6%, increasing FDI and robust growth in industrial production specifically in hi-tech, biotech and manufacturing sectors.

More than 460 manufacturing companies have set up operations in 25 industrial parks in Alor Star, Jitra, Bukit Kayu Hitam, Sungai Petani, Tikam Batu, Kuala Ketil and Kulim.

Gurun, is poised to be the automotive city in the northern region with the existence of the NAZA automotive manufacturing plant. Gurun also houses Petronas Fertilizer, Perwaja Steel and MODENAS Manufacturing.

Kulim Hi-Tech City, dubbed the Science City of the Future, is a self-contained township housing 35 multinational and local high-technology companies including Intel, Sony, Celestica, Sumitomo, Silterra, Fuji Electric and Infineon.

The RM21bil hi-tech park that boasts high quality infrastructure and facilities is poised to be the national centre for advanced technology manufacturing, ICT, nanotechnology and biotechnology.

Mahdzir said Kedah offers enormous business opportunities ranging from hi-tech, bio-tech, research and development, power generation, healthcare, petroleum refining, education to agricultural product manufacturing.

InvestKedah is promoting itself as the ultimate profit centre.

Kedah is also tapping its potential in the tourism industry.

The world-renowned island Langkawi is part of Kedah.

Kedah is now aggressively promoting potential attractions on mainland Kedah with the catchy tagline ‘Mainland Kedah - More to discover’.

Among the better-known attractions on mainland Kedah are Tree Top Walk in Sedim, Lembah Bujang Archaeological Museum, Sungai Merbok, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s birth place in Alor Star and the Padi Museum at the foot of Gunung Keriang.

Technorati Tags: kedah, naza, kulim