‘Sarawak CMIEA this year receives good response’
KUCHING: This year’s Sarawak Chief Minister’s Industry Excellence Award (Sarawak CMIEA) received unexpected good response from the business community, with 20 submissions accepted so far.
The Sarawak CMIEA was introduced by the state government and Sarawak Business Federation ( SBF) in collaboration with Malaysia Productivity Corporation ( MPC) to honour and give recognition to outstanding businesses in Sarawak.
It is the highest state award adopted from the Anugerah Kecemerlangan Industri (AKI) or the national-level Industry Excellence Award.
The Sarawak CMIEA presentation ceremony and gala night will be held on Sept 8, in conjunction with SBF’s 1st anniversary, at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here.
Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg is expected to officiate at the ceremony. SBF president Datuk Abang Abdul Karim Tun Abang Openg said the response from the business community for Sarawak CMIEA was beyond expectations.
“Initially we thought it will be good enough if we can attract 10 organisations of various sizes to participate but now we have 20 submissions. Even the nationallevel award sometimes sees less than 20 participants, so I am very excited,” he told a press conference at MPC office in Demak Laut here.
MPC Sarawak director Tengku Azmi Tengku Majid, SBF secretarygeneral Jonathan Chai Voon Tok who is organising chairperson of the Gala Nite, SBF council
Initially we thought it will be good enough if we can attract 10 organisations of various sizes to participate but now we have 20 submissions. Even the national-level award sometimes sees less than 20 participants, so I am very excited.
member Alvia Sia who is Sarawak Entrepreneur Association vicepresident and Sarawak CMIEA coordinator Rodger Chan were among those present.
The award, Abdul Karim added, is aptly themed ‘Productivity for Prosperity’ as it stresses the state government’s commitment to transform Sarawak into a digital economy.
“This award is very meaningful and hopefully will spearhead all initiatives geared toward improving businesses, industries as well as economic development of Sarawak,” he emphasised.
As such, Abdul Karim pointed out that the award is significant in recognising excellent organisations with best practices to be the role model and inspiration for others to strive for the best.
Tengku Azmi, who is also chairman of the Sarawak CMIEA Technical Committee, highlighted that all organisations that have entered will win an award.
“This is not a competition and no one will lose. The organisation would not have made it through if it is not eligible in the beginning anyway,” he said.
“This award is a mechanism to encourage businesses, industries and organisations to move forward through the assessment process which serves as a guidance to see their level of performance,” he continued.
“A report will be presented to the organisation, highlighting its best practices as well as opportunity for improvement that needs attention so as to do even better,” he added.
The Sarawak CMIEA uses the internationally recognised Malaysia Business Excellence Framework ( MBEF) as the benchmark in its evaluation process.
The award is divided into four categories - Micro (for domestic companies with sales turnover not exceeding RM300,000); Small (for domestic companies with sales turnover of RM300,000 to RM3 million); Medium (for domestic companies with sales turnover of RM3 million to RM20 million) and Large (for domestic companies with sales turnover exceeding RM20 million).
“There is no participant in the Micro category as we were unable to convince them to join. We will try next year because this is an important platform for micro businesses so they continue to progress and grow into bigger organisations,” he said.
“The Small category saw three companies participating while the Medium has seven companies and Large has 10 companies,” he revealed. The winners of each category will be representing Sarawak at the AKI 2018. Tengku Azmi also gave assurance to fully support and give guidance to Sarawak winners participating in the AKI 2018 to ensure Sarawak gets the best positions possible.
Datuk Abang Abdul Karim Tun Abang Openg, SBF president