Coffee
Table Book Launch 2014, Tales of Inspiration 2 “A Cause For A Cause”
November
13, 2014
A
Malaysia SME Event
MALAYSIA SME® media group,
through its successful lifestyle publication called Pillars, launched a compilation
of life stories of accomplished Malaysian entrepreneurs, who had mostly started
out from scratch to be where they are today. Tales of Inspiration 2(TOI II), is
a coffee table book that features 34 Malaysian entrepreneurs, whose stories have
been published in Pillars magazine.
With the aim to inspire and
enhance readers’ experience, TOI II is the follow-up of its first successful
publication in 2010 that followed the life journeys of 34 other SME
entrepreneurs of Malaysia which included the likes of Datuk Eric Chong of
Erican Education Group; Founder of Vitaoils Mazlan Mohammad and Dato’ Haji
Ameer
bin Mydin of Mydin Holdings.
The TOI series tells of the
continuous transformation involving the lives of esteemed Malaysian entrepreneurs
and their journeys of overcoming challenges to build a name for the brands that
have become such familiar sights within the country and abroad, today.
According to MALAYSIA SME® CEO, Wayne Lim, TOI II is the result of years of relentless effort by
the publication to bring Malaysia’s very own success stories to Malaysians and
the world over through Pillars, from which inspiration and motivation are hoped
to be drawn.
Lim said: “With
all the affairs surrounding the country at the moment, we want to bring back
the attention and the spotlight to the things that really matter. The Malaysian
small and medium enterprises who have contributed so much to the economy of the
country and who have, despite all the circumstances stacked up against them,
gone on to surmount the challenges and in their grit and tenacity, continued to
bring glimmers of hope to others.”
According to him TOI, being Malaysia
SME’s flagship, is set to become a source of inspiration for established
entrepreneurs and the upcoming ones as well, providing them pearls of wisdom in
times of challenge and adversity.
“We are indeed very proud of this book,
and we have no doubt that TOI II will bring only the best returns for whoever
lays a hand on it,” Lim said.
In
conjunction with the launch of the TOI II, Pillars® hosted about 200
other invited SMEs to spend the evening together with the featured
entrepreneurs and immerse in the presence and wisdom of these industry veterans.
At the core of the
publication of the Tales of Inspiration series by MALAYSIA SME®, the media company through its social responsibility efforts, committed most of the book sales to Rumah Shalom, a Home for the orphaned, homeless,
neglected and abused children. On top of that, proceeds raised from the auctioning
off of the specially-authorised TOI II copy of the 34 featured entrepreneurs will
also be handed over to the Home.
Through MALAYSIA SME®
Community Social Responsibility (CSR), Malaysia SME is humbled to give back to
the society with the contributions of the members of the public and the
accomplishments of these distinguished personalities of our home country.
About MALAYSIA
SME®
The MALAYSIA
SME® media group, established in 2005, is the country’s first and
only, all-encompassing media organization focusing specifically on SMEs, both
within Malaysia and across all regions.
With our
staple of business newspaper, community directory, business events, business
sitcom and online news portal, we are visibly the leading media corporation
serving close to 140 million SMEs worldwide.
The MALAYSIA SME® business newspaper, a fortnightly
publication, boasts an audited circulation of 50,000 copies and the MALAYSIA
SME® Community Directory has an audited circulation of 130,000
copies annually. They are the two most reputable publication recognised by the
SME community in Malaysia.
In educating and bringing awareness of the importance of SMEs to
Malaysians, we also produce the Small Mission Enterprise (S.M.E), a
multi-million dollar business sitcom TV series.
As the online
publisher of MSME® News Network, the first and only global SME news
portal, we serve SMEs internationally.
Apart from
just a publishing house, we continue to bridge and support the growth of the
SME community through various channels, such as our regular business networking
and seminar series, as well as hosting the country’s largest annual SME
networking event the MALAYSIA SME® Congress, which has seen
tremendous growth in turnout over the years.
The Congress
continues to be the source of inspiration for entrepreneurs nationwide.
In a nutshell, MALAYSIA SME® is all about
SMEs, locally and globally.
ABOUT RUMAH SHALOM
Rumah Shalom
had its humble beginnings in 1997 when Rev. S. Arulandu started it for 2
underprivileged children.
Since then,
180 orphaned, homeless, abused and neglected children from broken homes have lived
on with the guidance provided by the Home to become responsible members of the
society with a purpose in their lives.
Rumah Shalom is a registered non-profit organization under the Registrar
of Society Act.
(Registered Name: Pertubuhan Kebajikan Kristian Aman, Selangor Reg. No.
996)
OPENING KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY
DATO’ RAYMOND LIEW
PRESIDENT OF MCMILLAN WOODS MALAYSIA
AT THE
TALES OF
INSPIRATION COFFEE TABLE BOOK LAUNCH, 2014
NOVEMBER 13,
2014
"Mr Wayne Lim
Chief Executive Officer of MALAYSIA SME®;
Ms Vicky Gannason
Editor of PILLARS®
Datuk-Datuk,
Datin-Datin,
Sponsors, supporting organisations,
partners, distinguished guests, members of the media;
Ladies and gentlemen,
A very good evening to you. It is truly an
honour to be here to celebrate our SME entrepreneurs who have climbed mountains
to get where they are. I would like to take a moment to thank PILLARS®
for inviting me to be the guest of honour.
Many of us here today were not born with a
silver spoon in our mouths. We worked hard to get where we are today. PILLARS,
MALAYSIA SME’s lifestyle publication has made it their mission to unearth
people like us to tell our stories for the world to read.
It is indeed, a noble
and honest mission for a media organisation. I have always admired Mr. Wayne
Lim’s passion for the SME industry. Where no one has walked this path before,
he went ahead to champion a just cause and look how far he and the company have
come today.
MALAYSIA SME’s, as the name suggests, core
focus has always been and will always be SMEs. They believe that the backbone
of our economy are SMEs and take the time to look for, find out and cover news
that will impact Small Medium Enterprises.
They are always at the forefront of
the business world, specifically looking for solutions and issues that affect
SMEs in many ways. I congratulate the editorial team on their fantastic work
for the last 9 years. Just last year, one of their talented writers took home
the first prize in a journalist competition, defeating many accomplished
writers in the same category.
PILLARS®, as I had mentioned
earlier is the lifestyle magazine of the MALAYSIA SME® media group.
While it covers light-hearted features designed to relax the mind after reading
hard-hitting news, make no mistake about its devoted focus on SME
personalities.
The PILLARS® team has continuously endeavoured to
find the diamonds in the rough, giving them an opportunity to shine on its
front cover, with stylish aplomb. They also cover the SME entrepreneur’s
lifestyle choices to further inspire their readers to go out and build on their
entrepreneurship.
It is indeed, a source of inspiration and solid proof that
with hard work and determination, you can go very far in life indeed.
Encouraging and building entrepreneurs is
something that is meaningful to do, and I’m glad that someone is doing it, and
doing it very well.
My story has also been documented in PILLARS®
and I’m fortunate that I am one of the entrepreneurs selected to be in the
beautiful coffee table book – the reason we are all gathered here today.
This coffee table book – Tales of
Inspiration 2 is a curation of stories, from 34 Malaysia SME entrepreneurs that
have previously been featured in PILLARS®.
Almost the entire proceeds
from this book and the auction sales tonight will go to a charity, namely the
Rumah Shalom, which is a charity home close to the MALAYSIA SME’s heart.
It is
heart-warming to know that despite acquiring so much, our Malaysian
entrepreneurs are generously giving back to the community. As they say, charity
begins at home.
Similarly, looking up to role models should
also start from home. There are many success stories that are right under our
noses. Some of you might be surprised at the stories that you will find in the
coffee table book.
These entrepreneurs faced so many obstacles and may have
been on the verge of giving up, but they never did. It is a testament to their
mental strength that they persevered.
Which brings me back to my original point.
I had said earlier, that most of the people covered by PILLARS®,
were not born with a silver spoon – this means that they had little or no
benefits to help them get to the top. Whatever opportunities came their way,
they seized and used to the best of their abilities.
What is the secret, you
might ask? What sets them apart, these entrepreneurs, from the many
entrepreneurs that may have tried and failed? One, is that they didn’t give up
no matter what.
They persevered out of sheer will and because they had either no
other choice, or had set their eyes on a vision towards success.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “Nothing can
stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on
earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” I believe what he meant
by the right mental attitude is that these success stories live with a “do or
die” attitude.
This doesn’t mean that you kill yourself trying to succeed, no,
but perhaps it is close to that. It means that no matter what, you give your
business your all, your 100% and the time is now or never. Urgency is key to
success.
It is this urgency that has led MALAYSIA
SME® and PILLARS® to its current success – in fact, I
would like to take the time to reflect on this event Tales of Inspiration and what it means to the people behind it.
Tales of Inspiration was born out of the
desire to give back to, not only the community at large, but also to the
steadily growing network of SME entrepreneurs that had previously filled the
pages of PILLARS®.
The first Tales
of Inspiration event, held in October 2010, invited selected entrepreneurs
to share in the joy of giving.
Needless to say, the Tales of Inspiration event was a roaring success. To see so many
entrepreneurs gathered in one room, along with Mr. Wayne Lim, a tireless
loudspeaker for the SME community, was truly heart-warming. The entrepreneurs
were happy to be there, to be given a chance to honour and appreciate their
kind, while knowing that they were helping a cause that was bigger than the
industry.
It also gave them a chance to take a night off from their 24/7
schedule, which is sometimes virtually impossible when you are running your own
business.
As you know, most of the proceeds of the
coffee table book will be going to Rumah Shalom. Similarly, the first Tales of Inspiration as well as its
second instalment is part of MALAYSIA SME’s Corporate Social Responsibility and
is a way for entrepreneurs and PILLARS® to contribute to the
betterment of society.
We spend so much of time building a business and making
a living that sometimes it’s easy to forget those around us. This is a chance
for us tireless entrepreneurs to make a difference in the lives of those who
are less fortunate than us.
So what do you get when you purchase this
gorgeous coffee table book? Firstly, you get something that is pleasing to the
eye as it has an elegant look and would look fantastic in your homes, not to
mention that it would be something that you could show to your guests when you
have your next gathering. The content is as beautiful as its outlook – as it
speaks about the journey all successful entrepreneurs have endured on their
road to triumph.
Their stories are told from their hearts with no holds-barred.
They speak sincerely and frankly on their humble beginnings and how incredibly
hard it was for them to claw and scale their way to the top often making
heart-breaking sacrifices on the way.
Where in the end they did make it, they
look back on their passage and realize that it was just sheer determination and
strength of mind that got them there.
If nothing else, it is certainly an
inspiring read. Also, isn’t it satisfying to know that your money is going
towards helping young children to have a fighting chance at achieving what you
have achieved in the last 5-10 years?
The chosen charity home, Rumah Shalom,
had its humble beginnings in 1997 when Rev. S. Arulandu started it for 2
underprivileged children. Since then, 180 children who are orphans, homeless,
abused and neglected from broken homes have passed through the home to become
responsible beings with a purpose in their lives.
Rumah Shalom is a registered
non-profit organization under the Registrar of Society Act. I think it’s
absolutely vital that all of us in this room purchase at least one copy as well
as participate in the auction to further contribute to these children.
I would like to tell you a bit about the
charitable activities that we do at McMillan. Last year, we decided to plant
201 trees at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia and donated RM20, 000 to
play our part to save Mother Earth.
We also donated RM25,000 to a monastery in
Hat Yai, Thailand to help erect a shelter lodge for visitors and worshippers.
We further donated RM60, 000 to the same monastery to restore the monastery for
the benefits of the visitors, worshippers and monks.
Back home, RM5, 000 was
donated to the Kechara Soup Kitchen Society that provides food to the homeless.
In the past, we’ve contributed to various
environmental and social causes as we believe that in order to be of a company
of value, we must help those who are in need. We have all been in need at
certain times in our lives and we also remember what it was like to receive aid
in our darkest times.
As successful entrepreneurs, we must give back to the
society that has supported us in the past. I’d like to think that what we are
doing is building bridges between communities and giving a heart to our
businesses.
Here’s to all of you who have endured an
incredible journey. May you continue to keep your eyes on the goal and inspire
others towards the same path.
I wish you all the best and look forward to
seeing you again. This night is for you, to appreciate the work you have put in
for the betterment of our lives and for contributing to our economy.
Let’s
raise our glasses again and I hope you will enjoy your evening with all the
captains of the SME industry."
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