Wednesday, April 15, 2009

National Intellectual Property Day


The National Intellectual Property (IP) Day 2009 will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), from 23-26 April 2009, in conjunction with the World IP Day on 26 April 2009 .

This annual event is organized by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) to enhance public awareness on the importance of innovation, protection and commercialization of IP. It also reflects the Government’s recognition to innovators on their contributions to the nation’s economic and social development.

This year, MyIPO have chosen “Intellectual Property – Driving Nation’s Competitiveness” as our theme to reflect today’s world where a country’s competitiveness is increasingly dependent on its capacity to innovate. Each year, 26 April marks the day we celebrate National Intellectual Property Day. The IP Day offers an ideal opportunity to inform, educate and promote the importance of intellectual property (IP) as a tool for economic, social and cultural development.

IP represents the product of our mind or intellect. However, without encouragement, many great innovations might have remained merely ideas

To cater to a much wider audience, there will also be side events organized at the margin of the expo. These include meetings, seminars and workshops which will serve as a platform for knowledge enhancement as well as business matching, especially for the small and medium enterprises.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Designer label making waves


From humble beginnings to being a millionaire, fashion designer Key Ng Yew Sing has never thought that it was luck or miracle that made his brand – KN KEY NG – popular in the world of fashion and celebrities. It was his patience and determination.

Ng, who established the KEY NG brand in 1998, says he is very particular about every single production step – from designing and drafting to choosing fabrics, cutting materials and even each sewing stitch. He believes the unique and trendy designs, quality materials and sewing work speak loudly for a brand.

“The aspiration of making a person look good pushes me to design and make more modern clothes for people,” he says, adding that he flies to Japan twice a year to purchase fabrics.

What prompted him to use KEY NG as his brand?

“It’s quite common in the fashion field that designers use their name as the brand. It’s like a trend; thus I decided to label my products under KEY NG 11 years ago,” he recalls.

In 2007, he rebranded the name to KN KEY NG, which he thinks will be easily recognised globally.

Hailing from Sitiawan, Perak, Ng says his hobby – drawing – led him to begin his career in fashion designing in the early 1990s, after his graduation from the Singapore Nanyang Institute of Arts. After two years working for Singaporean designer Bobby Ch’ng, he decided to return to Malaysia. In 1995, with RM200,000 capital, Ng set up City Wave, which operates from a rented shoplot in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. The factory then housed three machines and had three employees.

“(We have come) a long way (and) we did not give up. We managed to obtain our first RM8,000 order from Isetan department store,” he recalls.

Today, it has 180 employees and a four-storey headquarters and factory in Cheras with monthly production of 8,000 pieces of clothes. - The Star

Friday, April 10, 2009

An Economy based on Innovation

Efforts are being made to build an economy based on innovation. A Council of Economic Advisers is formed by Prime Minister Najib to help the Government to renew and revive the nation’s economy. The economic council would report directly to the Prime Minister and members would not be politicians but corporate leaders. The council is different from the current National Economic Action Council in the sense that it would consist of economic experts from the corporate sector.

The Prime Minister also announced that his new deputy, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, would lead a team which would concentrate on efforts to polish the potential, skills and abilities of human capital in the country.

Najib abolished the Entrepreneurial and Co-operative Development Ministry. The development of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) will be moved to the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) while Mara and Tekun will now come under the purview of the Rural and Regional Development Ministry.

The move to integrate the development of SMEs into Miti is expected to strengthen the role of the SME Industry Development Corporation (Smidec) as the lead agency for SME development.

Another ministry which has been abolished is the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry (MEWC), leaving the supervision of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to be absorbed by the former Information Ministry, which has been expanded to include the functions of Arts and Culture to become the new Information, Communications, Arts and Culture Ministry.

A new ministry – Energy, Green Technology and Water – has been created from the remaining elements of MEWC to promote sustainable development and the use of green technologies.

Najib also announced that a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department – Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon – would oversee the Government’s important initiative to introduce Key Performance Indi­cators.

Ismail Sabri To Continue Measures Taken by Shahrir


A new cabinet was formed by our fifth prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak. The new person appointed to take over Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister is Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“People want to see results from this ministry. They can easily gauge our KPI (key performance indicators) because we manage and control prices of everyday goods,” he said. Ismail Sabri added he planned to continue measures taken by former minister Shahrir Abdul Samad whom he described as an experienced senior leader.

Ismail Sabri was the Youth and Sports minister. With a law degree form Universiti Malaya, he started practice as a lawyer in 1985. In 1987, he was appointed as Temerloh district ofiicer.

Intellectual property is administered by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Favourite Brands of 2009


100Plus and Sony are Malaysian consumers’ most favourite brands, tying with the highest number of votes in a Superbrands survey conducted by The Nielsen Co. Gardenia, which previously won the Superbrands awards four times, is the highest-ranked home-grown brand, Superbrands said in a statement.

Superbrands Malaysia chief executive officer Mark Pointer said the survey, conducted between Jan 14 and Feb 4, represented a “very current finger on the pulse of Malaysian consumers and their predisposition towards brands and brand choice.”

The Superbrands survey was conducted online and consisted of a panel in Malaysia of 1,500 consumers.

Malaysia’s top 10 favourite brands, from top to bottom, are 100Plus, Sony, Google, Maggi, Panasonic, Shell, Gardenia, Colgate, ICI Dulux and Honda

The poll was also done in Singapore and Hong Kong at the same time.

Singapore’s top 10 favourite brands, in order starting from the highest ranked, are Colgate, Google, Starhub, NTUC Fairprice, Sony, SingTel, Yahoo!, Straits Times, 7-Eleven and Nippon Paint.

Hong Kong’s top 10 favourite brands, from top to bottom, are 7-Eleven, Circle K, Sony, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Yahoo!, Cathay Pacific, Colgate, Nike and TVB Hong Kong. - the Star

"Brands with the greatest equity are more likely to tide over during tough times as customers are willing to pay higher prices for products with which they have established a closer relationship," said Paul Richmond, managing director, consumer group, the Nielsen Company Singapore and Malaysia.