by BERNAMA / graphic by MZUKRI MOHAMAD

KUALA LUMPUR – InvestKL aims to secure 10 multinational corporations (MNCs) and fast-growing companies to bring in at least RM1 billion worth of investments into the country this year.

Chief executive officer Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli said he expects the companies to be mainly involved in digital fields and the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as in automation and robotic activities.

He said last year, InvestKL had successfully attracted 12 fast-growing companies which had committed to investments totalling RM1.73 billion, in spite of the challenging business environment due to COVID-19.

“Of the 12 companies secured in 2020, 50 per cent are from the Asia Pacific, and the remaining are from Europe and the United States (US),” he told a press conference here after providing updates on InvestKL’s annual performance today.

Azmi added that the investments from the 12 companies which are involved in e-commerce, digital solutions, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics and other key areas will create 1,527 executive jobs.

As for this year, he expects more investments would come from Asian companies.

“Previously, most of the investments were from European or US firms. But since last year, we saw that the trend had pivoted towards Asian countries, and we imagine the trend would continue as companies in Asia are looking at exploring more activities in the region,” he said.

Azmi revealed that InvestKL will be announcing several investments that have been finalised in the first quarter of this year (Q1 2021).

The investments are mainly in sectors such as insurance, management engineering, cloud computing as well as enterprises solutions, and are expected to generate over 500 high-value jobs, he said.

“We are optimistic that the Q1 2021 investments would help us achieve our RM1 billion investments target this year,” he said.

Meanwhile, Azmi said over the past 10 years, InvestKL had successfully secured 103 high-growth companies in various industries, with investments totalling RM15.8 billion, creating 14,111 regional executive jobs.

To-date, he said RM11.4 billion or 72 per cent of the committed investment have been realised, while 10,411 or 74 per cent of the committed jobs have been filled, with 8,646 Malaysians currently employed in these high-value jobs.

InvestKL chairman Datuk Seri Michael Yam said the investments secured over the past decade showed that foreign investors remained confident in Malaysia’s strong fundamentals and growth prospects.

Moving forward, Azmi said InvestKL aims to attract 100 of the world’s leading MNCs and fast-growing companies to set up their regional services and technology hubs in Malaysia by 2030.

Today’s event also saw InvestKL unveiling two key initiatives, namely the Greater Kuala Lumpur (GKL) Live Lab and Fit4Work.

The GKL Live Lab is a programme that aims to attract companies to collaborate with local players to elevate GKL’s competitive advantages for quality, innovation-led and knowledge-intensive activities.

Meanwhile, the Fit4Work is a programme aimed at increasing the quality and competitiveness of young graduates, with potential job placements with MNCs, government-linked companies and major corporations within the services industry.