Matrade believes that there are three key factors that will strengthen the resiliency of Malaysian Mid-Tier Companies (MTCs) in preparing for the oncoming challenges in 2023.

“First, the MTCs should be able to explore new niche areas and diversify the market outreach. This is to ensure the agility of the MTCs by pivoting into different types of markets and industries. 

“Secondly, the MTCs should immerse into digitalisation. Digitalisation has been the enabler and is pervasively used in improving productivity, communicate effectively and enhance the delivery of services. 

“Finally, the MTCs should now be able to adopt sustainability practices to position their businesses at a higher level of competitiveness. With these key factors, our Malaysian MTCs will be more competitive, dynamic and agile,” Matrade CEO Datuk Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz (picture) said in a statement today.

Matrade noted that MTCs have shown resilience in braving the pandemic with creativity in managing their businesses.

It said that by pivoting the business focus to new areas of growth and addressing the ad-hoc demand very well in serving the markets have successfully resulted in emerging business opportunities during the global lockdown and converting into export transactions.

“Our Malaysian MTCs have weathered the storm in 2021, despite multiple lockdowns, disruption of supply chain, shortage of raw materials and manpower,” Mohd Mustafa said.

He said MTCs have successfully registered RM17.8 billion of export revenue in 2021, growing nearly 15% compared to previous year. The increase in exports in 2021 was valued at RM2.4 billion. Cumulatively, alumni of Matrade’s Mid-Tier Companies Development Programme (MTCDP) recorded RM8.33 billion in increase export revenue since 2015. 

“This demonstrated the resiliency of the MTCs amid the global challenges,” he said.

He added that MTCs have shown encouraging performance by creating more than 4,000 new jobs including skilled jobs such as engineers and technical positions, showing another clear piece of evidence of their resiliency during the height of pandemic and job cuts were rife.  

Matrade continues to enrich the MTCs through their signature platform, MTCs CEO Summit 2022, with the theme “Strengthening Resilience, Powering Export Growth”.

Hosted in partnership with Deloitte Consulting Sdn Bhd, MTCs CEO Summit 2022 brought together more than 150 CEOs of MTCs under the MTCDP. This programme aims to empower the MTCs to leverage on new trends of digitalisation and sustainability to unlock more prospects in expanding their footprints globally.

The MTCDP started in 2014 as one of the government’s high-impact initiatives in Malaysia’s Development Plan, aimed to accelerate the export growth of MTCs to be the regional and global champions.

To boost the momentum of MTCs after completing MTCDP, the “Mid-Tier Ramp Up Programme” was created in 2016 as the catalyst to accelerate exports penetration and enhance competitiveness of the MTCs to strengthen their footprints in the regional and global markets.

In line with the 12th Malaysia Plan, Matrade will strive to create more export champions, supporting the ongoing efforts by the government in regenerating Malaysian economy, and driving the growth of new sectors while striking the balance to ensure socio-economic inclusiveness and sustainability.

The MTCDP targets export-oriented MTCs with annual revenues between RM50 million to RM500 million for manufacturing companies and RM20 million to RM500 million for services companies. — TMR