Malaysia, truly Asia for SME?

There is a possible route into international business opportunities for small and medium businesses (SME) that don't start in the massive markets. SME are faced with a problem when looking at off-shore possibilities - the big competitors have the infrastructure, numbers and resources to tap into major markets and leave slim pickings for the rest. They can also leave some sour tastes around as they don't always act in culturally appropriate ways or use the highest of business standards, especially when working in partnerships.

As an SME, it is going to be difficult to create market entry opportunities against the major players from America and Europe, and the new big companies from China and India, which have joined (and probably overtaken) Japan as the major economic forces from this region in a global sense.

In the final couple of decades of the last century, Australia became a conduit for SME to enter global markets. Australia was seen as a country that was never going to be after power or control, that was a western Christian country but tolerant of all religions and cultures. As a result, Australia began to develop excellent relationships in Asia and the Middle East, going into areas that the big American and European players found difficult, in part due to distrust and in part due to size.

In recent years, Malaysia has begun to play a similar role to Australia's of the last few decades. It is seen as an Asian Islamic country but one that is very tolerant of other religions and cultures. It is now ranked in the top 25 countries in the world for ease of doing business. It has a number of trade and tax agreements and welcomes foreign investment.

It has become a centre for the Islamic Finance/Banking Industry, with most of the major organisations having a presence, especially in Kuala Lumpur. Given the long-term approach of their western competitors, Islamic Finance/Banking is likely to become a powerful and growing economic force globally.

As well as being central in Asia and having a heritage with European influences, Malaysia has strong links into the sub-continent, South West Asia, the Middle East and the newer Islamic republics in the region. There will be many business opportunities in these regions in the years to come.

Unlike Australia, it doesn't have the foundation of major natural resources or agricultural industries. What it does have is excellent networking opportunities, starting with many regional offices small enough to make personal contacts but large enough to have influence.  Then there's the holiday and business conference factor. Malaysia features the types of resorts, tourist facilities and convention centres that have a lot of substance, if not the glamour of European and American ski resorts. It is not hard to find senior business people from all over the world at these places in environments where it is relatively easy to engage with them informally. There are many people willing to travel to Malaysia who won't come all the way to Australia.

Like Australia, Malaysia doesn't have a perfect human rights record but it is reasonable and improving. Malaysia's biggest problem in taking the next steps centre on the perception of corruption. Malaysia doesn't have any cultural "excuses" for what is seen as being widespread corruption and this must be an issue that they address urgently and in the glare of publicity.

Malaysia does have many programs to help encourage local and foreign business opportunities as well as some programs that are clearly designed to create a very successful future. An example is the 1Malaysia program that is helping to attract much real business talent back to Malaysia and creating excellent international business networks in the process.

You may notice that @CoGrowingPains sometimes retweets information about business opportunities. We spent considerable time a couple of years ago developing a proposal to reinvigorate and attract investment into the smaller Malaysian Airports (the client decided to follow other international opportunities so it wasn't followed through in Malaysia) which demonstrated to us the impressive scope of opportunities that may be available in the coming years.

So if you're looking for opportunities to expand your horizons and want somewhere to go which provides an easier entry point and a conduit into other markets, you might want to take a close look at Malaysia.