There are some people who doesn’t fit in the ordinary moulds that would describe most entrepreneurs, the BIST Magazine had the opportunity to accompany one of these contemporary legends; Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato, also known as Dr. Lim Kok Wing. He is the man behind the world wide famous Limkokwing University, but that’s only part of his career.

He was 29 when he set up his first business -Wings Creativity Consultants- in 1975. It was a bold move because he was muscling into an industry controlled by expatriates and multi-nationals, even though, with his efforts in less than two decades, he nurtured a school into the Lim Kok Wing University of Creative Technology.

Today, the university operates campuses across three continents with a globally recognized brand that has attracted over 30,000 students. Tan Sri Dato is one of Asia’s most well-known communications strategists. He built his campaigns on meaningful messages. Companies, government and humanitarian organization sourced in one man, a strategist who was not only highly creative but one who was able to move people, change mindsets, touch the hearts of people and shape opinions. He worked closely with the Malaysian Government delving into cause marketing and relationship building. His abilities made him the perfect person to help South Africa as the country prepared for its first democratic election.

On 8 December there was a seminar organized by Branding Association of Malaysia (BAM), in Kuala Lumpur Hilton Hotel and the BIST Magazine was one of the few honoured attendants, where Dr. Lim Kok Wing made a speech about the importance of brand building and its advantages, also offered solutions in order to develop incentive and innovative minds.

He started by thanking the Branding Association of Malaysia and mentioned that successful brands are key drivers of wealth creation in every successful economy. He insisted on introducing more entrepreneurs who look at the world and not just the region as the market place, especially at a time like this, which the economic melt-down has slowed practically every economy down and created hardship to businesses across the world.

He continued, explaining the role of SME’s (Small to Medium size Enterprises -companies with no more than 500 employees-). Globally SME’s account for 99% of business numbers and contribute to 500/0 of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). In Malaysia, SME’s represent 99.20/0or 518996 of total business establishments, and these are mainly in manufacturing, services and agriculture sectors. SME’s are the growth engine in the new economic model that is aimed at transforming the country from a middle-income country to a high-income one.

“Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges confronting Malaysian SM E’s is the mindset of the people in the industry” he said. A report from the Department of the Statistics shows that only 13% of SME’s in Malaysia promote their products and the medium commonly used is media promotion, followed by local trade expos. Little focus is placed on creative marketing and certainly there is little technological dynamism displayed. Recently at the National Economic Outlook Conference 2010-2011, the second Finance Minister disclosed that Malaysia had lost its competitive edge in many sectors of the economy, with private investments now half of what they were before 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.

Malaysia, he said, is trapped in a low-value-added, low-wage and low-productivity structure. Malaysia’s economic growth over past three years was the second-lowest among its Asian neighbours. “The point is clear, we are losing out and we need to change course, certainly in the way we think.”

He also added, China and India are turning to giant economies, not to forget Thailand and Indonesia which are more creative in their approach, more innovative in their production and more aggressive in their marketing, on the other hand, Malaysia’s innovation ranking is low, our patent and intellectual property ownership inside the country is even lower, outside the country; it’s almost non-existent. In 2002, only 6% of the 4000 patent applications filed in Malaysia were made by Malaysians, 94% belonged to foreigners.

“We are simply not innovating” he said, Malaysia must be rebranded to stand for innovation if we are to remain a credible force in global competition. He reminded the mission of standing on top of Asian market in 2020 will only be accomplished if everyone, fanners to teachers, taxi drivers to bankers and business leaders to political leaders stay on-board and start innovating.

He also mentioned his grieve of the disconnection made between the private and the public sector, and that they should not only work together but they must walk together in order to complement each other instead of complaining.