It can be challenging to be quizzed about Malaysia these days.

With much talk about the country’s brain drain and declining levels of foreign direct investment, it takes a brave man to stay upbeat about things.

Still, Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing took it all in his stride when he talked about brand Malaysia at the Brand Builders Series III at Hilton Kuala Lumpur.

Speaking to dozens of owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as bigwigs in the advertising and marketing industries, the founder of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (Limkokwing) said that Malaysia had to get its act together.

“There must be unfailing quality and questionable integrity in a brand,” he said in his talk entitled ‘Global Branding: Get Going’.

“Brand Malaysia is nothing more than who we are as a people and how progressive we are as a nation. And to succeed in the long run, Malaysia must be branded for innovation.”

Calling for greater synergy between corporate Malaysia and the Government, Lim said that innovation had to become a national agenda. And transformational systems had to be prepared for a quantum leap to take place.

The dream was to build an innovation-led economy capable of competing with the world’s best. According to Lim, Malaysia desperately needed to move up the innovation chain.

“We must compete with the best in the world,” Lim said. “It’s not a choice but a must. And to move away from the model of a production-based economy, we have to make national competitiveness a mission.”

Lim identified SMEs as a vital growth engine in the new economic model which aspires to transform Malaysia into a high-income economy.

“The contributions of SMEs cannot be overemphasised as they are the backbone of every economy,” he continued.

However, he conceded that many local 5MEs struggle with branding their business.

“Some are too domestically oriented, and only 13% of local SMEs promote their products.”

“Branding is not something one can do without, and SIVIEs must continually improve their business model to become more recognisable.”

“More marketing strategy is required as they are an important component of the economy. There must be a global vision before we can even think about building a world-class economy.”

Lim used the success story of South Korean conglomerate Samsung as an example which highlighted the power of effective branding.

Once associated with low technology, the conglomerate changed the perception of consumers and became a global brand in a relatively short time.

“Samsung wanted a global audience,” he said. “It wanted to be the next Sony.”

“In line with its ambition, it built alliances with worldwide companies and sponsored events like the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.”

“It obtained a new corporate identity and brand strategy and this transformation was done in a relatively short time. It shows us that we can do it if we really want to.”

With some of the brightest minds in Malaysia attending the talk, Lim was in for a gruelling Q&A session and the questions came thick and fast.

Although it was a talk on branding, education related issues cropped up as well. As some SME owners had few academic accomplishments to shout about, concerns were raised as to whether they could engage in effective branding.

Lim allayed fears when he said that did not have to be the case. Driving home his point, he revealed that he did not attend university.

“There’s a difference between someone who is well-schooled and well-educated,” he explained. “A well-educated person may not be well-schooled at all.”

“When we hire someone, we’re employing a person -not a piece of paper. There is nothing to worry about if you’ve been in school less than others. Going to school more -or enough -has little to do with the success you can accomplish.”

The design of the university’s campus in Cyberjaya also became a hot topic.

When quizzed on the futuristic elements incorporated on campus, Lim said that the design reflected his philosophy that education had to be inspiring.

“We wanted our campus to be a place where young people would like to gather, where ideas would blossom, where creativity would be celebrated and where talent -and individuals- would be recognised,” he said.

“Traditional universities talk about designing processes, but we talk about designing our graduates.”

“We design the graduates first and implement the processes which will result in a graduate which cannot be solely defined by a piece of paper.”

Organised by the university in collaboration with the Branding Association of Malaysia, the annual Brand Builders Series is a meeting for Malaysians involved in the branding industry to express their vision, mission and ideas.

Meanwhile, Lim has launched a book on how he felt Malaysia could be further developed in order to stay competitive globally.

Entitled Innovation Enabling Transformation, Lim offers his views on the need for Malaysians to acquire the latest knowledge and technology through a compilation of speeches, articles, blogs and other publications in his book.