Eddysamond Layun is the Founder and Director of Dee Layun Resources (Group) and has extensive experience in various fields, especially in self grooming, protocol and etiquette, effective communication, parenting skills and stress management (therapy).

He is also a Certified Personal Image Consultant (CPIC), Certified Family Coach (CFC), Master Trainer Officer (MTO), Appraisal Officer, Internal Appraisal Officer, Certified Appraisal Officer, Professional Learning Facilitator (Mastery) In effective Communication Skills Module. Engaging as a public speaker / learning facilitator for 12 years has given him the inspiration to develop the knowledge and skills to help individuals who want to venture into the industry.

In addition to this, his experience in coordinating events at the community, district, state and national level is also undeniable due to his high charisma, creativity and critical thinking practice.

Empowering communication skills, Idea, Language Proficiency

‘It’s never too young to start a business’, are words of encouragement that Nelson Mosinoh holds on to while still at University Utara Malaysia, pursuing his Bachelor of Business Administration.

Rejecting a job offer from the government and leaving his well-paying job with only 2 years’ working experience, he took the plunge and decided to form a company called Gain Forlife Sdn Bhd. At the age of 25 years old, he started with a determined and ready mind to take whatever challenges awaits ahead.

It was indeed a scary experience for him when he had to cease operations, unable to finance the company’s overhead expenses only 8 months into operation. Not willing to give up, he restructured the business model and revived the company within 5 months.

Now Gain Forlife Sdn Bhd (GFL) is one of the leading TVET training providers in Sabah. GFL is also known as the 1st industry-led academy in Sabah with strong industry network and strong academic affiliation.

While busy managing his company, he managed to complete his MBA and Diploma Lanjutan Kemahiran (DLKM). Now, he holds a post as an Exco in two NGOs namely, the Federation of JPK Accredited Centers in Malaysia (FEMAC) and Persatuan Pusat Latihan Kemahiran SLDN Sabah & WP Labuan. Mr. Nelson is also known as Past President of Rotary Club of Penampang having completed his presidential term in the year 2015-2016.

Getting out of my comfort zone – venturing into the unknown

Dato’ Seri Winston Liaw is a prominent figure and a champion in the travel and tour industry in Sabah. He has held various positions, from Chairman of Sabah Kota Kinabalu Funei Li Taiji Association, Chairman of Airworld Travel and Tours Sdn Bhd Group of Companies, President pro tem of the Federation of Sabah Tourism Association and currently Chairman of Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents.

He has also won many awards, and recently has received the 2018/2019 Global Top Leadership Award. With expertise to share, he has also become honorary advisor to 10 NGOs.

To enhance honesty and reliability in tourism industry

Jude Day was born and raised in New Zealand. She has experience in teaching, particularly in teaching English. Coupled with her passion for travelling, her first experience was to Sarawak for 3 years as an NZ volunteer teacher.

She then continued travelling and teaching in Japan, then to the US where she did her Masters degree, and onwards to Australia, Papua New Guinea and back to New Zealand for 2 years. Her journey did not end there, however; she continued to Tanzania again as an NZ volunteer, although this time as a teacher trainer, then onwards to Poland, Namibia, Vietnam, UAE, China, Qatar and the UAE again!

After some time, she settled in Kota Kinabalu in 2007. She joined SPArKS and started the KKIFF (Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival) in 2009.

Connecting people

Alfred Bulagang started working with Maybank at Lahad Datu as a clerk in 1981 and was promoted as an operation officer in 1993. By 1996, he changed his job function from operation to credit officer soliciting and processing of housing and shop loan, ASB and more. By 2004 He moved to Business Banking unit as account manager / senior account manager soliciting and processing commercial loan.

In 2010 he moved to SME banking unit as deputy head/ SME manager similar to business banking but with SME guidelines and products. By 2017, He was appointed as regional head of SME for Sabah/ FT Labuan

Believe that anything is possible

Alvin Choo is a vice CEO at K.K TiongHua Funeral Parlour and Hakka Century Funeral Parlour. He started working in the funeral industry at an early age of 24 years old. Before devoting his work full-time in a funeral parlour, Alvin was in the aviation industry for 5 years and
had experience working as a chef for 1 year. Back then, he started as a basic account clerk in the company. After that, slowly involving in management level, mainly in human resources and account department.

Apart from the funeral service company, he is also a general manager and managing director of a hardware business named Harapan Layak Sdn Bhd. He is also involved in a few associations, community services and more.

Following dream through planning and action

Mr N.K.Foo is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Marketer and awardee of a senior prize in accounting from the Auckland University New Zealand.

Mr N.K. Foo (NK) has over 35 years of financial and business experience. He spent 17 years of his career with two top foreign banks in Malaysia in various managerial capacities both at Head Office and Regional level. His last posting was as Area Manager and Vice President of Chung Khiaw Bank (now known as United Overseas Bank) Sabah.

In 1997, NK left the banking sector to accept an invitation to join a private building construction company in Kota Kinabalu.

In February 2004, NK resigned from his position as CEO to begin his entrepreneurial journey via his business advisory vehicles, NK FOO BUSINESS SOLUTIONS SDN BHD and BON SYNERGY ADVISORY LLP as the Managing Director and Managing Partner.

In 2011, NK was invited to join The Malaysia-China Chambers of Commerce (Sabah branch) as Assistant Treasurer and is now holding the position of First Vice President.

In March 2018, NK co-founded the Small and Medium Enterprise Association of Sabah and was elected as the inaugural President at the inaugural AGM on 25 April 2018.

NK as President of SME Sabah was invited by the Prime Minister’s office to attend a business luncheon session with the Malaysian Captains of Industry and a Business Forum with the China Entrepreneur Club headed by Alibaba jack Ma, on 19 August 2018 in Beijing in conjunction with Prime Minister Tun Mahathir’s official visit to China.

Knowledge, networking and collaboration

Joshua is the Head of Assurance Services, and Capital Markets and IPO Services at Baker Tilly TFW, one of the top 10 largest accountancy and business advisory firms in Singapore. He possesses more than 20 years of audit, consulting and commercial financial control and accounting experiences including more than 10 years at international accounting firms. He also has extensive experiences in several local and cross border Initial Public Offering (IPO), due diligences, and merger and acquisitions projects. Graduated with  Bachelor of Accountancy from Nanyang Technology University, he is also the  Fellow Member of Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA) and  Past Member of Auditing and Assurance Standards Committee of ISCA

Karen Schofield is Managing Director of Join the Dots Singapore. She’s spent 17 years specialising in consumer insight, psychology and decision making, and loves trying to understand what really makes people tick.

A regular speaker at conferences and seminars, she frequently runs workshops and training sessions, and she’s known for her engaging, energetic, and often humorous style. She has partnered on consumer insight studies with well-known brands around the world and across multiple sectors, including Friesland Campina, GSK, Unilever and ArtScience Museum.

S Sunitha Pillay, 25, is the founder of NISWARA by Sunitha Pillay. She started her own brand after graduated from Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore in Diploma in Fashion Design while waiting to further her Bachelor in Fashion Media and Industries at Lasalle Collage of the Arts, Singapore. Juggling school and an online business was never easy but her passion in the industry pushed her to be successful. Going into their 7th years, Niswara have emerged into 3 sub brands which are called Yatra, Charitham & Mithya, that cater to our wide range of customers. Being an online brand, all these years have allowed her to meet and network with people from varies parts of the world. However, launching her first Flagship Store in Singapore is something she is working towards currently.

Tho Kit Hoong is the co-founder of Swingvy, an all-in-one HR software founded in 2016 with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Seoul. He uses his background in technology and data to help humanize and simplify the HR experience. He believes in focusing on people because they are the company’s biggest asset. They are the ones who power operations, represent the company’s ideals and drive the business forward. Because of his fundamental belief that people always come first, he created Swingvy to champion people in their work through a world-class seamless automated HR software.

Renee Tan is the founder of H.E.R Entrepreneur, where she inspires, educates and empowers women entrepreneurs and leaders through content, workshops and brings business owners, leaders and investors through her annual summit.

She is certified with Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment (ACTA) issued by Workforce Singapore (WSG), a national certificate which allows her to facilitate
trainings under the WSQ framework in Singapore.

She holds a Double Major in Psychology and Marketing from the Singapore Management University and a Diploma in Molecular Biotechnology.

Founder & CEO of Kew Organics Facial Bar and Sugar K Organic Peel Bar– Singapore’s leading bespoke organic facial bar and first-ever organic peel bar, Lily is dedicated to transform skin through a marry of nature and medi-aesthetics technology. She hopes to revolutionise the beauty industry whereby everyone can embrace their own beauty the organic way, be comfortable and confident in their own skin.

At 29, she enrolled in a beauty school as she was determined to find a permanent and lasting solution to her acne woes and the transformation of her skin eventually propelled her to start her own organic beauty business to help even more people achieve the same.

Her mission is to harness the power of organic skincare to help men and women achieve clear, healthy and naturally glowing skin so that they are empowered to free their skin and ditch the use of makeup. Beyond that, she is currently exploring exciting opportunities to expand Kew Organics and Sugar K Organic Peel Bar into overseas markets via franchisees and e-commerce as she hopes to share her passion for organic beauty with the world.

Chris Low holds a Diploma of Hospitality Management. Advance wine education from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, United Kingdom. He is also a Certified Hospitality Trainer awarded by American Hotel and Lodging Association-AHLA. Chris lives and breathes the hospitality industry. His entire career has spanned the length and breadth of this grueling yet rewarding arena, from running his own restaurant to operations at hotels such as The Renaissance and New World Hotel.

A graduate of The American Hotel & Motel Association, the ins and outs of the dining table has held his never-ending study and attention from then till today. This equates to more than two decades of vast experience in the world of hospitality, wine and dine. And he is also one of the only three Commanduer de Honneur de L’Ordre du Bontemps in Malaysia. And appointed as the Chancellor for the Jurade of Saint-Emilion for Malaysia in 2018

His passion for sharing the joy of great food and beverage with his fellow man has led Chris down the path of an established speaker and coach on various hospitality industry topics.

Ms. Chelsea Chee, founder of MAEKO overcame strong opposition in her paradigm-shifting quest to create awareness for responsible food waste management. She research and improved on conventional food waste composting method by creating a convenient and easy to adopt technology for the people to recycle and reuse food waste. She holds strong to what she believes in reducing food waste and continue to volunteer and contributes in schools, community and corporate green initiative programs to educate, advise and initiate sustainable programs.

Ms. Chelsea Chee graduated with a licentiate degree in Sound Engineering, and ventured into business combining both high technology and green awareness. Chelsea’s personal journey in her career began way back in 1992 when she first started with her new business in laboratory furniture manufacturing. She then ventured into interactive media solution, an industry that constantly evolves with times and later interior designing of green buildings. In the year 2011, her boundaries were pushed even further when MAEKO was formed. There’s no turning back since. Ms. Chelsea Chee is all set out to pursue the bigger picture of the country’s waste management and greening initiatives.

Mr. Desmond Ho is the founder of the Terra Garden group of companies and a pioneer in bringing designer gardens to the mass market in Malaysia. Desmond started out living the outdoor experience since young and with 25 years’
experience in landscape design and horticulture, he has packaged the beauty and pleasure of the outdoors into a unique garden concept that all Malaysians can enjoy. Truly a Malacca-born kampong boy, he has achieved a milestone for all of us by introducing Neo Nusantara into Switzerland, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

Today, Desmond is actively doing research and development for urban outdoor living while spending quality time with his hobbies.

Ganesh has more than 20 years of experience with background in accounting, IT, business and marketing. He served one of the Big4 and had provided consulting services to many organisations in the areas of IT strategic planning, Business transformation, PMO and Quality assurance.  He has also specialisation in “rescue” to large enterprise distressed projects. Today, he is Director of Strategy and Projects at Kollect System, a debt recovery consulting company & solution provider.

He is here today to share his experience on strategies towards managing and optimising A/R to address issues and challenges for both SME and large enterprises.

From the very beginning, Hafez Nasruddin has worked hand in hand with Farah Mustapa, Founder of Fadeco Group to make the brand a shining star. Also a multilingual master of ceremonies with the experience of anchoring various kinds of federal and international events, Hafez’s many voices have been used extensively in TV commercials, documentaries, and animations in the region. As a communication consultant and corporate trainer, Hafez has shared his thoughts and ideas at both public and private empowerment programs.

Having had the privilege of appearing on countless TV and radio programs in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia to get down to the issues of communication and articulation, Hafez has been a speech coach to Asia’s political, corporate, and religious leaders.

Paul Ang Beng Teck is the owner and founder of LaundryBar, also group managing director /CEO of The City Coin Group. Paul who was appointed acting group CEO on Aug 1, 2014 was confirmed to the position following a board of directors meeting on Nov 20, 2014.

Paul, an Associate of International Accountant year 1999, and also Diploma in Malaysia Taxation Year 2002. , He is also registered LaundryBar business as a franchisor with the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) and Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNS) .and Paul Ang was proudly appointed as a council member of Malaysia Franchise Association (MFA) in July 2018.

Ronnie Ng Kee Soon specializes in retail of luxury timepieces. He started out as a seller of cheap watches at a night market stall, before opening a booth at a mall to capture more of the mass market. From there, he realized that there existed a niche in the northern Malaysian market for luxury timepieces. Ronnie set up Brilliant Watch Sdn Bhd to capitalize on the opportunity. Soon, he became the distributor for several high-end horological brands, including Citizen, Alexandre Christie, Ingersoll, and Ball.

Zikry founded The Incitement Movement in 2011 with former colleague Daniel de Gruijter, aimed at promoting volunteerism and social impact amongst youths. 5 years later, Incitement is now a social business and a thriving international community with establishments in over 46 countries, 100’s of events, 1000’s of volunteers, and despite its overarching social mission statement “spreading positivity” has managed to sustain a 400% year-on-year revenue growth. Zikry and his cofounders has now turned Incitement into a Social Tech Venture focussing on building technologies as an enabling tool for tangible impact, reporting, measuring and much more.

Zikry was an ex Radio DJ and also a former National Ice Hockey Player. Zikry is also highly active in giving motivational talks focussing primarily on tech for impact and empowerment tools in different cities globally addressing to the social entrepreneurship, young professional and university communities worldwide. He has spoken at large international conferences such as PODIM, Y.Elites, invited to World Economic Forum, Start:Up Ljubljana and Zagreb, TEDx events, and many more. He is a member of the Grand Jury for the United Nations World Summit Award (WSA) and the European Youth Awards.

She started working at an environmental sector abroad (Germany and Uni Arab Emirate) while continued her study, later she worked on an environmental law centre in Indonesia followed spending 6 years in Indonesian biodiversity conservation institution. Then, she worked for government on climate change adaptation project for almost 2 years before joined IBCSD in 2013.

She received her Master of Science in Sustainable Resources Management from Technical university Munich and now she is currently doing her PhD in University of Indonesia.

He had lived and worked in several countries and different fields throughout his career, which brought him to Indonesia to co-found his first startup company.

His background is eclectic and resonates perfectly with the role I am performing, which is a multi-faceted position, full of challenges and multi-tasking requirements.

Ananag Sukandanr is the chairman of Asosiasi Franchise Indonesia (AFI). He finished his studies at the University of Indonesia in 1959 Majoring in Business Administration at the Faculty of Economy.

He was the one who had developed Tri M. – Trims Mustika Citra, a concept which was a Distribution Centre with a cash & carry and franchise in mini market.

He had his experiences in marketing, distribution and retail for more than 25 years when he was with Borsumij Wehry, a large distribution company with 32 branches all around Indonesia and was also later Director of Export Marketing.

His knowledge and experiences in franchising started since 1986 when he had developed a franchise in Mini Market; become the franchises of Duraclean in 1994 and later did consultancy job in management, marketing and franchising.

Vivek is the Global Managing Director of AiSensum International, an Artificial Intelligence and Big Data company with a focus on Data Monetization partnerships. Vivek is a Computer engineer and an MBA in Marketing.

He has over 19 years of experience in Indonesia, Singapore and India. He started and sold Kadence, a Market Research company with over 150 employees with a 70X multiple. He believes in merging Ai Algorithms with Cultural knowhow to deliver work class analytics.

He is a senior executive with 25 years of international experiences in Business Transformations and Talent Management in FMCG, Banking industry, Telecommunication, IT and Consulting. He had worked in France, Germany, Singapore, Thailand, China and Indonesia.

Before joining Danone Aqua, he had served, many MNCs such as Alcatel, Nokia, Telkomsel, and Citibank.

He received his Master of Business Administration from Helsinki School of Economics, Finland and Master of Computer Science from Université de Nantes, France.