ASB Buzz – Page 3 – Asia School of Business

Professor Michael Frese of Asia School of Business wins the prestigious IPA Path to Scale Award

As part of the team that published a study titled “Teaching Personal Initiative Beats Traditional Training in Boosting Small Business in West Africa”, Professor of Management at Asia Business School – Professor Michael Frese received the prestigious Path to Scale Award for High Potential Innovations in SME Development. Professor Frese and his team were presented their award on November 15, 2019 at the IPA SME Program’s 10^th Working Group Meeting.

Organized by Innovations for Poverty Action – a research and policy non-profit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems, the Path to Scale Award recognizes innovative ideas from around the world that are proven to be effective at addressing key constraints faced by entrepreneurs and SMEs in developing countries.

Professor Frese’s research, which was conducted in Togo, West Africa, found that training that was focused on personal initiative skills that developed a proactive mindset and drove entrepreneurial behavior was far more successful than traditional business training aimed at increasing sales and profits. The research team tracked outcomes of targeted groups over two years and showed that personal initiative training increased profits by 30%, compared with just 11% for traditional training.

The USD10,000 prize money from the Path to Scale award will be used to continue the study with the view of successfully replicating the initiative in other parts of the world. This latest research is just one of many widely recognized works of Professor Frese. He has authored approximately 190 articles for various journals, written over 200 book chapters and co-authored more than 30 books in the areas of Management, Organizational Behavior and Entrepreneurship.

His academic work has resulted in him being among the most-cited management scholars in Asia-Pacific and Germany, and globally, among the top organizational behavior and entrepreneurship researchers. Watch a Virtual Class by Professor Frese on the subject of Understanding the Psychology of Crisis.

For more information, please contact:

Pek Ee Siew
Director of Marketing
Asia School of Business
E: eesiew.pek@asb.edu.my

About Asia School of Business
Asia School of Business (ASB) was established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with MIT Sloan School of Management to be a premier global business school, a knowledge and learning hub infused with regional expertise, insights and perspectives of Asia and the emerging economies. ASB is committed to develop transformative and principled leaders who will contribute towards advancing the emerging world.

Still under construction, ASB’s sprawling new, state-of-the-art campus in Kuala Lumpur is set to be ready in June 2020.

For many professionals looking into management education, the alternatives to a full-time MBA degree often fall short. Non-degree executive programs don’t go in-depth and don’t last long enough to have a transformative effect. Part-time MBA programs focus more on delivering the required coursework than creating an immersive experience. And then there’s ASB’s MBA for Working Professionals (MBA-WP).

“We met with a lot of corporate partners, and they continuously asked if there were opportunities for their employees to earn an MBA without leaving their jobs,” says Juliana Roth, who manages the MBA-WP program. “We surveyed these partners to design a curriculum that was the ‘best of both worlds,’ allowing students to access a world-class education and remain productive in their jobs.”

From the beginning, the program was designed with the needs of these partners in mind. Throughout the program development process, company leaders and HR teams gave feedback to every aspect from the curriculum to the professional development offerings. Both partner organizations and their employees received some surprising benefits from the program even before the first cohort arrived on campus.

“One company considered using the application process for succession planning,” Juliana notes. “They opened up the application to everyone in the company, and managed to find talented employees that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.”

Leveraging the MIT Sloan connection

In the MBA-WP, half of the courses are taught by visiting MIT Sloan faculty and the other half are taught by ASB resident faculty. This is another instance in which the program represents the “best of both worlds,” combining award-winning Western education with a global faculty that has a deep knowledge of Asian business. This partnership also makes the program a unique offering in the Malaysian education market.

There are currently no equivalent programs that involve partnerships with American schools, although some involve partnerships with British schools. And because MIT Sloan is a founding partner of the school, the MBA-WP curriculum borrows many elements from its parent school that set it apart, most notably the concept of “Action Learning.”

Action Learning (with a twist)

Action Learning, or the concept of applying theories and frameworks to real-world business challenges, is embedded in ASB’s culture. The school’s full-time residential MBA features 5 projects in up to 5 countries, with students traveling onsite roughly one-third of the time. When designing the MBA for Working Professionals, it was necessary to make some changes to this model. While students still participate in 5 semester-long Action Learning projects, they all take place within the student’s company.

“The company sees an immediate return on their investment in their employees, and the student can shine as a changemaker within their company,” Juliana explains. The focus of these projects varies according to each student’s expertise and interest. One current student is evaluating supply chain improvements, while another is embarking on a corporate redesign, and a third is finding ways to diversify cashflow.

The projects will progressively broaden in scope as the student gains more experience throughout the program. Action Learning projects are supported by faculty and business coaches to help students accurately identify the problem and work through solutions using what was learned in the classroom. But this doesn’t mean that MBA-WP students never work in teams or venture outside of Kuala Lumpur. The program also includes 3 practicums, or week-long intensive Action Learning projects hosted at various partner organizations.

Capitalizing on global diversity

The first MBA-WP cohort includes students from countries such as Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan, as well as two students who commute from Mexico. While it’s more difficult for students from far-flung countries to benefit from the modular format of the program, MBA-WP cohorts also have the chance to mix with residential MBA cohorts and benefit from the school’s global diversity.

ASB’s residential MBA cohorts include students from over two-dozen countries and six continents. They take select courses together with the MBA-WP cohorts and sometimes even complete projects and assignments together. The two cohorts also share a residence, which facilitates spontaneous interactions outside of the classroom. Both students and staff take care to plan events around the MBA-WP schedule, providing even more opportunities for the classes to mingle.

All MBA-WP students are eligible to run for positions within the ASB Student Association, and can be involved in a diverse set of student clubs with focuses ranging from finance to sports to community service.

A focus on accelerating careers

One reason the MBA-WP stands apart from other modular programs is its rigorous Professional Development Program. Designed with input from corporate HR teams, the Program includes workshops, personal assessments, executive coaching, and relationship building. Students are also offered the option to work directly with their employers to identify and address skills gaps. This way, each student is not only equipped the next promotion, but also for long-term career progression.

“We have a roadmap of the skills we think all professionals need, but we are also very nimble,” Juliana says. “As we identify skill gaps, we adjust and refine our curriculum to make sure what’s learned is directly applicable to our students.” The combination of a rigorous academic curriculum and professional development makes the MBA-WP program challenging to maintain while working full-time. But for students who want to accelerate their careers and stand out in their organizations, there’s no doubt that the program delivers.

KUALA LUMPUR, November 2019 – In a break-through partnership, Asia School of Business joined forces with Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia’s digital marketing arm Consider iProspect and government agency InvestKL recently to offer the “Digital in Action” program which saw MBA students, KL-based companies and digital marketing experts coming together on 7th – 8th November.

The new course received a warm welcome from KL’s business and government community and was quickly over-subscribed. Among the 14 companies and organisations that managed to secure a coveted seat in this November classroom include MDEC, supermarket chain Jaya Grocer, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), kitchen appliance brand Kuvings, and healthy food restaurant chain La Juiceria Group of Companies.

Willem Smit, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Asia School of Business and International Faculty Fellow at MIT designed the digital marketing program with a clear vision to bring the industrial partnership to the classroom. In his view, uniting academia, business and industry experts to experiment with cutting-edge digital tools and frameworks that push the boundaries of digital marketing strategy, thinking and innovation, is the way forward.

“The Asia School of Business is a game-changer in business education and always looks to stay ahead. We want to ensure that our talented students are exposed to the very best and most relevant minds in every field, in this case digital marketing. By bringing together students, businesses and industry players, we are ensuring that even though digital marketing is moving at an incredible speed, everyone can share the space at the forefront,” he said.

The two-day program covered six key areas of digital marketing including User Interface (UI) and Experience (UX), Organic and Paid Search, Social Strategy, Campaign Planning and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) with each session delivered by experts from Consider iProspect and Google. The MBA students together with the participating companies were tasked with deploying key learnings of each area into their own digital environments with the focused objective of achieving improved return on investment through their digital channels, which will be actively measured and evaluated after one month of implementation.

Kasper Wandi, CEO Consider iProspect adds, “At Consider iProspect we believe that working collaboratively to push the boundaries of digital marketing is in everyone’s interest. Collaborating with students and business entities in sessions such as Digital In Action is vital for all parties to gain a holistic view of the advances in the industry.” Digital in Action will be offering another course in March 2020.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Pek Ee Siew
Director of Marketing
Asia School of Business
T: +6012 435 3095
E: eesiew.pek@asb.edu.my

Charlotte Taylor
Corporate Communications
Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia
T: +6016 651 8208
E: Charlotte.Taylor@dentsuaegis.com

About Asia School of Business
Asia School of Business (ASB) was established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management to be a premier global business school, a knowledge and learning hub infused with regional expertise, insights and perspectives of Asia and the emerging economies. ASB is committed to developing transformative and principled leaders who will contribute towards advancing the emerging world and currently offers a full-time MBA, an MBA for Working Professionals as well as several non-degreed executive education programs. For more information on ASB, visit: https://asb.edu.my

About Consider iProspect
iProspect is a global, award-winning agency – focused on converting consumer intent into action and driving business performance for the world’s largest brands, including Diageo, Hilton, Burberry, General Motors, Procter & Gamble, Gucci and Microsoft. The iProspect team works across a network of 4,600 employees spread over 94 offices in 56 countries.

In 2018, iProspect won more than 200 awards including 15 leadership recognition awards and 25 Agency of the Year titles and was named Digiday’s Agency of The Year. iProspect is named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Search Marketing Agencies, Q4 2017, #1 Global Digital Performance Agency by RECMA, Industry Agency of Choice at The International Performance Marketing Awards, and took home 4 Effie awards across the globe in 2018.

iProspect is part of the Dentsu Aegis Network, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dentsu Inc.
Go to https://www.iprospect.com/en/my or follow us on LinkedIn.

About Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia
Part of Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Aegis Network Malaysia is made up of 12 brands – media services agencies Carat, dentsu X, and Vizeum; creative services agencies Dentsu LHS, Merdeka LHS, Dentsu One and Isobar; digital and specialist agencies Consider iProspect, Columbus, Lemonade, Posterscope and Amplifi. Dentsu Aegis Network is Innovating the Way Brands Are Built for its clients through its best-in-class expertise and capabilities, offering a distinctive and innovative range of products and services. Globally, Dentsu Aegis Network is headquartered in London and operates in 145 countries worldwide with more than 46,000 dedicated specialists.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Asia School of Business (ASB) was recognized today as a Full Member of the Association of Asia-Pacific Business Schools (AAPBS) at the 2019 AAPBS Annual Meeting, held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. ASB’s membership application was unanimously approved by the AAPBS Council, a 22-member elected body of international business school deans in the Asia-Pacific region.

Celebrating its 15th anniversary, AAPBS was established in 2004 with the mission to provide leadership and representation to advance the quality of business and management education in Asia-Pacific through research and teaching collaboration, and fostering partnerships to improve business school standards and quality. AAPBS currently has 135 members throughout Asia and other regions such as Europe, Middle East, and the Americas.

AAPBS President, Kenji Yokoyama, said “we wholeheartedly welcome the Asia School of Business as a Full Member of our Association and look forward to generating synergies together through collaboration with other members and affiliates.” Dr. Betty Chung, Executive Director of the AAPBS Secretariat, also welcomed ASB to AAPBS as a new member and expressed excitement to work closely with ASB in exploring and identifying opportunities to advance the business school ecosystem in Asia-Pacific.

President and Dean Charles Fine, noted that “the mission of AAPBS aligns well with the values and interests of ASB. We hope to further develop our network and exchanges with other business schools in the region through the extensive and collaborative platform that AAPBS offers.”

Photo: (Left-Right) Prof. Kenji Yokoyama (AAPBS President), Sayf (ASB, Associate Director of Corporate Development), Dong-Wook Lee (ASB, Deputy Director of Action Learning) and Prof. Betty Chung (AAPBS Executive Director)

Significant expansion planned with new campus launch in mid-2020

KUALA LUMPUR: The Asia School of Business (ASB) and The Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre (Iclif) announced today the integration of their business operations. Both the Bank Negara Malaysia affiliates will be merged and will operate under the ASB name starting from 1 January 2020. This integration will result in the establishment of the executive education centre within ASB to be named “The Iclif Executive Education Center”.

A collaboration between Bank Negara Malaysia and MIT Sloan School of Management, ASB was founded in 2015 as a response to the demand for highly-qualified, industry-ready talent to meet the needs of the growth opportunities of the emerging world, in particular of Asia.

ASB currently runs a 20-month full-time residential MBA program and an MBA for Working Professionals with the distinctive MIT Sloan pedagogy of Action Learning being the core of the curriculum, providing students with experiential training and hands-on projects with a focus on Asia. Beyond its MBA programs, ASB is gearing itself for the start of the world’s first full-time, immersive Master in Central Banking in mid-2020, to bring the best possible education to the future leaders of the world’s central banks.

Iclif was established by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2003 as an Asia-based independent non-profit organization with the mission to strengthen the leadership and governance capabilities within the Malaysian financial sector. More recently, Iclif has also branched out to offer programs and research opportunities in the areas not only on leadership development, but also on organizational effectiveness and corporate governance that now extends beyond the financial sector and outside in the Asian region.

“With this integration, ASB will be able to bring its educational offerings to a much larger audience, enlarging the ASB platform for talent development in Malaysia, the ASEAN region, and emerging economies from around the world,” said Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Aziz, who is the Co-Chair of the ASB Board of Governors and the Chairman of Iclif’s Board of Directors.

“The addition of Iclif will allow for ASB to strengthen and expand its catalogue of non-degreed executive program offerings, tapping into Iclif’s existing global partnerships and faculty,” said Professor Charles Fine, President and Dean of ASB. “The experience and portfolio that Iclif brings to ASB is timely as it strongly supports ASB during our current phase of scaling as we grow the School.”

Rajeev Peshawaria, CEO and Executive Director of Iclif, also commented that, “the merger between ASB and Iclif provides a major growth opportunity for the organizations to combine our efforts to provide a stronger and more complete portfolio of offerings to our clients. Our clients will significantly benefit from both the highly practical knowledge that Iclif brings to the programs coupled with the academic rigour of ASB, to allow for greater impact within their organizations.”

Peshawaria will continue to head The Iclif Executive Education Center within ASB. The expanded educational platform will serve more than 100 organizations in over 20 countries. The formal integration is scheduled to be completed by 1 January 2020 and the operations and staff of Iclif are expected to move into ASB’s new, state of the art campus in June 2020.

For more information, please contact:

Pek Ee Siew
Director of Marketing, Asia School of Business
E: eesiew.pek@asb.edu.my M: +6012-4353095

Leona Wong
VP Client Strategy, The Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre
E: leona@iclif.org M: +603-27259049

About Asia School of Business
Asia School of Business (ASB) was established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia (The Central Bank of Malaysia) in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management to be a premier global business school, a knowledge and learning hub infused with regional expertise, insights and perspectives of Asia and the emerging economies. ASB is committed to develop transformative and principled leaders who will contribute towards advancing the emerging world.

To learn more about ASB, please visit asb.edu.my.

About Iclif
Iclif is an Asia-based international centre dedicated to executive education, research, coaching and consulting services in the areas of leadership development, organisational effectiveness and corporate governance. The Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre or Iclif was created and funded by Bank Negara Malaysia (The Central Bank of Malaysia) in 2003 as an independent non-profit organisation with the aim of providing highly practical and relevant executive and organisational development globally across all industries and government sectors.

To learn more about Iclif, please visit iclif.org.

With classes planned for the beginning in mid-2020, the program is designed to train central bank leaders for the future

KUALA LUMPUR: The Asia School of Business (ASB) announced its plans today to launch a Master of Central Banking program. The program will equip high-potential central bankers with state-of-the-art knowledge and skills to meet the challenges of complex economic and political environments. The intensive year-long residential program is offered in collaboration with the MIT Sloan School of Management. The program is currently under review by Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher Education, aims to start in mid-2020, with an inaugural class from central banks around the world.

“We believe that the ASB’s Master of Central Banking will support the advancement of talent development for central banks from around the world. In a rapidly changing and highly challenging environment, the demands on central banks are immense. Central bankers therefore need the capabilities to deliver the best possible policies and outcomes. Our program aims to contribute to building such capabilities,” says Dr. Zeti Aziz, former Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia and co-chair of the ASB Board of Board of Advisors.

Press Conference at the Launch of Asia School of Business Master of Central Banking Program

Professor Robert Merton, Nobel Laureate in Economics, will be amongst the many MIT faculty members who will teach in the program. He has also joined as co-chair of the program’s Advisory Board. Professor Merton said, “Our understanding of how to extract maximal information from financial markets has increased dramatically. ASB’s new program will provide the necessary tools and knowledge so that central bank leaders can access and use this information most effectively.” The Advisory Board, which held its inaugural meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 1 2019, consist of former central bank Governors from nine countries across four continents.

Professor Charles Fine of MIT, who serves as President and Dean of the ASB explains, “The program’s design builds on the successful model of ASB’s MBA programs where we provide a modular curriculum taught by our resident ASB faculty complemented with frequent visits by MIT professors, plus an extended period in the US with courses on the MIT campus. With MIT’s deep strength in both technology and economics, and ASB’s networks across and beyond the ASEAN region, we are well positioned to address critical issues that interface with Asia and global market economies.”

“Every central bank around the world that could benefit from strengthening their leadership with this program,” stated MIT’s Professor of Practice Athanasios Orphanides, former Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus and member of the program’s Advisory Board. “Even for central bankers with advanced graduate degrees, the technology and political dynamics of central banking are changing so fast, that all of us need to constantly update our knowledge and skills.”

Stanford-trained Professor Eli Remolona, who was the long-serving head for Asia and the Pacific at the Bank for International Settlements, serves as the Program Director. Along with the leadership of ASB, Professor Remolona has been working closely with faculty at the MIT Sloan School to develop the new program, which he describes as being “obsessed with central banking.” He promises that the program will be unique and distinctive and will be in a class of its own. The curriculum will be comprehensive, forward-looking and grounded in reality. “We are building a strong, diverse inaugural class. The response from central banks around the world has been extremely enthusiastic.”

For more information, please contact:

Pek Ee Siew
Director of Marketing, Asia School of Business
E: eesiew.pek@asb.edu.my
M: +6012-4353095

About Asia School of Business
Asia School of Business (ASB) was established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management to be a premier global business school, a knowledge and learning hub infused with regional expertise, insights and perspectives of Asia and the emerging economies. ASB is committed to develop transformative and principled leaders who will contribute towards advancing the emerging world.

To learn more about ASB and the program, please visit asb.edu.my/academic-program/master-of-central-banking

Kuala Lumpur, September 2019 – Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata) in collaboration with Cities 4.0 and Asia School of Business has invited both students and working individuals to participate in the most prestigious datathon in South East Asia, Urbanlytics 2019. The program is aimed to help inspire engaged and innovative thinking as well as build up capacity and talent among Malaysian data science individuals and communities. This year’s datathon is the second edition of the program in Malaysia and was also launched successfully in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh earlier this year. While last year’s datathon was themed around connected cars, Urbanlytics 2019will focus on smart cities.

The concept of big data and data analytics has been around for years but has become more integral as a tool to better understand customer needs and assist in business decision making. Axiata, Asia School of Business and Cities 4.0 are looking to expose, nurture and develop a greater pool of specialists in this fast-emerging area of expertise and skills required in an increasingly connected world.

Urbanlytics 2019 is an opportunity for all passionate data scientists to implement machine learning algorithms for developing interesting AI solutions during the datathon (an intense weekend-long competition). Axiata, Asia School of Business and Cities 4.0’s inaugural collaboration is intended to provide a platform for top Malaysian talent and a community for all aspiring data scientists to show their insights in creating real impact on the daily lives of Malaysian citizens. Outcomes may include visualizations, insights into specific variables and predictions or analyses involving external datasets. Considered a data-focused hackathon, the datathon will provide participants with complex datasets and the challenge to develop models and insights over the weekend that lead to practical solutions which can impact real-life business.

Participants will be mentored and guided by leading industry professionals in analytics, including experts from leading industry association TM Forum and Axiata’s very own Analytical Center. On Monday, 23rd September 2019, the champion team will have the opportunity to receive the Grand Prize from YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia at Hotel Istana where the 2nd edition of Cities 4.0 Conference and Exhibition is happening on 23rd and 24th September 2019.

Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Axiata’s Corporate Executive Vice President and Regional CEO, said, “In our broader goal of Advancing Asia, we aim to bring together the best in the region in terms of innovation, connectivity and talent. Through this datathon, we want to develop, harness and build a talent pool of Malaysian experts in data sciences as this is marked as a highly desired future profession for talent coming out of Asia. This also provides for an opportunity to imbue talents with similar passion for data in society and show the social impact that data-driven solutions can bring to Malaysia and the wider region.”

Building upon this vision, Pedro Uria Recio, head of Axiata Analytics Centre adds, “After our successes in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia where we have hosted a total of 400 data-enthusiasts, we are excited to be hosting another datathon this year. At Axiata, we are dedicated to leveraging innovative data science and data storytelling to deliver regional impact to serve over 350 million subscribers in 11 countries.”

According to Willem Smit, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Asia School of Business and International Faculty Fellow at MIT, “The Asia School of Business aims to create change-makers and we believe that this collaboration with Axiata contributes to that. The Urbanlytics 2019 datathon will be a great opportunity for talented minds to grow and highlight their capabilities to drive change in their society through data,” said Smit.

Urbanlytics 2019 Challenge Details
The challenge is entirely focused on the open-source culture of creating code and algorithms. Urbanlytics 2019 is suitable for individuals from various backgrounds, including but not limited to data scientists, data engineers, programrs, graphic and interface designers, data journalists, data community activists, computer engineers, IT professionals and business consultants.

Participants will be required to form teams of 5-7. On the 21st and 22nd of September 2019, Axiata will release the completely anonymized dataset and the teams will have 24 hours to come up with solutions to real business challenges. The judging panel will then select the top 5 teams to pitch their ideas, after which 3 teams will be selected as winners. Axiata is offering over RM30,000 worth of prizes, for its team and individual categories.

Registrations for Urbanlytics 2019 open on 9th August 2019 and interested individuals can register at this link: www.axiata.com/urbanlytics/ . For more information, please email urbanlytics@axiata.com.

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About Axiata
Axiata is one of the leading telecommunications groups in Asia with approximately 350 million customers and with a presence in 11 countries. In pursuit of its vision to be the New Generation Digital Champion by 2021, the Group has transformed itself from a holding entity with a portfolio of pure-play mobile assets into a Triple Core Strategy driven business with the focus on Digital Telco, Digital Businesses, and Infrastructure.

Within ASEAN and South Asia, Axiata has controlling stakes in market-leading mobile and fixed operators in the region including ‘Celcom’ in Malaysia, ‘XL’ in Indonesia, ‘Dialog’ in Sri Lanka, ‘Robi’ in Bangladesh, ‘Smart’ in Cambodia and ‘Ncell’ in Nepal. The Group also holds strategic interests in ‘Idea’ in India and ‘M1’ in Singapore. Axiata is on the cusp of transforming its mobile operations into Digital Telcos through digitization and convergence.

‘edotco’, the Group’s infrastructure company, operates in six countries to deliver telecommunications infrastructure services, amassing approximately 27,500 towers. Presently the 12th largest independent tower companies globally, it aims to be one of the top regional telecommunications tower companies and is committed to responsible and sustainable business operations.

Axiata Digital and Axiata Business Services are the digital businesses arms of the Group. Together, these businesses are focused on capturing the rapid growth in digital financial services (‘Boost’), digital advertising (‘ada’), enterprise solutions/IoT (‘Xpand’) and platform services (‘APIgate’) with user access to global markets.

As a committed and long-term investor, Axiata provides employment to 25,000 people within its operations. In line with its sustainability goals, the Group actively supports and drives young talent development; disaster response and recovery; as well as green initiatives. Axiata’s broader goal Advancing Asia pieces together the best in the region in terms of innovation, connectivity, and talent.

ALOR SETAR: Sixty students and 20 teachers from 10 schools in Kedah participated in the first Zero2Maker (Z2M) program, aimed at creating future innovators and entrepreneurs in the state and the country. Organised by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (IEC) of Asia School of Business (ASB) and Green Growth Asia Foundation (GGAF) together with Menteri Besar Kedah Incorporated (MBI Kedah) and the Kedah Education Department, the Z2M program is aimed to catalyse entrepreneurship development by building 21st century skills and enhancing exposure to innovation and technology.

The Z2M program is designed to take the students through experiential learning to stimulate creativity, technical skills, communication abilities, and self-confidence. In the pilot, 60 students and 20 teachers from 10 secondary schools in Kedah took part in a three-day workshop from May 14 and went through interactive activities covering the basics of creativity, design and product fabrication. Kedah Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Haji Mukhriz Tun Mahathir, who is patron to the program, said he was delighted that the state was chosen to pilot such meaningful program that also sync with state agenda in improving the education system in the state

“We hope to see changes in our youth. We want them to be a thinker and a doer and this program can teach them to be more creative and innovative. I see the potential in the Z2M program and hoped that it will be expanded to more schools in Kedah in future, so that more students can gain benefits from it,” said Dato’ Seri Haji Mukhriz. Following the successful workshop, a state-wide competition will be held in November to bring together all 10 schools and their students as they showcase their commitment to creativity and innovation. The program is planned to be expanded nationwide as well as to Indonesia and Thailand if the pilot is successful.

Designed, developed and delivered by ASB’s Professor Rajesh Nair, the Z2M program is also part of a research initiative by ASB to determine how the exposure to these types of training and early interventions of “making” and “tinkering” programs develop the innovation and entrepreneurship skills, as well as shape the attitude of youths. “The idea behind this program is to expose students at an early age to things like applied science, technology and design to try to change their life trajectory. We want to help build self-confidence through the program, ultimately hoping that the program had helped to realize their hidden (full) potential as they become young adults,” said Professor Nair.

“We will use this pilot as a model to scale the initiative to other schools in the state and neighbouring countries through the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT). The target is to scale the program to 25 public universities, 250 schools and 25,000 young people by mid-2020,” said Dato’ Dr. Dionysius S.K. Sharma, Executive Director of GGAF. Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a key supporter of the research reflecting their commitment in assisting countries in Asia and the Pacific to achieve the goal of quality education for all.

“Changing communities from the grassroots level requires interventions like this that transforms children to become innovators and entrepreneurs in the future. This in turn enables them to solve problems, start-up companies and create more jobs,” said Christopher Morris, Head of NGO and Civil Society Center at ADB. MaGIC plays a vital role as a program partner and intends to continue working with the Kedah schools through its MaGIC Ecosystem Builder initiative to further build an innovation-driven entrepreneurship ecosystem in these schools. This will further aid to sustain and scale the entrepreneurship movement in Malaysian Schools and Universities.

Dzuleira Abu Bakar, CEO of MaGIC shared, “We must inculcate a problem solving mindset at a grassroots level which is why we are thrilled to be a partner for Z2M. We have provided 10 units of Z2M ‘Makerlab In A Box’ starter kits that contains tools like 3D printers, electronic supplies and other materials for these students to kickstart a maker lab in their respective schools.”

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For more information, please contact:

Pek Ee Siew
Director, Marketing
Asia School of Business
E: eesiew.pek@asb.edu.my
M: +6012-4353095

About Asia School of Business
Asia School of Business (ASB) was established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management to be a premier global business school, a knowledge and learning hub infused with regional expertise, insights and perspectives of Asia and the emerging economies. ASB is committed to develop transformative and principled leaders who will contribute towards advancing the emerging world.

About Green Growth Asia Foundation
Green Growth Asia Foundation is a nonprofit organisation that provides a platform for leadership, thought and action in responding to sustainability challenges in Asia. It is achieving this through cutting edge ‘green growth’ programs that drive economic prosperity within a socially inclusive context, underpinned by a strong sense of responsibility towards the environment and advanced through education for sustainable development initiatives.

Our work is undertaken strategically and this is guided by our Green Growth Strategic Framework (GGSF), which sets out our vision and goals together with our method of working. We have a special focus on Education for Sustainable Development and our Eco-Schools Programme and Young Reporters for the Environment are good examples of our programs under this pathway.

To learn more about GGAF, please visit greengrowthasia.org

About Menteri Besar Kedah Incorporated
Menteri Besar Kedah Incorporated (MBI Kedah) tasked with driving progressive changes in the state’s core and ancillary sectors, expending state income through high impact businesses and promoting partnership in strategic areas as well as ensuring the sustainable growth and the development of Kedah Darul Aman.

To learn more about MBI Kedah, please visit mbikedah.com.my

About Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. It assists its members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

To learn more about ADB, please visit adb.org

About Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre
MaGIC bridges together start-ups, corporates, investors, academics, and the government to create a vibrant and collaborative entrepreneurship ecosystem that will build sustainable industries, able to navigate challenges of tomorrow and stay competitive in economies of the future. MaGIC propels the nation’s economic transformation by moulding Malaysia’s next generation of entrepreneurs to generate future-ready solutions.

As one of the building blocks, MaGIC works to create and equip these exponential entrepreneurs with the necessary tools, skills and capabilities to succeed; creating an open and collaborative environment with key ecosystem players to build sustainable future industries; and connecting new ideas to capital and markets more effectively. MaGIC is also committed to propel the aspiration of Malaysia’s Social Enterprise Blueprint, drive the need for systemic change, create an enabling ecosystem as well as cultivate and champion impact driven entrepreneurship regionally.

KUALA LUMPUR: If you want a window, or a gateway even, into Southeast Asia, try Asia School of Business (ASB). Those are the sentiments of ASB’s recent MBA graduates Jack Farrell and Gary Liao, who have just completed their 20-month residential course in Kuala Lumpur. Farrell, an American entrepreneur, had the opportunity to conduct ASB’s signature Action Learning projects across the region in Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Penang, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur. “The opportunity to do work and business in all these different markets is truly an eye-opener,” said Farrell.

ASB is a premier global business school founded by Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara, and the United States’ MIT Sloan School of Management. Through the Action Learning curriculum in the MBA program, students spend more than seven months of their 20-month program solving real-world business challenges, on-site, in companies across Asia and beyond. And now that Farrell has gotten his feet wet in Southeast Asia, he is not leaving.

“I am staying on in Kuala Lumpur. I may be involved in assisting venture capitalists, or get into another start-up and grow it vertically, or even start another company again,” said Farrell, who cited Malaysia’s high English literacy and the competitiveness of the Ringgit as key factors behind his decision to remain in Kuala Lumpur. “Southeast Asia is the epicentre of growth, and the best way to get to Southeast Asia is through ASB. ASB is the biggest secret in higher education. It is a business school founded in the digital age. Its curriculum is being shaped on current developments and not firmly entrenched (like older business schools),” he said.

Cultural Nuances Matter

His classmate, Taiwanese-Canadian Gary Liao, felt strongly about ASB’s diversity of cultures. “ASB is a lot like me, a combination of East and West,” said Liao, who practised immigration and human rights law in the United States before commencing his MBA at ASB. “ASB’s diverse student body was very appealing. Most schools are 40% international, but ASB is 70%. I wanted an environment where I can benefit from the different perspectives of people from diverse geographies. Malaysia itself is an intersection of a lot of cultures as well,” said Liao.

From the Action Learning projects, Liao said his key takeaways were learning how to operate in a foreign country and interacting with C-suite management. And he must have done well, given that he will be joining the Taipei office of an international strategy consulting firm as a post-MBA Associate, a role offered to him weeks before he even graduated. Prior to enrolling in ASB, Venezuelan Klara Markus spent 10 months in Vietnam leading the regional expansion of an American education start-up.

Asked if she would have performed her previous role any differently, she said: “I would have had more tools to manage the teams in Vietnam and Indonesia. I didn’t understand the nuances of managing people from different cultures. One example (of leadership) is the importance of saving face, particularly when dealing with a leader who is a foreigner and younger.” “I didn’t think the MBA would help me understand human psychology, but it did. You become a more sensitive, kind, empathetic person,” said Markus.

Passion Re-ignited

Social entrepreneur Calvin Woo’s passion for education burns as brightly after completing his MBA, and he has set out to continue championing education issues. At 24, Woo is the youngest of ASB’s Class of 2019, but he is very determined and focused on his goals. His drive to boost social development in Malaysia was recognised early on. As a result, he was the only Malaysian awarded the Queen’s Young Leaders Award in 2016 by Queen Elizabeth II herself at Buckingham Palace. Woo was a co-founder of an education-driven social enterprise called NextGen Impact, which lasted two years—long enough to make an impact.

“I burned out as a young founder with limited skills and tools. When I started out, I was naïve, thinking that everyone was good and kind. Now I’m more strategic and prudent (after the MBA),” he said, adding that the teamwork and diversity in perspectives during the Action Learning projects helped him grow as a person and as an entrepreneur. For the immediate future, Woo has two goals – to start another social enterprise in education and to earn a PhD in Management with the intention of shaping public policy.

“How can we address educational issues with an entrepreneur model?” he ponders. The odds are in his favour that he will find the solution pretty soon. While Woo continues to drive his life-long passion with enhanced skillsets earned from the MBA, Nura ‘Adila Asri and Sarah-Ann Yong Jenlee are making a career pivot. Nura, previously an auditor, is looking forward to a career as a creative strategist. “The MBA has helped me reflect on the life that I want. It has opened my mind beyond traditional career paths,” she said.

Yong practised law in Kuala Lumpur for 2.5 years but has now set her sights on the tech sphere, with her 3-month Summer Associate Programme at Microsoft being a big influence in the decision. “How can Microsoft help lawyers leverage tech better in the workplace and in the courtroom? That was the essence of my core project during the Summer Associate Programme.

“It was an exciting project because I was able to leverage on my past experience, connections and insights as a practicing lawyer to provide such recommendations,” she said. “When I first started the MBA, I wasn’t sure if I would go back to law. But now, after being exposed to the world beyond law, I am now psyched about exploring opportunities beyond what I was initially comfortable with,” she said.

* To learn more about ASB and its Action Learning module, please visit: www.asb.edu.my.

For more information, please contact:

Pek Ee Siew
Director, Marketing
Asia School of Business
E: eesiew.pek@asb.edu.my
M: +6012-4353095

About Asia School of Business
Asia School of Business (ASB) was established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management to be a premier global business school, a knowledge and learning hub infused with regional expertise, insights and perspectives of Asia and the emerging economies. ASB is committed to develop transformative and principled leaders who will contribute towards advancing the emerging world.

KUALA LUMPUR: Graduates of Asia School of Business (ASB), a global business school founded by Bank Negara Malaysia and the MIT Sloan School of Management in the United States, are in high demand, with many receiving job offers well before their convocation. As the MBA graduates of Class of 2019 receive their scrolls today, they are finding that their educational accomplishments are sought after across Asia and beyond. Graduating students have received job offers from well-known companies such as Amazon, McKinsey, Gap, Facebook, AirAsia, Esquel, Didi, JobStreet, Microsoft, Liberty Mutual, Maxis, and numerous others.

At the ceremony celebrating their graduation, Guest of Honour Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, delivered the commencement speech and congratulated the graduates on their accomplishments. He was later awarded an honorary doctorate by Professor Charles Fine, President and Dean of ASB. One of the key factors contributing to the high employability of ASB graduates is the Action Learning curriculum in the MBA program, where students spend more than seven months of their 20-month program solving real-world business challenges, on-site, in companies across Asia and beyond.

This curriculum was recognized by Poets&Quants, a leading US-based education publisher, as providing “the most innovative MBA program in the world.” “We are aware that many employers highlight the skills gap often seen in graduates,” reported Professor Fine. “And as such, we have structured our program to ensure that our students are prepared for the rigors of entering the workforce in challenging managerial positions.”

Professor Fine thanked the ASB Board of Governors, many of whom lead companies that hosted student teams for their Action Learning projects. He also thanked the 96 corporate partners from 18 countries that have hosted ASB students in Action Learning projects since the school was founded in 2015. The long list of companies that hosted student teams includes AirAsia, Sapura Energy, Esquel, Daiwa Steel, Bangkok Bank, BJC of Thailand, Del Monte, Microsoft, Petronas, Maxis, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Samsung and Unilever.

Tun Mahathir presenting the President_s Leadership Award to Ricardo Acosta Latapi (R). Looking on is ASB President and Dean Professor Charles Fine (L). Fine added that the teamwork-centric feature of the student projects helped them learn skills for collaboration, a core value at ASB. Finally, he noted that the host companies directly reap benefits of improved productivity from the student’s energy, education, and problem solving.

On ASB’s future direction, Fine mentioned plans to expand the academic programs to include a part-time MBA and short courses for executive education. ASB will also work towards increasing the number of students per intake once its new state-of-the-art campus is ready next year.

Download: Photo

Commencement Speech By YAB Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia (Watch Video)
Welcome Address By Professor Charles Fine, President & Dean, Asia School of Business (Watch Video)

For more information, please contact:

Pek Ee Siew
Director, Marketing
Asia School of Business
E: eesiew.pek@asb.edu.my
M: +6012-4353095

About Asia School of Business
Asia School of Business (ASB) was established in 2015 by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management to be a premier global business school, a knowledge and learning hub infused with regional expertise, insights and perspectives of Asia and the emerging economies. ASB is committed to develop transformative and principled leaders who will contribute towards advancing the emerging world.

Category: ASB Buzz

Leveraging the MIT Sloan connection

Action Learning (with a twist)

Capitalizing on global diversity

A focus on accelerating careers

Cultural Nuances Matter

Passion Re-ignited

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