Expand downstream activities – Invest Sabah

KOTA KINABALU (Nov 6): Sabah must expand the downstream activities for her resources, said Invest Sabah Chief Executive Officer Dr Firdausi Suffian.

To experience real development in Sabah and for real structural change to occur, he said Sabah must grow her downstream activities.

“When we merely export resources, export oil, palm oil, statistically it is amazing; it show your investment is good but for the people of Sabah, when it comes to real development and really feel structural change, it is imperative to focus on downstream activites,” he said when speaking at the “2024 Merdeka Talk – Sabah Leadership: Not Just a Title, But a Lifestyle” held at the Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort on Wednesday.

Firdausi was explaining the role of the company that he was leading, Invest Sabah, which he said was to bring investment to Sabah.

“It is really challenging,” he said in this talk, citing that the company was new and he was grateful for the past experiences he has had as a lecturer with a public tertiary education institution.

“We wanted to bring about structural change and expand downstream activities in Sabah,” he said.

Firdausi also mentioned the importance of trust among the people he worked with, and as a leader, his role was to communicate the company’s vision to his subordinates and ensure they knew what to do.

He added that the people he was working with in the company were mainly the younger generation and stressed the importance of including them in decision making as well as become the driver of the organisation.

He also urged the young to learn from their seniors who have the wisdom.

“Young people are full of drive and ambition. That must be instilled with purpose and the young can learn from the older generation who can impart them with wisdom and purpose,” he said.

Meanwhile, chairman of Zak Capital, Tan Sri Nazir Razak, urged that youth should also be allowed as part of a company’s board.

“Just as we encourage 30 percent of women in the board (of directors), we should also encourage youth in the board,” he said.

Among the reasons for this is so they can learn from one another, he said.