The investment is arriving. Will it reach your order book?
Official topic
Are Malaysian SMEs Capable of Facing the Challenges Posed by the Influx of Foreign Investment and Intensifying Global Competition?
One morning. 200 seats. Free admission. Six questions put on the record to the people who decide whether an SME gets the work, and you ask from the floor.
Registration has closed.
- Date
- 24 August 2026
- 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
- Venue
- Berjaya Times Square Hotel KL
- Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
- Seats
- 200
- Registration closed 21 August 2026
- Admission
- Free
- Normally RM250.00
Jointly organised by
- SG4 Group Sdn Bhd
- Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM)
Foreign investment brings supplier networks, technology and export routes. It also raises the bar on cost, quality, speed, certification, digital capability and access to capital. Firms that cannot clear that bar do not grow more slowly. They are never asked to quote.
This round table puts industry, capital and research in one room to compare evidence rather than talk past each other, with 200 SME leaders testing them from the floor.
Foreign investment reaches the Malaysian SMEs that can meet the standard, and only where industry, finance and policy have built the path to get there.
Four reasons to give up a Monday morning.
You run an SME
Ask the bank why your last application stalled, and the industry body what separates a supplier that gets asked to quote from one that never does.
You finance them
One morning in front of 200 SME decision-makers, and a straight answer on why sound firms still cannot fund upgrading.
You buy from them
Meet the local supply base before you need it, and state plainly what your standards, volumes and timelines require.
You shape the rules
Evidence from industry, capital and research in one sitting, plus a written record of what each side promised.
The agenda
Six questions, and nobody in the room gets to answer only the easy ones.
Readiness
What separates the SMEs that win this work from the ones never asked to quote?
Investment linkages
How does foreign investment turn into local orders instead of passing the supply base by?
Financing
Why can viable firms still not fund automation, certification and expansion?
Technology and talent
What actually moves productivity inside a forty-person company?
Standards and access
Which requirements are keeping Malaysian suppliers out of global value chains?
Commitments
What will each side put its name to over the next twelve months?
Who opens the morning
The round table is opened by the Chairman of SG4 Group. The panel that takes the six questions is being finalised, and each seat is named here as it confirms.
Officiating
YB Dr. Haim Hilman bin Abdullah
- Chairman, SG4 Group Sdn Bhd
- Kedah State EXCO for Industry & Investment, Higher Education, Science, Technology & Innovation
In the programme
9:00 – 9:20 AM
Officiating address, before the floor opens.
Panel to be announced. Industry, capital and research each take a seat, and every one of the six questions goes to all of them. Names are published here on confirmation — the programme below runs as printed either way.
8:00 – 8:40 AM
Registration and networking refreshments
Secretariat
8:40 – 8:50 AM
Participants seated; administrative announcements
Master of Ceremonies
8:50 – 9:00 AM
Arrival and introduction of officiator and panellists
Protocol
9:00 – 9:20 AM
Officiating address
YB Dr. Haim Hilman bin Abdullah
9:20 – 9:35 AM
Scene-setting: SME competitiveness, foreign investment and global pressure
Moderator
9:35 – 10:35 AM
Panel Round 1: Readiness, capability gaps and supplier expectations
Moderator and panellists
10:35 – 10:55 AM
Networking and refreshment break
All participants
10:55 – 11:45 AM
Panel Round 2: Finance, technology, market access and investment linkages
Moderator and panellists
11:45 AM – 12:20 PM
Structured audience questions and interventions
Moderator and participants
12:20 – 12:35 PM
Consensus points, action priorities and stakeholder commitments
Moderator and rapporteur
12:35 – 12:45 PM
Closing remarks and official photography
Host
12:45 – 1:00 PM
Networking refreshments and departure
All participants
Timings are indicative within the 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM window.
What you take away
The record, in five working days
Notes and commitments emailed to everyone who attended that same week, not months later.
A list of actions, with names against them
Every issue paired with what happens next, who is best placed to lead it, and by when.
A room arranged on purpose
Seating mixes SMEs with financiers, buyers and agencies, so the introductions are the ones worth having.
Registration has closed.
The deadline for this round table has passed and the secretariat is confirming the final list. If you registered, your joining details are on their way by email.
Registration closed 21 August 2026
Berjaya Times Square Hotel KL, No. 1, Jalan ImbiBukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur
Conducted in English and Bahasa Malaysia.
Questions? office@sg4.com.my
Already registered?
Your confirmation and joining details come by email. If nothing has arrived, or you need to change a name on the list, write to the secretariat and they will sort it before the morning.
office@sg4.com.myNot registered? The room is closed for 24 August 2026, but the series continues — the next round table is announced on this site first.