Budget 2023: ICDM lauds the Government’s focus on innovation and sustainability as catalysts for economic growth and greater social impact
The Budget 2023’s priority on green practices, Islamic Finance and innovation reflects a values-driven focus and approach in rebuilding, and at the same time, futureproofing Malaysia’s economy for the rakyat.
Amidst the ever-changing business landscape, these are global themes with long growth runways which will be crucial in paving the way for Malaysia to foster and facilitate a dynamic business ecosystem, ultimately creating increased business opportunities and job creation.
There are many different dimensions to the expectations and the performance of companies today. Coupled with heightened policy requirements and expectations of greater social impact, leadership today clearly needs to scale their knowledge, understanding and leadership agility which allows them to remain open to new ideas, and innovate to adapt to the changing environment and requirements.
The Government’s apparent values-driven approach in preparing the national Budget 2023 provides companies and businesses with clear signal on how they need to evolve and, the practices they need to adopt to remain relevant, competitive, and ultimately successful commercially. The emphasis on driving business sustainability across the ecosystem, starting with Shariah and ethical financing as a catalyst for driving the right behaviours in business and investments will be a strong factor for companies to continue to invest and operate in Malaysia, as well as to attract greater investments from abroad – be it new or recurring.
As such, the Senior leadership of companies and businesses need to continuously improve upon their knowledge and skillsets to be able to guide their organisations in the right direction. From defining, facilitating, and instilling a growth driven culture and values that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, to developing sound and robust governance systems to facilitate the right behaviours, professionalising leadership of boards and directors will be a key direction in ensuring companies and businesses in Malaysia will aspire to greater quality and behaviour that will ensure that the country will remain attractive as an investment and business destination.
With the right culture, strategy and mindset in place, businesses can continue to serve as the building blocks for the country as we continue on our growth trajectory to achieve broad-based prosperity for the country and Malaysians.
Against this background, ICDM sees itself playing an even more critical role in accelerating our country’s overall growth. As the national Institute of Directors (IoD), we will support in upskilling of talent within the business ecosystem i.e., professionalising board directors, with the goal of enhancing competency and building capacity for a more robust and stronger Corporate Malaysia.
