2015
9 MayÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø scholars reveal Malaysia¡¯s Top 10 Young Leaders
KUALA LUMPUR: The CEO of beverage brand Chatime Malaysia was among the winners announced at the ¡®Malaysia¡¯s Top 10 Most Impactful Young Leaders¡¯ awards ceremony organised by ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø University¡¯s (ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø) scholarship students recently. 25 candidates were nominated by Malaysian students ¨C between 16 and 25 years old ¨C from government and private institutions of higher learning in Malaysia. The winners ¨C as voted by students ¨C were revealed at the ceremony on Saturday.
Organised under the ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø Scholars¡¯ Club (U-SchoS¡¯), the awards aim to recognise young Malaysians who have made an impact to the community, region and nation through their profession or contributions.
Held for the third year in a row, previous award winners include Aireen Omar ¨C CEO and executive director of AirAsia Berhad and notable sports personalities such as Dato¡¯ Lee Chong Wei and Datuk Nicol David, who clinched the ¡®Malaysia¡¯s Top 10 Most Inspiring Young Leader and Personalities Award¡¯ last year. Bryan Loo, the CEO of Chatime Malaysia was also voted by the students as a winner at last year¡¯s event.
¡°I am truly honoured to win this award by U-SchoS for two years in a row,¡± said Loo.
He also praised the event, adding that the theme, ¡°Small Steps. Big Impact¡± is something that he believes in, as his own company started out as a single store. Today, it serves more than 1.5 million customers annually.
The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the 3rd ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø Scholars¡¯ Leadership Lecture Series (ULLS). Themed, ¡®Small Steps. Big Impact¡¯, the lecture featured a roster of distinguished speakers, including keynote speaker Senator Datuk Paul Low Seng Kuan, Minister in the Prime Minister¡¯s Department who was also the Guest of Honour. He spoke on ¡®The Power of Leadership¡¯.
According to Datuk Paul Low, ¡°Effective leadership is filled with passion and purpose.¡±
He further added, ¡°Impactful leaders take upon themselves to dig deep and finds solutions to the most pressing problems of their times.¡±
Other distinguished speakers include Dr Hartini Zainudin ¨C Managing Director and Co-Founder of Yayasan Chow Kit, Wing K. Lee ¨C CEO of YTL Communications and Leong Hoo Yin ¨C Founder of Espressolab.
The lecture and the ¡®Malaysia¡¯s Top 10 Most Impactful Young Leaders¡¯ awards also highlighted how giving back to the community is an important component when it comes to measuring success.
¡°As tomorrow¡¯s leaders, students must know that success is not limited to just the corporate or career world. If they manage to positively impact society and the nation, they too should be celebrated,¡± said Dato¡¯ (Dr) Hj Mohd Karim Hj Abdullah Omar, chairman (Board of Trustees) of ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø University Trust.
In this vein, ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø vice-chancellor Senior Professor Dato¡¯ Dr Khalid Yusoff pointed out that students are capable of achieving great things ¨C both in the corporate sector and in the community ¨C once they set their minds to it.
His views were echoed by John-Son Oei - founder and CEO of EPIC Collaborative, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that builds homes for disadvantaged orang asli communities
¡°Young leaders should focus on finding a purpose. That is usually tied to something that is bigger than yourself, and you can give back to the community,¡± he said.
He added that leadership is about trust, and he dedicated his award to his team and volunteers.
Another winner, Jazz Tan - CEO for Youths Today, a youth development online medium that supports and funds young individuals¡¯ ideas - stated that this event is a great platform to groom the younger generation into having a global mindset.
The enthusiastic response from approximately 300 students from tertiary education institutions all over the country speaks volumes about the event.
President of USchoS¡¯, Suzanne Ling shared, ¡°This lecture series is a small step taken by U-SchoS¡¯ - to inspire all students to start taking steps in creating their own impact.¡±
¡°We wanted to organise this lecture and get the influential leaders to speak to not just ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø students, but all university students because we are hoping that each participant will be inspired by our event and go on to do something great,¡± said organising chairperson and student, Bernard Chin Kai Yang.
The event was also attended by Dato¡¯ Peter Ng, founder of ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø University and chairman of ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø Group.
The other winners included Tunku Zain Al-¡®Abidin Tuanku Muhriz, founding president, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS); Cheryl Yeoh, CEO, Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC); Joel Neoh, founder and former CEO, Groupon Malaysia; Keeran Sivarajah, co-founder & former CEO, Teach for Malaysia, Michael Teoh Su Lim, founder, Thriving Talents Sdn Bhd; Ruth Yeoh, director, YTL-SV Carbon Pte Ltd, and Timothy Tiah, co-founder, Netccentric Pte Ltd.
