As we're aware one of the pillar in growth for Penang state is foreign direct investment(FDI) besides tourism and its sister UNESCO World Heritage status. To complement the Malaysian Investment Development Authority(Mida) initiative in attracting investor, the investPenang arm under Penang state government has move along the same line by going to Hong Kong and Singapore with the same objectives of allure investors to Penang.
A source mentioned that Malaysia recorded its highest foreign direct investment(FDI) of RM38.7bil in 2013,an increase of 24% over 2012 and 3.9% higher than the last record of RM37.3bil achieved in 2011.
What will foreign investors stand to gain by having their operations in Penang?
The infrastructure of masterplan Free Industrial Zone(FIZ) has been established since 1970s with Bayan Lepas FIZ. It was later expanded to mainland with Prai FIZ with supporting industries built under Small and Medium Industries(IKS).
Talented human capital development. Penang Skills Development Corporation(PSDC) was established in 1989. The centre is entrust to provide training and develop human capital to support Multinational Corporations(MNCs). Over a period of 20 years, the Centre has trained over 150,000 participants through over 7,000 courses; pioneered local industry development initiatives; assisted in the input and formulation of national policies pertinent to human capital development and contributed directly to the Malaysian workforce transformation initiatives.
InvestPenang agency. The state government agency was established in 2004. investPenang is a non-profit entity of the State Government with the sole purpose of promoting investments within Penang. investPenang aspires to sustain, rejuvenate and further promote entrepreneurialism through continued investments and simultaneously explore new growth areas which are profitable. Their core competencies are (1) Furnish information and resources to investors, (2) Enhance Penang’s business friendly environment, (3) Strengthen Penang’s competitive advantage, (4) Promote investment, (5) Support existing companies growth, (6) Facilitate growth of domestic industries, Penang SME Centre. As a matter of fact we work with investPenang and Mida on foreign direct investments'(FDIs) requirement and to cater the investor needs on existing infrastructure.
In tandem with investPenang's efforts, Penang Development Corporation(PDC) provides industrial lands for factories. These lands are with tenure of 60-year lease. Their current factory development is in Batu Kawan with establishment on Batu Kawan's IKS.
The IT-BPO Hub Penang integration. It's a vision and initiatives of Penang state government to envision that Penang establish herself with Information Technology Outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing(IT-BPO) Hub with cost of RM3.3bil in setup and expect to be fully operational in 10 years.
The IT-BPO hub is make up of 30ha(74.2 acres) BPO Park in Bayan Lepas, 2.8ha(6.9 acres) BPO Prime in Bayan Baru and 0.93ha(2.3 acres) of Creative Animation Triggers(CAT) in George Town heritage zone.
Penang's Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Park.
BPO services is said to include customer operations, data processing, back office administration, accounting, technical support, transcription, software development, IT consultancy and disaster recovery services.