“ We have the raw materials, infrastructure, talent and market. The next step is to create more Malaysian brands that consumers recognise, trust and eventually can be introduced internationally.”

– Dato ' Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid

It is an industry built on plantations, production, processing and exports— and one in which the country has developed considerable infrastructure, expertise and capability.

But perhaps the next opportunity is not simply about producing more. It is about doing more with what Malaysia already produces.

That is the proposition behind Dato ' Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid ' s thinking at Menrez Rimau Sdn Bhd( Menrez Rimau).

Kak Long Cooking Oil( Kak Long) may be the company ' s immediate business, but the thinking behind it extends further. It is about moving downstream.

" When we sell a commodity, we capture one part of the value chain. When Malaysian companies develop finished products and brands from that commodity, we can capture much more of that value," Nurulhidayah explained. That changes the conversation. Instead of looking at palm oil only through the prism of the commodity itself, it opens opportunities around the products created from it— and the businesses, brands and consumer relationships that can be built around those products.

A BRANDING AMBITION: The push to build Malaysian brands reflects a broader ambition to move further up the value chain, from production to consumer recognition.

modity players. They can enter further along the chain. Kak Long is one example.

Menrez Rimau takes a resource Malaysia already possesses and moves it into the consumer marketplace under a Malaysian-owned brand.

The cooking oil itself is familiar. The commercial proposition around it is different.

The objective is no longer merely to sell something Malaysia produces. It is to capture more of the value created before that product finally reaches the consumer.

OWNING THE NAME

There is an important difference between making a product and owning the name on it. Malaysia possesses the raw materials, infrastructure, talent and market.

For Nurulhidayah, the next step is for more Malaysian businesses to use those advantages to create brands of their own. That is a more difficult proposition than manufacturing alone. A brand has to earn recognition. It has to establish relevance.

And ultimately, it has to persuade consumers that the name on the package means something. But if Malaysian companies can do that successfully, they

WHERE THE VALUE GROWS

The difference is significant. A raw material has value. Manufacturing adds another layer. Product development adds another.

Packaging, branding and ultimately ownership of the relationship with the consumer add still more.

For Malaysian entrepreneurs, that also creates a way of participating in the palm-oil economy without necessarily being plantation owners or major comcreate

an asset that potentially travels further than the product itself.

That possibility is particularly relevant in an industry as broad as palm oil, where downstream applications extend well beyond the commodity in its original form.

For entrepreneurs, however, opportunity alone cannot be the reason to diversify. Nurulhidayah believes commercial viability has to come first.

A new product has to make sense for the business, fit what the company is trying to build and, above all, answer a genuine market need.

Not everything that can be made needs to be made. That discipline will determine how Menrez Rimau looks at opportunities beyond its current product.

THE NEXT MALAYSIAN STORY

There is a larger ambition behind all this. Malaysia has already demonstrated that it can be a formidable producer.

The next question is whether more Malaysian companies can use that production strength as the foundation for brands consumers recognise— first at home and perhaps eventually elsewhere.

" We have the raw materials, infrastructure, talent and market. The next step is to create more Malaysian brands that consumers recognise, trust and eventually can be introduced internationally," Nurulhidayah said.

Kak Long remains at the beginning of that journey. But its significance to Menrez Rimau lies in what the business is attempting to prove.

The value of a Malaysian resource need not end with the commodity. It can continue through the product. Through the brand.

And ultimately, through the Malaysian name that goes with it.