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@ Halal | July-August . 2021

MATRADE CEO Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz is focused , determined and pushes his staff to achieve more .

When he took over as CEO on Dec 25 last year , he sought to instil the right attitude among his staff . It helped that he was a longtime employee of MATRADE . To put it in his words : “ I was bred and raised in MATRADE since it was established in 1993 .”

He was previously the Deputy CEO ( Export Acceleration ) of MATRADE and has extensive knowledge in international trade . He has held various positions within the organisation , including leading the markets of ASEAN & Australasia , China & Northeast Asia , Central Asia , West Asia , South Asia and Africa . He also led the Professional & Business Services section and the Mid-Tier Companies Development & SMEs Go-Ex section .

A kampung boy from Ipoh , Mohd Mustafa began his 30-year career in the civil service . He started in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , followed by the Economic Planning Unit , Prime Minister ’ s Department , before joining MATRADE in June 1994 . He played integral roles in export promotions . His career highlights include serving 14 years abroad as a Trade Commissioner at MATRADE Paris , Dubai , Tokyo and as a Senior Trade Commissioner in New York and Dubai for the second time .

He holds a Master ’ s from Universiti Putra Malaysia ( UPM ) and a bachelor degree from Hawaii , USA .

He spoke to @ Halal on various issues , including MIHAS 2021 , digitalisation , the halal industry , trade , management style and his plans for MATRADE .

On making changes since becoming CEO

I want to make MATRADE an organisation of excellence . How do you do that ? Staff must have the right attitude , good values and good work culture . Why ? When I was posted to developed countries , I found that they were created because of their people .

We have to be united . That is the most important thing . Put them back on track and instil some Japanese work culture . So , I started to rebrand MATRADE . I also engaged with the top guys from the many associations , ambassadors , ministers and those with who MATRADE should collaborate .

I served all the former MATRADE ’ s CEOs and MITI ministers since 1994 . It is not easy to change the culture . The discipline must be there . One of the ministers told me that when you carry yourself as a MATRADE officer , you must dress well because you are a frontliner . First impressions are critical when you do your marketing .

My expectations are also high . My officers said that ‘ this old man is just going too fast ’. But I would say in jest that “ I ’ m not going too fast ; you guys are a bit too slow ”.

The point I want to make is that you have to embrace technology . I realise how powerful

social media is . The majority of my officers here are from the younger generation , from a different era .

I admire the way some of the Senior Ministers and Ministers worked . They are very focused , action and results-oriented . They made sure they received commitment from potential foreign investors .

On competition

Regarding the halal industry , we have to ensure that the halal branding of Malaysia will be able to sustain itself in this challenging era . In this sense , other countries are also competing with us , such as Singapore , Indonesia and even Thailand .

The JAKIM halal certification is one of the most recognised certificates that everyone tries to get from us . But their own certifications have also been recognised by other countries . So , what will be the advantage if we don ’ t enhance our approach with value-added ?

So , in a nutshell , there are many other initiatives that we had already undertaken last year . This year , we will not look back . We are going to be aggressive in pushing our digitalisation agenda to ensure that SMEs , as well as other Malaysian export communities , benefit from this initiative .

The logistics involved for foreign investors

As you know , travelling can be a very tedious process . Even when I followed our senior minister for trade investment missions to South Korea , Japan , Saudi Arabia , and the UAE recently , it was not easy as we had to use the travel bubble mode . You have to go for many ,