March-April . 2022 | @ Halal

21

BY FATIHAH MANAF

It also organised World Halal Business Conference 2021 ( WHBC ), Jelajah Halal Malaysia Sabah 2021 , and recently kick-started 2022 by staging the World Halal Excellence Award ( WHEA ).

HDC ’ s stellar performance in leading the halal development was evident when the Ministry of Science , Technology & Innovation ( MOSTI ) entrusted the corporation to lead the delegation at Expo 2020 Dubai for Halal Cluster Week . They brought home trade and the investment value of RM350 million over two years .

Sharing about the target progress , HDC CEO Hairol Ariffien Sahari said : “ Based on the information I got from my team , during the Halal Cluster Week alone , we have recorded RM120 million potential sales from the activities happening during the week .

“ A serious industry player is coming in with a potential initial investment of about RM92 million . They plan to set up their factory in one of our halal industrial parks . On top of all these , we expect some impacts from the Standard Chartered Saadiq-HDC fund recipients regarding their future materialised trading values , which we forecasted around RM627 million , based on the business size and export capability .

“ So , we aim for about RM840 million in terms of impact . This number is quite conservative , considering that the international border will be open soon and cross border businesses will be more active after this .”

Hanoi has a particular request compared to Cambodia . They want Malaysia to assist in exporting , giving them some opportunities to source halal food , products and services from Malaysia .”

WHEA 2021 recognises local halal players

Hairol said the WHEA 2021 achieved its objective where HDC recognised the achievements of the local halal players . One of the WHEA 2021 award recipients was the Sabah government , which won the Halal State Performance Excellence Award .

“ I like Sabah , personally , when it comes to halal because of the response . The response from the stakeholders over there was very prompt , and they are earnest in taking Sabah ’ s halal industry to the next level .”

Hairol sees enormous potential in Sabah , especially in halal ingredient production . From a geographical location standpoint , Sabah is strategic for the East Asian market , namely China , Japan , Korea , Philippines and Vietnam .

“ They have good infrastructure . The Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park is one of our halal industrial parks . They are going for expansion , and a couple of big players are willing to move in ,” shared Hairol , adding that the halal stakeholders in the State also showed their readiness to embark on halal initiatives .

He said if the halal governance and halal industry development of Sabah turned successful , it could be replicated in other States .

Collaboration with Australia

Regarding the collaborative agreement with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission ( Austrade ), Hairol said it was not just limited to organising the World Halal Business Conference Circuit 2022 .

“ We are also looking at the trade side , whereby there will be many business matchings between Malaysian companies and potential partners over there . We will give more emphasis on our WHEA 2021 winners . We will open the opportunity for them as the first right of refusal .

“ There are a couple of stakeholders already expressing interest in exploring some industrial lands to be converted into halal industrial parks .”

He added there would be opportunities for talent development in the country as more Australian companies were looking forward to adopting the Malaysian Halal Standard . HDC also looks forward to working with some universities in Australia to develop proper halal education .

Hairol then shared his big vision to do a twinning project between halal industrial parks in both countries and introduce a Twinning Free Trade Zone that would benefit all halal players .

Partnership with Cambodia & Vietnam

Hairol also revealed some other international halal development initiatives led by HDC , including the ones in Cambodia and Vietnam .

Regarding Cambodia , he said : “ The idea there is we will do a current state assessment using our halal ecosystem benchmark . So we want to see how far is Cambodia from achieving or reaching a robust and sustainable halal ecosystem . A report will be sent to the Prime Minister of Cambodia .”

He said his team would go to Hanoi , Vietnam when they are done in Cambodia . Vietnam will host the 31st SEA Games in May .

“ Hanoi has a particular request compared to Cambodia . They want Malaysia to assist in exporting , giving them some opportunities to source halal food , products and services from Malaysia .”

Hairol then shared that a new HDC Halmas Halal Park Standard would be launched sometime in April . Together with the standard , there will be a new initiative to introduce new incentives aligned with the current strategic investment policy of the country .

Being more visible globally

Now everything is back to business , Hairol believes the halal export will go up , and investment will be pouring into the country .

“ The bigger question is , will our industry players be ready to handle the new economic wave and capture all the opportunities that it brings . Based on my observation , only those who are resilient throughout the pandemic period will stand above the rest entering this endemic period .”

Hairol said industry players needed to be more proactive in capturing new markets , identifying a bigger pool of suppliers and talents , etc .

As for HDC ’ s halal development plans in 2022 , Hairol stated : “ We want to be relevant , more visible and prominent globally . We want to bring our industry players with us . We want the industry players to dictate the growth of our halal economy .”