Think out of the box, Dr M tells Bumi businesses

The former prime minister said the Bumiputera business community should seek new ways to increase demand for Malaysian products globally. — file pic

PETALING JAYA, Aug 27 — Bumiputera businesses must strive to develop new and unique products rather than imitate others if they wish to compete on the world stage, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.


The former prime minister said the Bumiputera business community should not imitate what has already been done by others but instead, seek new ways to increase demand for Malaysian products globally.

“Think of something new. Don’t do what your neighbours do,” he told some 150 Tesco staff and suppliers here today at an executive lecture organised by the hypermarket chain.

“In Malaysia, for example, if somebody starts a nasi lemak stall, then within a short while there will be 10 nasi lemak stalls. But the number of customers is not increasing so all of them will fail.”

Dr Mahathir said small businesses should build up production capacity by adopting mechanisation so that they can grow as demand for their products increases and eventually develop into small-and-medium enterprises.

He said Bumiputera businesses must also learn to how to better package and market their products, which were good but lacked attractiveness and exposure.

Malaysians could emulate the success of the Japanese and the Koreans, who market and sell goods all over the world, if they “worked really hard”, Dr Mahathir added.

“It’s a question of always producing good quality products and you meeting your commitments,” he said.