By Alang Bendahara
IN October, the Selangor International Expo (SIE) will host two events — the 2022 SIE Medic and the 2022 SIE F&B (Food and Beverage) at the sidelines of the 2022 Selangor International Business Summit (SIBS).
After two years of pandemic restrictions, many international borders have reopened, prompting the summit’s organisers, Invest Selangor Berhad (Invest Selangor), to plan for more visitors and an overall bigger event.
As a lead-up to SIBS and SIE, Selangor Journal interviewed experts and traders who shared their thoughts and expectations.
Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Koh Kar Chai who was a keynote speaker at the Selangor International Health Conference (SIHC) 2021, which was a sideline event of SIE Medic last year, says he looks forward to another session this year.
“As a participant and visitor last year, the take-home was that SIE Medic was very promising with lots of ideas and business opportunities shared.
“This year’s event will be an opportunity to discuss the gain experienced by the healthcare industry players from the previous session and to share new data as well as the knowledge that has been acquired since then,” he said.
‘More experts will come’
Dr Koh said now that the borders are reopened more industry players will participate to showcase their products and more foreign experts will come for the knowledge-sharing sessions.
“As a medical professional as well as a representative of the MMA, SIE Medic is a good platform to learn about new technology and it serves as an excellent networking platform for those in the medical profession and industry,” he said.
Dr Koh, who is not involved in the Selangor administration’s various health initiatives for its citizens’ wellbeing, commended the actions undertaken by the state during the difficult months of the pandemic and after.
“My opinion is that the Selangor state government does care for the health of its citizens and is serious in implementing various programmes to improve the healthcare system of the state,” he said.
New markets
SIE F&B, with the theme ‘Inspire F&B Business Beyond’ this year continues to provide entrepreneurs with the best platform to introduce and market their products.
TJ Delight founder Rosiyati Mustafar said the event helped her to introduce frozen ‘ketupat palas’ and ‘pulut lepa’ to new customers and buyers.
“The SIE F&B platform offers local entrepreneurs like us a chance to seek new opportunities to enter the foreign market,” she said.
Fyllo (M) Sdn Bhd managing director A Tiruselvan said his company’s participation in SIE F&B last year has increased the sales of their Fyllo Opal (oil palm leaf) tea and he looks forward to debuting three new beverages and food products at this year’s meet-up.
“This year will be our fourth participation in SIE F&B. Through the event, many local buyers got to know our products and bought them to be sold in their stores and outlets. Even the walk in sales from visitors during the event were very high,” he said.
Strength to strength
Invest Selangor said SIE F&B and SIE Medic will be bigger this year as it is anticipating more visitors and exhibitors. Its spokesperson said the 8th SIE F&B offers 488 booths compared to 192 booths last year, while SIE Medic will have 77 booths compared to 49 booths last year.
As of May 11, SIE F&B has sold 127 booths and SIE Medic, 12 booths. The sixth edition of SIBS 2022 will be held from Oct 6 to 9 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
SIBS 2022 will showcase six main components: the SIE F&B, the SIE Medic, the Selangor Industrial Park Expo (Spark), the Selangor Asean Business Conference (SABC), the Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention (SDEC) and the Selangor Research and Development and Innovation Expo (SRIE).
Last year, SIBS attracted over 25,410 visitors, surpassing the initial target of 10,000 visitors.
This article first appeared in the Selangor Journal monthly July edition, published on July 3, 2022.
