KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Young Leaders of Business & Industry (SYBIL) will present several proposals to the state government, particularly on improving the economy and advancing the development of the state of Sabah.
Accordingly, a program has been organized which is a Network and Industry Workshop session attended by 100 talented young entrepreneurs from Sabah who are industry leaders and professionals from various sectors in the state.
Ar. Chan Lik San, one of the organizers of the program, stated that the workshop gathered 100 capable young entrepreneurs to share ideas and proposals aimed at developing the state of Sabah.
“The workshop is conducted for us to share ideas on how to help improve Sabah’s economy across various sectors and industries.
“Our hope is to launch a weekly column so we can identify leaders in various industries to write articles about their proposals on how Sabah’s development can be enhanced. That’s our hope in organizing the workshop today.
“I hope that what we discuss here will be included in proposals with different policies and then presented to the state government,” he said when met by Sabah Media during the workshop session held here yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Chief Communications Officer of Invest Sabah Berhad, Datin Nirvana Jalil Ghani, said that their agency’s role is to attract investors to Sabah, especially in terms of helping to develop Sabah’s infrastructure.
She said, not only infrastructure but also enhancing the economy in the human capital development sector, such as creating job opportunities through the tourism industry, among others.
“I believe Sabah is now more aggressive than before. We are very fortunate now under the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) plan, which is very focused on the goal of developing this state.
“Therefore, whatever assistance we can provide, we will promote foreign and domestic investors from various industries to invest in this state,” she said.
Nirvana said that recently Sabah has received significant investment from the SBH Kibing Solar industry, which requires about 5,000 job opportunities.
“In addition, some of their workers from Sabah have the opportunity to receive training abroad, so we cooperate with them.
“Therefore, why we are present at this SYBIL program is because we believe young entrepreneurs are the source, so we want to help as many young entrepreneurs in this state as possible.
“We want to see more successful young entrepreneurs contributing to Sabah and also how to promote Sabah’s children abroad to learn skills and return as skilled labor in Sabah.
“In addition, we can also expand their businesses internationally,” Nirvana said.
For the Deputy President of the Sabah Oil & Gas Service Council (SOGSC), Jesselton Jason, he said that their target is to develop more oil and gas industries in Sabah.
“Various initiatives have been implemented to develop oil and gas companies in Sabah.
What I see before, the participation in oil and gas in Sabah last year when we started collaborating with the state government, the participation of its members was actually very low, less than 10 percent, and this year we see contract participation of more than 18 percent and almost reaching the 20 percent target now.
“We hope that this year the number will increase, thus helping to boost Sabah’s economy,” he said.
Through SYBIL, Jesselton said they want to provide more exposure to young entrepreneurs about the very high oil and gas market, so they need more effort from the technical marketing aspect.
“Through SYBIL, I hope this matter can be highlighted from the technical market aspect and ensure that it can enhance competition from all oil and gas markets in this state.
Meanwhile, Assistant Director (Strategic Planning of the Sabah Energy Commission), Wilfred Linggu, said their proposal from the aspect of renewable energy is an alternative energy method for electricity generation besides benefiting users, it also preserves the environment.
“Renewable energy is an option for generating low-carbon energy that can also be adopted and implemented effectively in line with our country’s aspirations.
“The current situation in Sabah is that more than 80 percent of our electricity generation uses natural gas, so it is time for us to switch to renewable energy such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal.
“In line with the country’s aspirations, we are slowly transitioning from oil to natural gas to renewable energy.
“This potential is in line with the Sabah Energy Roadmap and Masterplan 2040 (SE-RAMP 2040) launched by the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
“Therefore, the target by 2030 is at least 50 percent of the mixed energy comes from renewable energy, and by 2050, it reaches 80 percent.
“At the same time, it can also achieve the country’s aspiration of Net Zero Carbon by 2050,” he explained.
According to Wilfred, SYBIL is an excellent platform for discussing and sharing ideas to develop Sabah.
“We can gather all successful entrepreneurs from the younger generation to come up with ideas to develop Sabah,” he said.
Also present was the President of SYBIL, Ar. James Wong, and deputy president, Datuk Jade Koh. Members of the organizing committee Ar. Chan Lik San, Adam Wong, Gordon Pan and Dr Jeremy Lee were also present in the program.
