According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 rankings (January 2020), Malaysia has seen steady improvement in its business climate for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises, moving up three places to a global rank of 12th out of 190 economies in the latest rankings. Consistent efforts to make regulations more efficient, accessible and simple facilitate a conducive business environment for Malaysia’s local and international entrepreneurs. These demonstrate the government’s commitment to the expansion of business opportunities, innovation and job creation; and reassurance to aspiring entrepreneurs and others in the global private sector. MTEP is a Malaysian government initiative with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). The main purpose of this initiative is to attract tech talent and techno-entrepreneurs from all over the world to establish start-up companies and expand their businesses to the ASEAN region

Guan Xi

The corporate world still relies a lot on “Guan Xi” (literally meaning relationship). Whether you win the contract / project, largely depends on who you know. For locals to open a cafe or small shop isn’t a problem; but foreigners and MNCs can struggle with the simplest hurdles. These can include a lot of paperwork, creating the risk of ‘under-the-table’ requests which must be resisted.