French fashion brand Sophie Paris, which opened its flagship store in Petaling Jaya (PJ) yesterday as part of its multi-level-marketing (MLM) foray into Malaysia, aims to generate RM15 million in sales in the country this year. After investing RM5 million for its store in the country, Sophie Paris aims to grow the brand by engaging with distributors to promote and sell membership as well as its range of products. "We will start with handbags and accessories first, then introduce our range of cosmetics and clothing later in the year, followed by shoes in 2013," said Sophie Paris Malaysia managing director Geoffrey Bagot at the launch of the store yesterday. The Jakarta-based company hopes to entice customers to sign up as members as they can earn additional income when they continue to recruit members in the process. "This will help to drive and meet our sales target within the next 12 months. We hope to register 20,000 members this year," he said. Sophie Paris was founded in 1995 by Frenchman Bruno Hasson in Indonesia and has since expanded operations to Morocco, Philippines, Vietnam and now Malaysia (its fifth store). The company generated total sales of US$100 million (RM315 million) last year with more than 1.5 million members globally selling 75,000 products everyday. "We are confident in this market because there is no MLM company in Malaysia that solely specialises in highend fashion at affordable prices. We have a new catalogue out every 40 days, so this keeps our products new and fresh. "The fashion industry in Malaysia is very dynamic and since most women love to make shopping a social gathering, this will also be a great business opportunity for them," said Bagot. Currently, the products available in Sophie Paris Malaysia are handbags, wallets, costume jewellery and accessories such as watches and sunglasses. The company distributes and markets its products through a network marketing model. It has nine brands including Son Altese Sophie and Sophie Signature. Sophie Paris has just opened its doors to the public and is located at C-01, PJX-HM Shah Tower, No. 16A, Persiaran Barat, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. For more information about Sophie Paris, please visit www.sophieparis.com.my . Source : Malaysian Reserve

Wangsa Tegap, a wholly owned subsidiary of Berjaya Corporation, has awarded VINCI Construction Grands Projets (70%, leader) and Hitachi (30%) a contract to build the first phase of the Berjaya Central Park residential and office complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This first phase, valued at €76 million, comprises the turnkey construction of a 9-storey podium block and a 46-storey office tower as well as the structural construction of a 48-storey Ritz Carlton residential tower. The complex will have a total area of 185,000 sq. metres. Work will begin immediately and take 27 months to complete. In 2003, VINCI Construction Grands Projets built the 700,000 sq. metre Berjaya Times Square complex, Asia’s largest residential and shopping complex in a single phase, for the same customer in Kuala Lumpur. Source : www.vinci-construction-projects.com , 03/10/2011

GEORGE TOWN: Malaysia has set its sights on middle-class tourists from Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Sri Lanka, China and India to boost its medical tourism industry. At present, Indonesian tourists contribute to the bulk of the business in medical tourism, with Penang and Malacca the popular destinations for treatment. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said he was optimistic that middle-class tourists from other parts of the world would seek medical treatment here as Malaysia promised first-class medical services at affordable prices. He said the government had recently set up the National Health Tourism Council, co-chaired by him and Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, to see how best Malaysia could capture the medical tourism market.   "Of late, there had been more and more middle-class people emerging in such countries who are willing to pay a little more for the best medical treatment and this is where we can come in. This is our market," he said after officiating at the topping-up ceremony of the Gleneagles Medical Centre here. Present were Parkway Pantai Limited chairman Datuk Mohammed Azlan Hashim, Pantai Holdings Bhd chairman Khairil Anuar Abdullah, Gleneagles Medical Centre chairman Datuk Seri Dr Goh Eng Toon and Gleneagles Medical Centre chief executive officer Ronald Koh. The new RM180 million 19-storey building is linked to the existing centre. Upon completion by the third quarter of next year, it will become an iconic premier hospital of 400 beds with modern wards complete with innovative facilities to enhance patient comfort. The new facility will have 10 operating theatres, 35 intensive care, coronary care and high dependency units, and an additional cardiac catheterisation laboratory. Earlier in his speech, Nor Yakcop said the new facility would create more than 700 jobs, ranging from doctors and nurses to allied health support staff. He said Gleneagles Medical Centre was also targeting RM100 million in foreign revenue for the next five years. Read more: Malaysia eyes world’s middle class for medical tourism http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/13jus/Article/#ixzz1b0ypmhUQ Source: New Strait Times, 2011/10/17

Kuala Lumpur, 2 Sept, 2011 - Google today announced a team up with Tourism Malaysia to poll Malaysians on which national tourist treasures and uniquely Malaysian sites should be featured in Google Street View - the Google Maps feature that allows users to view and navigate 360-degree street-level imagery. Malaysians can vote and suggest their favorite locations at the website maps . google . com . my / svtrike , which will remain open for the rest of the month. Malaysians will be able to choose places in five categories: Historical, Tourism, Cultural, Urban + Architecture, and Nature. The poll also includes a write-in suggestion box for any places not listed under the categories (go on, surprise us!). The public can submit their ideas until 11:59pm on Sept 30, 2011. Google will finally tally the votes and identify interesting ideas from the write-in suggestions before publicly announcing the ‘winners.’ The winning sites will be prioritised as the Street View trike makes its way across the country. Throughout the entire process, Google is committed to working closely with the relevant organisations to collect images of privately-owned locations that have been included in the poll. The imagery of the Malaysian sites will then be captured through the Google Trike - a specially-designed bike mounted with a camera that can capture and collect street-level imagery in places less accessible by car. The trike has already collected images from hundreds of places around the world, many of which can be visited in Street View today, such as Stonehenge in UK, Pompei in Italy, Legoland in California, Versailles in France and the Esplanade in Singapore. See images of the trike in action here . Images collected by the trike will be processed and carefully stitched together, a process that can take several months. As with all Street View imagery done worldwide, Google will blur faces and license plates to protect people’s privacy. "We are happy to work with Google to showcase Malaysia to millions of people all over the world through Google Maps. The trike will help us feature even more of Malaysia’s culture, heritage, charm, attractions and landmarks that make us such a unique and compelling destination," said Dato’ Azizan Noordin, Acting Director General, Tourism Malaysia . "We look forward to receiving great ideas from the public on what areas the trike should cover. By featuring Malaysians’ suggestions of their favourite parts of our country, viewers from around the world will be able to discover the best of Malaysia through local eyes." "We’re working hard to get Street View up and running for Malaysia, and the trike is an excellent way to start adding amazing imagery to showcase Malaysia’s history and culture," said Sajith Sivanandan , Head of Google Malaysia. "We want the public’s votes to help us determine where we should go, so we encourage everyone to head over to the voting site to select and suggest their favorite spots." About Tourism Malaysia Formerly known as Tourist Development Corporation of Malaysia (TDC), Tourism Malaysia was established on 10 August 1972 as an agency under the former Ministry of Trade and Industry. With the inception of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism on 20 May 1987, TDC was moved to this new ministry; and became the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB). Tourism Malaysia has gained recognition as a global brand for its full focus on promoting Malaysia domestically and internationally. It has more than forty overseas offices around the world. Beginning October 2011, Tourism Malaysia Headquarters will operate from its new premises in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s government administration capital. For more information, visit : www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my. Source : Tourism Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 26, 2011 – DKSH and L’Oréal have finalized an agreement under which DKSH’s Business Segment Fast Moving Consumer Goods in Malaysia will support the L’Oréal cosmetics brands of Maybelline, Garnier, and L’Oréal Paris with sales, logistics, and distribution services. The collaboration will commence in October 2011, with a focus on the central and northern territories of West Malaysia. With 66,200 employees and consolidated sales of EUR 19.5 billion in 2010, L’Oréal is the leading cosmetics company in the world. The French company, headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, was founded in 1909 and has a portfolio of 23 global brands. “Following the latest agreement between DKSH and L’Oréal in Vietnam in May 2011, we are delighted that L’Oréal has once again chosen DKSH’s Market Expansion Services, extending our partnership now to Malaysia. Through our extensive network, deep local relationships, excellent market know-how, and well-established on-the-ground logistics, we will help L’Oréal to further grow its business and market share in Malaysia, ” says Leonard Tan, Managing Director for DKSH Malaysia.

Thanks to the best efforts of the Government of Malaysia, the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation and the East Coast Economic Region Development Council, attractive conditions for the bio-methionine and thiochemicals plants have been obtained. The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Najib Abdul Razak, welcomed this choice at a press conference today in Kuala Lumpur. Kerteh located on the East Coast of Malaysia is an ideal place to build a thiochemical platform and bio-methionine plant where all the necessary infrastucture, utilities and raw materials can be easily obtained. The onsite bulk port and the nearby Kuantan and Kemaman container ports will facilitate the logistic of the products. Arkema and CJ Cheil-Jedang confirm their intention to start operating the plants at the end of 2013.   CJ CheilJedang, a Korean based food, feed, and bioscience company, is leading the way as  No.1 global company in the world in the area of industrial biotechnology with innovations in fermentation, and purification technologies. CJ is a leading producer of fermentation-based products such as feed amino acids, MSG, and Nucleotides with global manufacturing and business operations in 6 continents. As a socially responsible company, CJ strives toward practicing carbon-neutral manufacturing operations by utilizing renewable raw materials and developing value-added co-products to minimize waste into the environment.   A global chemical company and France’s leading chemicals producer, Arkema is building the future of the chemical industry every day. Deploying a responsible, innovation-based approach, we produce state-of-the-art specialty chemicals that provide customers with practical solutions to such challenges as climate change, access to drinking water, the future of energy, fossil fuel preservation and the need for lighter materials. With operations in more than 40 countries, 14,000 employees and 8 research centers, Arkema generated annual revenue of €5.9 billion in 2010, and holds leadership positions in all its markets with a portfolio of internationally recognized brands. The world is our inspiration.   Source: Arkema press center.

In an effort to position Malaysia as a premier duty free shopping destination, the Malaysian Government recently announced the waiver of duty on roughly 400 imported goods beginning in January 2011. The tax will be waived to attract a wider range of luxury brands to invest in Malaysia. The move also facilitates competitive pricing of imported merchandise, giving Malaysian retailers a competitive edge over retailers in other countries. Malaysia’s introduction into duty free shopping began in 1987 when the island of Langkawi was established as the first duty free zone. Since then, the islands of Tioman and Labuan, and numerous other towns have followed suit. “Duty Free Zones” offer items that are exempted from import duties but are available only in designated shopping zones around Malaysia. As shopping marks a major component of tourism revenue, focus is being placed on three main areas. The first is the implementation of tax exemptions on a wider range of goods. Next is the promotion of the Bukit Bintang/KLCC shopping district as the premier shopping hub, and the development of three new premium outlets. Malaysia is recognised globally as one of the leading tourism destinations, ranking in the top 10 in arrivals and top 15 in global receipts. The tourism industry is also an important contributor to the economy, generating RM36.9 billion in gross national income (GNI) in 2009. This makes tourism the fifth largest industry in our economy after Oil, Gas and Energy, Financial Services, Wholesale and Retail, and Palm Oil. By 2020, the tourism industry will contribute RM103.6 billion in GNI, with arrivals increasing from 24 million in 2009 to 36 million in 2020. “The tourism sector will continue to be in the forefront of Malaysia’s economic development. This sustainable and high-yield sector will continue to drive Malaysia’s economy, providing income and job opportunities to the Rakyat. Malaysia has a strong global tourism position today. Malaysia is the 9th most visited country in the world and we receive RM1 billion receipts per week from foreign visitors. Realising the advantage and strong position we possess in the tourism industry globally, the Government is committed to further develop this sector together with the private sector for the benefit of the Rakyat.” – YB Dato’ Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen By Anita Chandran Source : http://www.pemandu.gov.my/etp/blog/2011/05/affordable-luxury/