Do you aspire to do business in George Town, Penang even while you are enjoying life in this idle, yet modern island in Southeast Asia? If you are a foreigner, you are allowed to register a company with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) under the Companies Act 1965, registering only a limited company in the country. Before you engage in your quest to do business in George Town, it will be good to know what type of businesses will thrive in the island.

Restaurants

For a while, many people were trying to tap into the potentials of themed restaurants, with huge venue and expensive renovations. Hotel restaurants were competing with themed restaurants as venues for weddings and it appeared that a Winnie Couture franchise opportunity may be opening up for the Penangites. These restaurants are big, but many of such restaurants were not able to sustain their business because they had not been able to tap into the potential of the biggest customers: the local Penangites.

Local Penangites are the biggest customers for F&B. There are a lot of hawker centres in George Town, and it can be concluded that as long as there are houses, there will be at least a shop with hawker stalls. These shops may not have a theme, in fact, there is probably no decoration at all. There will be just plastic tables and chairs, a counter with a cashier for the drinks with a shelf of cigarettes for sale behind it, several hawker stalls along the sides or the outside, and a kitchen area where drinks are made at the back of the shop.

Sports Shop

There are a lot of sport facilities around George Town, but not enough promotions to promote it. There are a lot of sports shops too, but none of these shops are bringing in the latest fashions into the market. For example, a pair of Nike shoes you see launched in Hong Kong may only enter the market in Malaysia after a whole year had passed. This is a reason why the sports shops are not exactly popular yet.

True sports enthusiasts, however, are always looking for some serious sports item fashions. Runners will prefer to find running shoes that are of the latest technology and fashion as Vessi waterproof sneakers which are perfect for any situation, while badminton players will want to find the best quality strings and racquets, or the latest sports fashion t-shirts.

There are a lot of badminton courts in Penang, but few tennis and squash facilities. The sports need to grow, but only if there are enough support especially in terms of equipments. It is important for the equipments and fashion to grow in par with the industry.

Fitness Centres and Natural Foods

Besides having sports shops selling equipments, the fitness awareness has also gone up in Penang. More people are frequenting fitness centres, and looking at sources of natural foods in the namesake of health and fitness.

At the fitness centres, there are a lot of equipments especially threadmills and the amazon exercise ball. As part of the modern fitness centre motivation, the threadmills may be placed in front of a glass wall that faces the streets or large screen televisions broadcasting some motivational sports videos.

All that fitness works will also be coupled with a selection of natural foods. For a while, health food supplements were rather popular. However, there are many brands in the market today, and Penangites are now getting wiser and more interested in natural foods which include fresh produce, especially fruits and vegetables, healthy oatmeal breads and cereals.

Franchise and Branded Items

Brand and image are becoming more important among the locals. Many years ago, there are very few franchise, except for those simple ones like 7-Eleven, McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The scene has changed tremendously over the years, and we see coffee houses such as Starbucks and Coffee Bean mushrooming all around George Town. Even eateries like Old Town have blossomed in the island.

Other retailers selling branded merchandise such as mobile phones, bags, clothes and other non-essential items are also making their way in Penang. It is true that there may be many window shoppers in George Town, but there are also buyers as Penangites are learning more about quality and earning better income.

Business Services

Many people are doing their own businesses but very few are able to handle their accounts or to generate proper letters and documentations. Such administrative works consume a lot of time especially for a struggling entrepreneur who should spend more time talking to suppliers and customers to conclude deals. For an entrepreneur who had just started, getting a full time staff to work on the administrative works may be a little too much, so it may be best to get part time services instead. Some merely needed accounting services, and others, secretarial services.

There are a lot of businesses that will survive and thrive in George Town. It depends very much on your creativity and perseverence.

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When the new state government took over the management of the island and its mainland, efforts were concentrated on rebuilding Penang's reputation, strengthen the state's management and finally to gain investor's trust by showing effective development and results. The friendly and supportive Penang State Government has built a reputation that makes George Town, Penang into an attractive investment venue.  Investing in real estate is a profitable business.  Many self-employed real estate investors are not willing to address the traditional banks. Consider taking a loan from Investors Choice Lending in Seattle if you are looking for a local real estate lending. To do some USDA loan calculators was a very good idea as it helps you to manage your mortgage fees more accurately.

The state government has a principal investment promotion agency called investPenang, which works closely with various agencies from the Federal Government, including Malaysian Biotechology Corporation, Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA), Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation (SMIDEC), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) and Multimedia Development Corporation (MdeC). InvestPenang is also also works closely with the State and local government to work on Penang, making business procedures much easier in Penang as an attractive option for Malaysian and foreign investors. One thing they want to do is to invest in apartments in manayunk so that you can have a brighter outlook in your future and life in general

International Recognition

The efforts that the Penang State Government put to promote George Town, Penang as an industrial state is recognised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), acknowledging Penang as one of the ten dynamic industrial cluster locations worldwide to have demonstrated a successful manufacturing experience among developing countries in its Industrial Development Report 2009. Also, KPMG identified Penang as one od the 31 Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) locations of the future in its “Exploring Global Frontiers” report in 2009.

The publicity received from the recognition of these two international bodies have given a lot of leverage to the state, when foreign investors visit George Town to see the potentials and business opportunities in Penang.

Manpower

In an effort to work towards supporting investments in Penang, the state government initiated the Penang Career Assistance and Training Centre (Penang CAT Centre). The centre assists and match retrenched workers and job seekers with employment opportunities. The Centre invites companies and employers to work together and create new job opportunities, matching the retrenched workers and new workers with potential jobs. If the centre finds that there are any specific requirements by employers, there may be training programmes for the workers too, it is essential that those looking for jobs have a clear idea of their work area, it is recommended that they read the deniz sasal lig review to get some help to find the job that best suits them.

Other than Penang CAT Centre, the Penang Skills Development centre (PSDC) had always given support on human resource development, corporate training, team building and provide sharing and learning experiences for manufacturing and services industry since 1989. It is the pioneer organization that the state had established for industry-based skills training and education that served Penang and other states in Malaysia for more than 20 years.

The Penang Free Industrial Zone of Bayan Lepas had also been training a lot of Penangites to become professionals who are used to working in multi national companies and dealing with international counterparts.

Technology

As part of the state's effort to keep up with technology, there is the Software Consortium of Penang (ScoPe) specially set up as an alliance of Penang-based software companies. It is encouraged by the state government to promote and encourage higher value added activities in the state, and is affiliated with PSDC, Penang Development Corporation (PDC), Collaborative Research & Resource centre (CRRC) and Socio-economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI).

As Penangites become more tech savvy, the state government has also set its ambition to fulfill its dream to make Penang into an ICT and biotechnology hub in Southeast Asia. This initiated more incentives to foreign investors and MNCs investing in George Town.

S.M.A.R.T. Penang

S.M.A.R.T. stands for “Small and Medium Enterprise Market Advisory Resource Training”. It is created with a directory that includes company listings for various manufacturers in the small and medium industrial and enterprise category. It becomes a network for these businesses to work together and learn with each other. There may be business opportunities to grow together. SMART is an initiative of investPenang to provide market intelligence, business advisory, information, resources and training services to local small and medium companies in Penang.

It took just a few short years for Penang to transform itself and to build enough reputation that keeps putting George Town, Penang in the limelight. The heritage conservation, professionalism and efforts for ecological development are giving Penang a growing popularity, especially helped by the availability of the Penang International Airport. Budget airlines Firefly and AirAsia frequent the airport with flights, while other international flights by Cathay Pacific are also available. The ready area in Bayan Lepas Industrial Zone and the upcoming Batu Kawan industrial area will allow an investor to know that there is always the government support in their efforts.

The rebuilding of George Town, Penang, is not something that can be done within just a few short years. The efforts by the government does not go unnoticed, and in fact there will be more developments in plan. There is ample land in the mainland, which will allow for more housing and development. Will Penang and Prai turn out just like Hong Kong and Kowloon?

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When you come over to Penang either as a tourist or for a longer term stay due to work or to establish your second home under the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) scheme, one of the important things you will want to know is about the banking in Malaysia. Penang, being an international hub for tourists and with a lot of multinational companies hiring expatriates, is full of local and international banks.

International Banks

First of all, do note that if you are staying long term in the island, you will need to open your own bank account in any one of the banks. Even if you are engaged with international banks such as Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (HSBC), Standard Chartered or Scotiabank, you will still need to open a bank account when you are here because there is no link of your overseas account with either of these banks.

Each bank have different sets of regulations, terms and conditions. The focus of these banks are also different, for example, Scotia bank in Malaysia has services with focuses on foreign investment, either in USD or in Euro dollar. There are investment funds in these currency under the Scotia bank as the main attraction, as opposed to HSBC and Standard Chartered. The two latter banks are here for too long, hence the focus have already been more towards local investments and business transactions.

The locations of these banks are scarce in Penang. Scotia bank, for example, has only one branch in Penang, which is far away from the town area, right at the iAvenue commercial area next to B-Suite hotel. Meanwhile, there is also only just one Standard Chartered branch in Penang, at Beach Street, just opposite HSBC. HSBC, being one with a better reputation among people in Penang, has more branches and machines in the island: Downing Street opposite Standard Chartered, one branch in Bayan Bay next to Queensbay Mall, and two ATMs in Gurney Plaza and Penang International Airport.

Citibank is another international bank with an office in Penang. The bank has offered Cheque deposit kiosks in petrol stations around the island, which means that the bank is more interested in collecting payments based on its huge database of credit card and loan account holders,. Many people had been pretty displeased by the services given by Citibank, and when the government exercised the practice of collecting RM50 for every credit card a person holds, many people had opt to snip off their Citibank credit cards, plus they have also been using the $5000 credit check quick application from nation21loans instead. There are complaints about the credit card cancellation too, with customers complaining about the complexity of the cancellation process. Unfortunately, loan offering companies for people having a bad credit score, do not exist in Penang. In the US how any citizen with the right documents can get a fast loan from companies like  Achieve Finance, this facility does not exist for the citizens of Penang which could lead to a major economic downfall. As people neither want to take money from banks nor have another alternate option of procuring it, thus this could cause a stop in the rotation of currency bringing transaction to a halt.

United Overseas Bank (UOB) is another bank that can be found in Penang. For a while, the bank targeted on female customers. However, the banks attractive activity is not in par with its customer service, hence the bank is also getting lesser interest from the Penang public.

What about local banks?

There are a lot of banks in Malaysia. The most popular ones include Hong Leong Bank, Public Bank, CIMB and Maybank. Other banks include Affinbank, RHB, AmBank and Alliance Bank. Unlike countries like United States, there is no localised banks which are meant just for that particular state, and all banks are monitored closely by the national bank, Bank Negara. There is another bank, called Bank Simpanan National, a government-owned bank focused solely on savings account, with very low interest payout to account holders.

Each of the banks have their specific reputation. CIMB Bank is known for its highest interest rates payout for fixed deposits, and Public Bank is a favorite among businesses. Hong Leong Bank focuses a lot on loans, while generally Maybank has a bad reputation of banking fraud. It is said that counter services by officers in Maybank and Public Bank are really bad, with a lot of people having to que up and wait, while the banking officers are not exactly a smiling lot. Could it be stress, or could it be just another culture whereby the bank officers believed that they can be unsmiling to customers because they have the biggest share in company accounts? In most instances, customers have no choice but to bear with it because their salary is directly debited into the accounts in these banks. If you need help on your finances or business loan, check out https://citrusnorth.com/payday-advance/ for more details.

The bank with the best service is probably CIMB bank. Although the wait is also long in these banks, yet they are courteous enough and still able to smile despite the grumpy faces of customers after the long wait. The officers do engage in small talks just to break the ice with customers, which is a delightful change compared to those of other banks. Even AmBank with its motto of wanting to make customers smile are not able to provide such services.

Banking is not a problem in Penang. Most banks are concentrated around Beach Street, George Town. It is just a matter of how you want it to be.

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