Brandt's first Talent Development in Johor

Thirty-two people in the first Talent Development Programme have successfully completed their training and are now employed in the Brandt International Global Business Services delivery center in 1Medini Hub, Nusajaya, Johor.

The pioneer group of trainees in the frist Talent Development
Programme with key personnel from Brandt International
and supporting partners, MDec and i2M

This inaugural programme was carried out in partnership with Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and i2M Ventures Sdn Bhd (i2M).

This collaboration started with the agreement to create 50 jobs for Customer Management Executives in Medini Hub as this initiative will provide professional development and opportunities for growth in Iskandar Malaysia.

“With this in mind, Brandt International made the shift to recruit candidates here and adopted the ‘hire and train’ approach in establishing the Global Business Services (GBS) centre in Medini, Nusajaya,” said Brandt International founder & CEO, Munirah Looi.

A section of the Global Business Services delivery centre
in 1Medini, Nusajaya

“Moving to Nusajaya was a conscious strategy for Brandt to focus on near-shore market potentials and attract new talents here to be skilled for jobs in the Business Services sector, and today we see the fruits of our decision in this graduation event,” she added.

Out of 200 applicants keen to join the training programme, only 32 candidates were shortlisted to undergo a month-long, fully residential programme with group activities and case studies.

These candidates, including 21 Johoreans, were a mix of SPM holders with one year experience in the sales or service industries, fresh diploma and degree graduates and even early retirees who wished to relocate to Iskandar Malaysia.

Each person in the group were presented with certificates in a simple graduation ceremony while top performers, Lata Kumarasamy, Mohamad Aizat Junaidi and Iza’in Mohamat Nor, were duly recognised for exceeding the set targets with their exemplary performance.

[L to R] Michael Warren, Mohamad Aizat Junaidi, Lata
Kumarasamy, Iza'in Mohamat Nor (the top three performers),
Munirah Looi and Zulfiqar Zainuddin

These trained talents who have started their careers in the GBS delivery center in 1Medini Hub will have their performance monitored and further honed over the next six months.

"The service industry is about people and when this one person in the delivery centre answers a call or message, he or she is the ambassador of the company,” said Multimedia Development Corporation Vice President, Global Business Services, Michael Warren, emphasising the importance of employing trained and skilled personnel in the delivery centre.

“We would like to congratulate Brandt for a job well done in training and hiring these talents,” said i2M Managing Director, Zulfiqar Zainuddin, who went on to say that this is proof that there is untapped talent available in this region to complement the need for highly skilled people in the GBS industry.

Brandt International has successfully designed, developed and implemented multiple solutions with thirty clients, primarily in Asia, the Middle East, the UK and US markets, and worked closely with i2M, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Bhd, in the setting up of its delivery centre here.

Brandt, a specialist in Business Transforming Consulting and Business Process Managed Services, has another delivery center in Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur.

A version of this was published in The Malaysian Insider on 28 Nov 2015