1. Bonia
“Really? Hold on, isn't Bonia Italian?" Ahh, but the best secrets are never obviously secrets, it’s true. I’ve seen bags stamped with Bonia logos in several departmental stores in Singapore, Indonesia, or other countries, but never once suspected it’s a bona fide Malaysian brand under Bonia Corporation Berhad. I wonder if the brand hunters that go gaga over these Italian-inspired Bonia bags know that they’re actually from Malaysia - these bags aren’t exactly wallet-friendly if you know what I mean.
2. Shangri-La Hotel
The original Shangri-La hotel was founded in 1971. Today, the Shangri-La hotels have sprung up throughout Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East and Europe. On top of gorgeous views in major cities all over the world, luxury hotel and resort chain Shangri-La provide her guests with lavish accommodation and superb service in a bid to play the hospitality game right. Bet you never knew they were Malaysian. Shangri-La is under the Kuok group - a company that first made their riches through sugar production. Here's an extra nugget of information for you - according to Forbes List of World Billionaires since 2013 until 2018, the founder, Robert Kuok is the richest person in Malaysia and the 40th richest person in the world. Today, the group owns everything from oil to trading and publishing companies and became the advisor of PM Tun. What a hero.
3. Jobstreet
Did you ever seek a job before? Then you must know about this website. As most of us know, JobStreet is a job portal that caters to both job seekers and employers in Southeast Asia - particularly in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. For those who use JobStreet, with quite a few of them having JobStreet to thanks for their current jobs. They are part of a larger community - more than 15 million jobseekers have JobStreet to thank for connecting them with their employers since JobStreet inception in 1997. And this website also from Malaysia.
4. Karex
According to BBC, Karex holds the title of being world's biggest manufacturer of condoms. Well, that makes perfect sense since Malaysia has an abundance of rubber trees anyway.
Starting out in 1989, Karex built its business around manufacturing condoms for consumer brands, health ministries and health NGOs, as well as making condoms for its own brands, Carex and INNO, which are mainly exported to the Middle East. This year, it's been on something of a shopping spree, buying U.K. condom-maker Pasante, U.S. brand ONE, and custom-fit condom manufacturer TheyFit.
After all, his family's business, Malaysia condom maker Karex, is the biggest condom manufacturer in the world. And Goh was already well on his way to becoming fourth-generation heir to the business, although at the time he didn't know what condoms were used for.
5. Old Town White Coffee
The brand erupted in 1999 and drew inspiration from Ipoh's special white coffee. Their pre-mixed beverages like coffee, tea, and chocolate are exported into foreign countries and cities such as Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, UK, Canada, USA, Australia, and New Zealand.
In Singapore and Indonesia, this brand to rival Ya Kun Kaya Toast or Killiney Kopitiam. Anyway, all of them sell old-school coffee and toasts. They’re almost the same, right? Not exactly.
6. Grab
Wanna go somewhere? Are you in a rush? Yes, you may grab your phone and order a ride with your apps. You can literally grab a taxi with Grab.
The idea of creating a taxi-booking mobile app first came from Anthony Tan, who is the youngest of the three brothers of the family that operates Tan Chong Motors, the authorized distributor for Nissan cars in Malaysia. When a friend visited him in Malaysia, Anthony heard his friend complaining about the horrible experience of riding taxis in the country. In particular, his friend was concerned if his taxi's were taking the correct route or overcharging him. Anthony decided to take this problem up as a project while studying at Harvard Business school. When he presented the project to his professors, the comments he received were that this project was "difficult to implement" and "not proven yet in the real world".
Nevertheless, in 2011, the project won second place at the Business Plan Contest at Harvard Business School. The app was also selected as the finalist at Harvard’s Minimum Viable Product Funding award. In June 2012, Anthony Tan quit his position as the head-of-marketing of his family business Tan Chong Motors at Kuala Lumpur and launched the "MyTeksi" app in Malaysia (known as "GrabTaxi" in other countries) together with Tan Hooi Ling, another Harvard graduate.
Nadiem Makarim (GO-JEK co-founder and former classmate of Anthony at Harvard Business School) acknowledged GrabTaxi as his inspiration for his motorbike hailing business in Indonesia. However, increasing rivalry between Grab and GO-JEK in Indonesia had soured the friendship between Nadiem and Anthony. Now both Nadiem and Anthony is the main player of online transportation in Southeast Asia since Uber left.
7. Axiata
Yes, you might think you could live without your smartphone. You’re joking, right?
A friend of mine said that nowadays we can’t leave our phone even in a day. When you do a telco business then you’ve got everyone’s data.
Axiata’s primary business is in investment holding and the provision of telecommunication and consultancy services on an international scale. Their main focus is emerging markets in Asia, some with low mobile penetration in South and Southeast Asia. Formerly known as TM International Bhd (TMI), the company was incorporated on 12 June 1992 and was the mobile and international operations arm of Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM). Following the merger of TMI from TM, the company was listed on the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad in 2008. On 2 April 2009, TMI underwent a rebranding exercise, launching its new name, Axiata, and a new logo.
Their new tagline, Advancing Asia, was also launched, reflecting the direction of the company in focusing their expansion within Asia. Axiata has controlling interests in mobile operators in Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia, with significant strategic stakes in India and Singapore. The Group also has stakes in non-mobile telecommunication operations in Thailand and Pakistan.
Is that a monopoly to you?
8. CIMB
Do you love to travel? You should travel to Southeast Asia countries, we already wrote about that. And when you did, don’t forget to bring your CIMB ATM with you. Because is easier to get the cash at a good rate. Why?
CIMB Group Holdings Berhad is a Malaysian universal bank headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and operating in high growth economies in Southeast Asia. CIMB has a wide retail branch network with 1,080 branches across the region. The group operates under several entities, which include CIMB Investment Bank, CIMB Bank, CIMB Islamic, CIMB Niaga, CIMB Securities International and CIMB Thai. The group has over 40,000 employees located in 18 countries, covering ASEAN and major global financial centres, as well as countries in which its customers have significant business and investment dealings.
9. Life
The largest sauce brand in Malaysia, Life Sauces is exported into the US, UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Maldives, the Middle East, Brunei and Singapore since it was established in 1978. It comes under Region Food Industries (RFI), the parent company of the Life brand. Life Sauces which first sprouted from a humble factory in Port Klang in 2004 is now producing 26 million sauce bottles a year. Besides the basic sauces like chilli and tomato ketchup, they've also come up with special pastes and oriental sauces. Their mini packet sauces are probably the most commonly found used in popular fast food chains like KFC, Pizza Hut, RasaMas, and more.
10. Munchy's
Munchy’s maybe is your fav. They are leading homegrown biscuit brand that exports their food products across more than 50 countries. Their headquarters is located in Batu Pahat with several Munchy's local offices are spread out across the country in different cities and states. There's a variety of Munchy's products which branch into varying categories, some of which are Munchy's Crackers, Lexus, oat Krunch, Music, Captain Munch, Assorted and 7 Days.