The Persatuan Alumni AOTS Malaysia (PAAM) has just concluded the 4th series of its Afro-Asian Entrepreneurs Program (AAEP). Started in 1999 with the first AAEP which was then opened only to members of the African Federation of AOTS Alumni Societies (AFAAS), the 4th AAEP saw an overwhelming response. The response of 27 applicants and many more enquiries indeed exceeded all our expectation. Regretfully only 18 were accepted for the program proper.

Group photo with participants, PME working committee, CCMs, PAAM & AOTS staff.

The participants were:
From Sudan
- Mr. Ismail Iizzeldin El Sayed, Executive Manager, Al Barakawi International Co.
- Mr. Abdalla Ahmed Mohamed, Maintenance Sect. Manager, Tool & Dies Company.

From Tanzania
- Mr. Didas Rafael Mwilawi, Director of Finance,Dar Es Salaam Water & Sewerage Authority.

From Sri Lanka
- Mr. Gihan Nissanka Perera, CEO/Managing Director, Perera & Sons (Bakers) Ltd.
- Mr. Wasantha R. Lakpriya Wijenayake, Accountant, Papyrus Papers Pvt Ltd.
- Mr. Mohideen Cader, CEO/Managing Director, Sinwa Holdings Limited.
- Mr. Herath Mudiyanselage Ayodhya Mahansen Wijayaratne, HR Manager, Namunukula Plantations Ltd.
- Mr. Nugegoda Gabadage Prasanna Panditharatne, Director, Industrial Components Ltd.

From Ghana
- Mr. Nicholas Kyei-Baffour, Director of Operations, Smice International Ltd.
- Ms Agnes Kyei-Baffour, Managing Director, Unaprof Limited.
- Mr. Amos Oppong Amankwah, Sales Manager, Tractor & Equipment Ghana Ltd.
- Ms Francisca Oppong Amankwah, Management Consultant, Optimal Consultancy Services Ltd.
- Mr. Adjenim Boateng Adjei, CEO, Public Procurement Board.
- Mr. David Bennin, Director of Capacity Development, Public Procurement Board.
- Mr. John Kwaw Amihere Mensah, Div. Manager, Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd.
- Mr. Joseph Mensah Kpordzih, Sectional Manager (Industrial Relations), Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd.
- Mr. Joseph Piero Krause, Deputy Director of Finance, Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd.
- Mr. Joseph Mbia Coleman, Div. Manager (Operations), Electricity Company of Ghana Ltd.

Mr. Theodore Wong, AAEP Project Manager.	Representative from the Embassy of Japan, Mr. Daisuke Yamamoto (left) together with Mr. Watanabe (centre) & Mr. Koichi Hayase, one of the lecturers.
	Opening ceremony of AAEP on 17 Jan 2007.

The Program which started from 16 January 2007 with the arrival of most of the participants, ended on 26 January 2007. Due to the long flight time required to travel both from and back to their respective countries, a few of the participants left Malaysia on the night of 25 January 2007 so as to be ready for a brand new day the following Monday.

The planning which lasted for almost a year, considered among its critical issues, the setbacks faced during the last 3 programs. In ensuring no recurrences of those setbacks, the organising team had to re-draft many of the topics so as to fit into the mindset of the modern and successful entrepreneur. This led to the program highlights as follows:-

1. Japanese Influence on Malaysian SME by Mr. Koichi Hayase on Day 1.
2. Plant Visits to Nippon Paint (M) Sdn Bhd (5S Practices) and Autoliv Hirotako Sdn Bhd (Autoliv Production System), on Day 2.
3. Total Quality Management by Mr. A. Aziz Y. Kamaruddin on Day 3.
4. Entrepreneurship by Mr. Eric Koh and Plant Visit to Polymatech (M) Sdn Bhd (Line Innovation using Kanban Tools) on Day 6.
5. Inventory Management / Material Logistics by Mr. Alan Lai on Day 7.
6. Supply Chain Management - Best Practices in SCM: Ultimate Key to Succeed by Mr. Kenny Simon Lee on Day 8
7. Workshop on Investments into Participants' Own Countries/Industries by Mr. Koichi Hayase on Day 9.

During this workshop, participating nations were asked to draw up plans on how to attract Foreign Direct Investments to their countries and a specific industry using a structured format provided by Mr. Hayase. Considering that the participants were only given 5 working days to plan their presentations, the workshop was extremely successful. Congratulations to the participants for a job well done.

Throughout the program, the enthusiasm and proactive approach towards learning as shown by the participants were indeed encouraging. While we understood that the entire group was made up of professionals and entrepreneurs of high calibre, it was therefore important that they were given the opportunity to see and learn for themselves additional areas which would make them and their businesses grow further.Hence the lecturers and plant visits were tuned to what entrepreneurs needed to be successful, from basic requirements of 5S in our daily chores to the very high end visualisation of Kanban controls in action, risk factors and others.The Q&A sessions during plant visits were also critical for participants to understand how world class companies function. The frank exchange of ideas and responses from the plant representatives, mostly Senior Managers, made the plant visits fruitful but at the same time demanding on the participants. Now they would need to implement many of the concepts seen in their own offices and factories.

Some of the participants have in the 9 days seen places that even some Malaysians would not have. During the weekend, they visited the famous Batu Caves, the National Monument, a Batik Printing factory and the Twin Towers (still the highest twin towers in the World). Also having the program conducted in Melia Hotel Kuala Lumpur has definitely its advantages.
Centrally located, the hotel is surrounded by Shopping Complexes, Food Stalls and Restaurants. From the feedback from the participants, communication problems with shop assistants were non-existent and with bargains galore, great deals were struck and parti-cipants went off happy. The country tagline of Malaysia, Truly Asia has been again tested and has proven true to its word.

While the organising team feels the program succeeded in many ways, some of the problems needed to be overcomed included:

1. The adverse effect of the falling USD/MYR exchange rate. During planning, the rate used was USD1 = MYR3.65. The actual exchange rate at the start of the program fell to 3.5.
2. The lower subsidies from WNF. While we understand the limitations now being faced by the WNF administrators, the limit of USD4,500 for the program restricted PAAM to accept more applications for the program.
3. The period was also reduced from the earlier 12 days to 9 days due to the above limit.

It is without doubt the hard-work and cooperation put in by the respective countries' alumni societies, the PAAM secretariat, Organising Team members, Partner Companies, AOTS, WNF committee members, PAAM CCM and Melia Hotel's staff contributed towards the smooth implementation of the program. The sacrifices made were small in comparison to the new friendships and happy faces which are results of a successful program.

Organising Team members:
Yap Choon Ming
Theodore K C Wong
Yang Chor Leong
Eric Koh
Angela Saul
Maggie Yap
Khor Kai Tong
Surinam Othman