KUALA LUMPUR, February 21 – Halal Development Corporation Berhad (HDC) awarded sixteen (16) organisations for their contributions in the growth of the halal industry during its prestigious World Halal Excellence Awards (WHEA 2021). The WHEA 2021 was presented by the Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Y.B. Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
“These achievements mark a number of milestones for these respective organisations. Some of these are well-known brand who had been in their respective industries for a long time, staying resilient during pandemic and adhered to halal stringent processes into their operations. Indirectly this showcases the importance of halal in business processes to gain customer confidence and market support,” said Azmin.
The top two (2) categories include the Halal State Performance Excellence Award and Halal Best Entrepreneur SME Excellence Award.
As to organisations, the awards will be for Halal International Business Excellence Award, Halal Healthcare Excellence Award, Halal Innovation Excellence Award, Halal Logistic Excellence Award, Halal Food and Beverages Excellence Award, Halal Prominent Brand Excellence Award and Halal Financial Excellence Award.
HDC-AUSTRADE Announced Collaboration to Host the World Halal Business Conference Circuit 2022 in Melbourne, Australia
The highlight of the Award Ceremony was the announcement of the collaboration of HDC and the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (AUSTRADE) to host and organize the World Halal Business Conference Circuit 2022 in Melbourne, Australia scheduled to be held in June. The announcement was made by HDC’s Chief Executive Officer Hairol Ariffein Sahari and Assistant High Commissioner, Ms Hannah Birdsey representing the Australia’s High Commissioner, H.E. Dr Justin Lee.
Malaysia and Australia have long been a trade partners in the halal industry, especially in the foodservice sectors such as dairies and meat, hospitality industries and manufacturing.
Malaysia is considered to be a robust manufacturing sector. It continues to play a vital role in the country’s economic transformation. Last year, the manufacturing sector contributed about 22% of the country’s GDP including a growing halal manufacturing subsector focused on food and healthcare products.
“This collaboration is not only subjected to market insights, partnership opportunities. Importantly, it will include projects to enhance trade, exchange of market intelligence know- how, investment in Halal parks, training and consultancy and co-organising Halal related events.” said Hairol during the announcement.
This year’s Awards were proud to have on board our winners:
To start the list, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad and United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad were awarded the Halal Financial Excellence for local and international financial institutions respectively to honour their respected reputation in integrity, trust and good governance, which drives their business through knowledge, expertise, hard work and focus on customer service driven by sustainable approach.
Standard Chartered Saadiq Berhad was presented with the Halal Prominent Brand Excellence Award (International). This is to honour its high-profile brands and trademarks built throughout the halal industry that includes creative excellence and consistency in promoting international acceptance and recognition through best manufacturing practices while upholding halal integrity. Home-grown burger business Ramly Group has been honoured this award under local brand. Ramly Group, which manufacturers halal, clean and high quality meat-based products such as beef, chicken and seafood, exports its products to six countries, namely Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Bangladesh.
Halal Logistics Excellence Award was presented to Nippon Express (Malaysia) (category Large Company) and FTS Logistics Sdn Bhd (SME) for their respective exceptional business strategy in adapting to the worldwide logistics needs and navigating surges and peaks. These companies are also celebrated due to their effort in driving industry environmental improvements and Halal integrity while advancing businesses efficiency.
Halal Healthcare Excellence Award was given to Duopharma Biotech Berhad and The Origin Foods for their role in trail blazing within the healthcare industry as a provider of quality products and services manufactured and distributed within the stringent halal processes.
A household name to many, these two recipients have established themself as innovative and trusted leaders in the Food & Beverage arena. Started small, then scale up, build a solid field team, have a retail execution plan, design great packaging and a good advertising had earned Baba Products (M) and Fatihah Frozen Food the Halal Food and Beverages Excellence Award for Large Company and SME respectively.
Meanwhile, Omni Mal Agencies Sdn Bhd received the Halal Best Entrepreneur SME Excellence Award to recognise SME that displayed accelerated growth and gained traction in industry recognition and customer confidence. It demonstrated business resiliency and financial sustainability through its strategic and tactical planning.
Adabi Consumer Industries (category Large Company) and Seasonings Specialities Sdn. Bhd. (category SME) were awarded the Halal International Business Excellence Award for their innovative business processes, product development, enterprise, sustainability, leadership, and overall business success in penetrating halal market globally.
QL Figo (Johor) Sdn Bhd and Ameen Products Sdn Bhd garnered the renowned Halal Innovation Excellence Award for innovating, changing and infusing technology and ideas into halal industry and community. This is extended to the efforts and commitment in pioneering halal R&D and the revolutionary ideas in uplifting halal through science and technology.
With Malaysia as a global halal hub, States are also growing its industry in tandem to that of the country’s halal economy. This year, Sabah State Government received the Halal State Performance Excellence in recognition for its outstanding initiatives which have helped achieved higher levels of consumers’ awareness and encourage organisations and companies venturing into Halal businesses.
Azmin said, “It is our hope that these achievements accorded tonight will lead to the bar being raised higher whether in terms of performance, efficiency or productivity, to ultimately benefit the halal industry. And with this, a new horizon of opportunity is for the taking to build the capacity of halal players to diversify and gain a competitive edge in this area.”
Leveraging on HDC’s existing comprehensive offerings and services towards halal industry development, the winners of WHEA 2021 received a trophy, opportunity to benefit from HDC programmes such as World Halal Business Conference Circuit, be part of the industry representative panel in discussing business challenges and channelling industry insights to policy makers ministries as well as be recognised as WHEA winners Elite Group and promoted within HDC existing networks.
