TO be a successful entrepreneur, it is necessary to give back to employees and to society, says PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd chief executive and managing director Datuk Michael Tio.

Tio, who is a veteran Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA) entrepreneur, says business is not all about making money.

He was speaking to some 200 participants at the first SOBA Learning Series workshop held at The Star Pitt St. in Penang yesterday.

He was one of five speakers at the event. The others were AmBank commercial head (wholesale banking) Yeow Swee Yun, Credit Guarantee Corporation senior vice-president Wong Keet Loong, Matrade (northern region) director Badrul Hisham Hilal and Plus Solar Systems Sdn Bhd executive director Ko Chuan Zhen.

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“For example, we have in our company a health programme to get employees to lose weight.

“The employee who achieves a set target gets to go on a holiday paid by the company,” he said.

Tio added that such CSR programmes improved the workers’ health, benefiting the company in return, as there will be fewer days of medical leave taken by staff.

He said that to give back to society, the company was now planning to build a 700m-stretch Japanese Sakura pathway in a 60,000sq ft garden in front of its 12 Waves warehouse in Batu Kawan Industrial Estate which should be ready next year.

“We will plant Tacoma trees that will produce flowers that resemble cherry blossoms.

“The pathway can be used for celebrating Japanese festivals.

“Next to the pathway is a recreation centre-cum-service area which will house a food court, public toilets, shower facility for truckers, smart truckers’ lounge and a convenience store,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ko said human assets were of primary importance to a company.

“This is why we select our employees carefully. Sometimes out of the 400-odd applicants interviewed, we engage only one or two workers.

“We look into their area of study, their enthusiasm and potential for improvement,” he said.

Yeow spoke on current economic challenges, noting that SMEs should remain committed to their business during such times.

“They should not spend or invest unnecessarily and they must ensure that their loan track record is clean,” he said.

Meanwhile, Badrul Hisham said that if local companies could not find opportunity to expand at home, they should look at countries which have free trade agreements with Malaysia.

“These are countries like Australia, Turkey, New Zealand, Japan and the Asean countries,” he added.

Wong said SMEs should maintain a good credit track record as the status of the record would impact their applications for loans.

SOBA 2016 is organised by The Star with AmBank as the main sponsor.

Event co-sponsors are BMW Malaysia, Credit Guarantee Corporation and Matrade while the official venue sponsor is Connexion Conference and Event Centre.

It is endorsed by the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs, supported by Bursa Malaysia and audited by BDO while 988 and Suria FM are the official radio stations.