Here’s a challenge: next time you are on an international flight, grab the in-flight magazine and see if you can find an advertisement from a European or Asian country touting their ideal conditions for setting up a business.  Many of the advertisements discuss in great detail their pro-business policies and highly educated workforce as well as the necessary infrastructure to make your overseas enterprise successful. 

The last time I traveled to India, I was surprised at the multitude of advertisements I came across in those magazines, highway billboards, and television commercials specially promoting Malaysia’s attractive business climate.  It must be working since the Southeast Asian country has been a steady economic engine in the region, sporting positive GDP growth from 1999-2008. 

While Malaysia has been successful in its quest to become a commercial hub, I recently came across news that Malaysia is taking real and significant steps to leverage the private sector in its developmental agenda.  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is making private sector engagement a priority.  Najib recently stated “positive intervention is needed for a more equitable society,” requiring cooperation and collaboration between the government and the private sector.  Najib is backing up these claims with potential plans of expanding Program Sentuhan Harapan Petronas, a program through Petronas, a Malaysian oil company, providing monthly food aid to impoverished families for a two-year duration.  Najib is also championing a financial aid program to make education a reality for rural students through the (government-owned) strategic development corporation, 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

While I applaud an agenda focused at engaging the private sector to achieve developmental goals, the efforts in Malaysia are not without some scrutiny.  In order to achieve sustainable development, Najib should consider food aid efforts beyond charity.  Rather than simply providing food aid, develop an avenue for a corporation who has a mutual interest in increasing food access to derive business value from corporate philanthropy.  It is often times more effective to ensure long-term private sector engagement by presenting a business case to entice involvement.  Additionally, Najib can bolster financial aid outreach by, for example, incentivizing a Malaysian bank to make education access more ubiquitous to students.  It is critical to engage private sector actors beyond a government-owned corporation in order to display a real commitment to this idea. 

In any case, Najib has the private sector on his radar; that’s step 1.  Step 2 is fostering high-impact, sustainable partnerships.