PENANG (Sin Chew Daily) — During the Penang stop of the Sin Chew Business Awards national roadshow, four speakers were touching on different areas to allow small and medium sized businesses in northern part of the country to have a glimpse into the awards as well as the latest happenings and information on corporate developments.

Speakers at the talk, held at Wawasan Open university in Penang, were Grant Thornton Malaysia senior executive director Seah Siew Yun, Grant Thornton Malaysia partner Desmond Tan, CIMB Associate Director (Trade Product Development and Management) Rafiah Mohamad Izam, and Sin Chew Business Awards working committee chairman Lenny Cheah, who is also the general manager (marketing & sales) of MCIL Multimedia Sdn Bhd.

Seah was sharing about GST and how SMEs could cope with the implementation of GST. She talked about the differences in standard-rated supply, zero-rated supply, exempt supply, out-of-scope supply and disregarded supply.

While looking simple, she reminded the businesses that GST could have a bearing on the costing, cash flow and software issues of a company. As such, all businesses should try to understand GST better before it is put into implementation.

CIMB Associate Director (Trade Product Development and Management) Rafiah Mohamad Izam talked about the cooperation between banks and businesses and what banks could offer to them.

Cheah, in the meantime, shared about the philosophy behind the Sin Chew Business Awards 2014 theme "Innovation, Transformation, Sustainability." She briefed the participants on how to take part in this year's awards while encouraging local SMEs to get their own performances recognized through the platform of Sin Chew Business Awards, thus consolidating their market positions.

Sin Chew Business Awards is divided into eight different categories, namely Lifetime Excellence Achievement Award, Business Excellence Person of the Year Award, Business Sustainability Excellence Award, Retail Excellence Award, Product & Service Quality Excellence Award, CSR Excellence Award, Property Excellence Award, and Young/ Emerging Business Excellence Award.

Grant Thornton Malaysia partner Desmond Tan, meanwhile, shared gave an account of the selection criteria during the talk.

The second Sin Chew Business Awards is organized jointly by Sin Chew Daily and MCIL Multimedia Sdn Bhd, both under Sin Chew Media Corporation. CIMB Bank is the exclusive sponsor of this event.

Among the supporting partners are the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zong), the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM), Small Medium Industry Association of Malaysia (SMIAM), Malaysian Retailer-Chains Association (MRCA), Persatuan Usahawan Maju Malaysia (PUMM), Branding Association of Malaysia, the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) and Junior Chamber International (JCI) Malaysia. Grant Thornton Malaysia is the auditor of this event.

Regional supporting partners include Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Penang Chinese Town Hall. The other event partners include Fine Paper Takeo Sdn Bhd, Skynet and Setia City Convention Centre.

The Sin Chew Business Awards 2014 is now open for registration and nomination. Closing date is June 15. The award presentation ceremony is expected to held in end-September.

Further information please visit the official site of Sin Chew Business Awards 2014: http://www.sinchew.com.my/sinchewbusinessawards2014.or call 03-79658888.