Selangor - Investment Opportunities in Malaysia

First of all, let me apologise for this long period of silence, in which I was not updating my blog at all. As it is happening in life, I changed my job and needed a little time to adjust to this new challenge. I believe it was worth it and for the future, I might be able to share even more interesting stories, research as well as insights.

Selangor in red on the Peninsular of Malaysia

As of now, I am working with the Selangor State Investment Centre, which is providing support, information and facilitation to international and domestic investors during the market-entry in Selangor. Probably not everybody knows much about the geography of Malaysia, so let me add a map to help you locating Selangor and myself.

Port Klang in Selangor

The state is located right in the centre of Malaysia and strategically at the famous Straits of Malacca. Consequently, Selangor also is home to the largest and best developed seaport as well as to the largest international airport, Kuala Lumpur International Airport and another smaller international airport at Subang. Besides, there are also freight related airfields in the state. In 2005 the capacity of the seaport surpassed already 109,700,000 and by 2010/11, more than 50 vessels are serviced at Port Klang every day in the year. Selangor is not only a strong manufacturing but also logistics hub.

With approx. 5.4m people living in Selangor, this region is the most populous state in Malaysia and the most developed in regard to infrastructure. Contributing about 22% of the Malaysian gross domestic product, Selangor is the industrial and services powerhouse of the country. Certainly, more than 130 universities and colleges ensure the rapid and knowledge-oriented development of high-tech industries and sophisticated services.

Over the last few years, Selangor was always one of the top destinations for foreign and domestic direct investments and received in the first half of 2012 already more than RM 4 billion in new investment projects. Some of the major projects include companies from Switzerland, Germany, France, the UK and US, while local players have been growing in many of the following industries:

• Aerospace
• Electrical & Electronics
• Life Sciences
• Green Tech (Solar and other renewable energies)
• Machinery and Equipment
• Marine-based industrial & port related activities and services
• Packaging, Storage, Distribution
• Petrochemical and Polymer Industry
• Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics
• Transport Equipment Industry
• SERVICES INDUSTR: 
• Regional Establishment
• Support Services
• Real Estate (Housing)
• Transport
• Financial Services
• Distributive Trade
• Hotels & Tourism
• Education Service
• Health Services
• Halal Industry

Sepang Gold Coast Resort in Selangor

Overall, the state has the best educated workforce and infrastructure, stable national and international corporations and a strong service sector to support different industries as well as a great standard of living. Selangor offers not only the most shopping malls in Malaysia, but also has some of the most attractive resorts, golf courses and entertainment parks. Without telling too much, there is more to come during the next years and some of these attractions most likely will be unique to the ASEAN region, partly to the whole of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Finally some words from my heart, Selangor has been my new home for the last two years and I feel honoured to support the state in developing an attractive investment environment as well as a higher living standard through economic advancement.

So stay tuned for my future posts on different industries, the development of Selangor’s investment environment and investment opportunities.