Its managing director Redza Rafiq maintained that Cyberjaya is not a real-estate game as branded by many critics. He talks to Rozana Sani.

Q: Can you describe your current scope of responsibilities and tasks? What do you enjoy most at work?

A: Cyberview is the landowner of Cyberjaya and has been tasked by the Government to spearhead the entire development in Cyberjaya. As such, my responsibilities in Cyberview are tuned towards driving the company’s strategies and deliver the decree set by the Government.

My work at Cyberview and Cyberjaya for the past 11 years has been enjoyable. I have witnessed the growth of Cyberjaya, from the planning stage to what it has become now. Cyberjaya has grown so much if you were to chart its growth over the last decade. We are now host to more than 400 MSC- status companies, which is a healthy mix of homegrown companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and multi-nationals.

Q: What are among the key issues in turning Cyberjaya into a full-fledged ICT hub?

A: Over the years, Cyberjaya’s growth and expansion has taken an interesting turn. It started as a hub to attract research and development initiatives. However, with the organic development that took place and excellent telecommunications infrastructure, Cyberjaya has become one of the primary locations for global shared services and outsourcing (SSO) sector.

In my opinion, there is more to a cyber city than just creating hype and having sophisticated IT infrastructure. To us, a cyber city is about giving Cyberjaya a holistic development that can make it an attractive city for investors, businesses, corporations and individuals. While we have been successful, there is still a long way to go.

A challenge that Cyberview embraces is keeping the cost of businesses in Cyberjaya competitive, and continuously setting standards for other cyber cities and cyber centres to emulate.

What makes Cyberjaya special is that it is the nucleus of MSC Malaysia. When a company chooses to set up in Cyberjaya, it would be entering into a relationship with a city that understands its business needs and takes on a customer-centric approach in developing the relationship.

Q: How would you address these issues and challenges?

A: Cyberjaya will continue to be branded as a cyber city with a difference by creating an ecosystem that is not only feasible for businesses large and small to thrive in, but also to provide sustainable development that is viable for all walks of life.

Cyberjaya is not just about the provision of physical space and infrastructure. Making Cyberjaya a sustainable development is a challenge that we relish.

We have been actively marketing Cyberjaya via various outreach programmes, on the local front as well as internationally to gauge perceptions of potential investors and to also improve our services to them.

One key message that we drive in is the innovative planning and lively community that is unique to Cyberjaya.

Q: How do you envision Cyberjaya five years from now?

A: As we approach the year 2010, our planning team will be mobilised to look into the targeted areas of growth that we want to pursue at that point of time. They will chart the appropriate course for Cyberjaya in line with the global demand and trends of the ICT industry.

For now, Cyberview will continue with the marketing and promotion efforts to attract potential investors and businesses to Cyberjaya and help to provide market access support to SMEs in Cyberjaya.

Five years from now, I foresee Cyberjaya turning into a preferred place to work, live, study and play.

We are looking forward to the launch of myHome@Cyberjaya, an affordable housing programme before the year-end. We expect to see more exciting developments taking place in the near future.

Biodata

Redza holds a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Hull, United Kingdom and a Master’s in Business Administration (Finance and e-Commerce).
He sits on the board of Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd, and is also Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd’s director. He is a member of the Board of Governors for the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance. Redza’s experience include setting up Cyberview, restructuring of Cyberjaya project and the financial restructuring of MDeC.