KUALA LUMPUR: Visitors can expect a bigger and better Halal Fiesta Asean (Halfest ASean 2017) this year, due to collaboration between Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) and Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju).
Its organiser, Shapers Malaysia Sdn Bhd said 500 booths of innovative and quality halal products and services will be showcased during the event to be held at MINES International Exhibition and Convention Centre in Seri Kembangan on Aug 23-27.
Among the activities slated include business matching sessions, Islamic Takaful Banking Week and Islamic Investment Banking talk by Malaysia Islamic Banking Institutions Associations and Malaysian Takaful Associations, Halfest Asean street food kiosks, pocket talks and halal clinics.
The pocket talks and halal clinics will give a chance to local entrepreneurs to learn about halal certification and enhance the ranking and marketing of their products and services.
HDC chief executive officer Datuk Seri Jamil Bidin said many local entrepreneurs have this notion that halal logo was enough for them to sell their products internationally and did not give priority to competitive pricing, branding, packaging and quality.
“We plan to nurture these companies as they have the potential to grow bigger and penetrate into the world market.
“Most of the participants of Halfest are small medium enterprises (SME) and a big number of them are micro-companies.
"This is a platform for these companies to learn and prepare themselves to go bigger and be ready for the Malaysian International Halal Showcase,” he said in an interview today.
HDC, Jamil said, will host a mini seminar on halal opportunity in Asean where they have invited special retailers, buyers and distributors from countries around the region to be exclusively matched to exhibiton.
Meanwhile, the Superb Halal Chefpreneur Challenge 2017 will also take centrestage during the five-day event, providing a platform for young entrepreneurs interested in producing innovative and creative products with commercialisation potential.
Teraju chief executive officer Datuk Husni Salleh said so far, 74 people have registered and will compete to produce the best new F&B product in the market right now.
“It does not have to be something new, it can be something old or traditional but presented in a new way, in an innovative way.
“There will be five winners where each will get RM50,000 worth of prizes. Not only will they in the
form of cash but also include promotion for their product, training and development for three years.” he said.