UTAR CEO Talk Series: Leap of Faith from Executive to Entrepreneur

UTAR Centre for Corporate and Community Development (CCCD), in collaboration with UTAR Unovate Centre, Faculty of Accountancy and Management and Paramount Corporation Berhad, organised the “CEO Talk Series: Leap of Faith from Executive to Entrepreneur” on 2 March 2023 at Sungai Long Campus. The talk was also live-streamed via Facebook and Zoom. Jeffrey Chew Sun Teong, the group chief executive officer and executive director of Paramount Corporation Berhad was invited to deliver the talk.

Jeffrey Chew

At the talk, Jeffrey Chew stated, “In this world, it is not all about how smart you are or how much you know, it is about how capable you are in terms of communicating and interacting with other people.” “At the end of the day, being an entrepreneur is all about interacting with others, marketing ourselves and selling our products and services to them; an entrepreneur without any communication skills will be futile,” he added.

On top of that, he emphasised that being an entrepreneur is not all about being rich and making lots of money. “If chasing after money is your main priority, then you can just aim to be a CEO or a high-ranking officer in any big corporation for you will surely earn a lot from it,” he said. He explained that there is much more to it than just making money as an entrepreneur. “Entrepreneurs should ask themselves ‘what kind of changes can they bring to this world?’. They must also learn how to contribute to others through their leadership and management skills, and create more job opportunities in the country by building their businesses,” Jeffrey Chew explained.

He also mentioned how to leap or move on to the next level. He said that the first essential step is to acquire the five core competencies which are business knowledge, management skills and experience, financial capital, upward-downward networking and the maintenance of a good reputation in the eyes of others. “Always think of what you can offer to a corporation,” he added.

Besides that, he urged the participants to constantly move and explore various places to enhance their competencies and other skill sets. He mentioned that one should not remain in the same working place for too long; he believes four years should be the limit. He elucidated, “Oftentimes, we can see that the time limit for a university student is around four years because anything more than that will cause the learning curve to be stagnant.” Jeffrey Chew stated that in his corporation, he will assign his staff to other fields or departments regularly to further increase their level of competency.

His final tip of advice for the participants was to always have the hunger and passion to grow. “Be out there, learn more and move more, that’s how you will become successful,” he concluded.

The talk ended with an interactive and insightful Q&A session followed by a group photography session.

Jeffrey Chew during his talk

Front row, fifth from left: Jeffrey Chew with UTAR staff and students

The event continued with a meeting. UTAR President Ir Prof Dato’ Dr Ewe Hong Tat, who joined the meeting through video conferencing, welcomed Jeffrey Chew and his team, namely Group Human Resource Director Jeffrey Quah, Assistant General Manager for Corporate Strategy and Investment Department Tracy Gan and Group Human Resource Department Manager Leonard Kwek. 

Prof Dato’ Ewe thanked Jeffrey Chew for sharing his knowledge and insights with the students and staff at the CEO Talk Series. He also mentioned that there are plenty of areas in which UTAR and Paramount Corporation Berhad can work together.

Jeffrey Chew, on the other hand, shared an introduction to Paramount Corporation Berhad and its developments. He also expressed his willingness to create a stronger link with UTAR and explore more areas of collaboration.

Division of Community and International Networking Director Assoc Prof Dr Lai Soon Onn (left) presenting a token of appreciation to Jeffrey Chew

 Group photo

The poster