Magazines Archives - 2007 October

Malaysia’s retail sector poised to entice youths
Story 6

REALITY television takes on a new spin as Malaysia’s retail industry launched its newest initiative to attract youths to the retail business. Hypermarket chain retailer Carrefour Malaysia aired a 12-episode weekly show featuring various youths in the retail environment, providing on-the-job training and exposing youths to various specialities throughout the hypermarket.

“Our Carrefour Malaysia/Singapore managing director, Shafie Shamsuddin, came up with this idea following the successful Apprentice series, but we did it the Malaysian way,” said Mohamad Fauzi Hassan, human resource director of Carrefour Malaysia.

One reason cited as the impetus behind the show was to battle the reluctance that some unemployed graduates have these days to work in the retail industry. “We wanted to do something creative and different to show that some perceived notions were not true. We wanted to tell graduates that they can build a career in retail, especially when we have so many different areas of speciality,” Mohamad Fauzi added.

At the same time, the government has also stepped up efforts to draw graduates who are looking for opportunities in the retail sector. In January this year, Malaysia’s Domestic Trade and Consumer Ministry launched a ‘Learn and Work’ programme, where 50 diploma and degree graduates gained employment as management staff in about 80 hypermarkets and supermarkets throughout the nation.

“The youths who undergo such training will not only be assured of jobs in the retail sector, but they could end up in top management [posts],” said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal. With the hope that trainees will work at Carrefour stores in Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, he added: “The exposure they will receive through such international stints would be invaluable.”