THE adage behind every successful man there stands a woman can well be the antidote that Berjaya Corporation Bhd (BCorp) tycoon and founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun wishes to prescribe for his conglomerate soon after the appointment of former Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) CEO Abdul Jalil Abdul Rasheed to helm the establishment on March 16.
This follows the appointment of five new independent non-executive directors (INED) to BCorp board yesterday, of whom three were ‘vocal and learned’ women with directorship elsewhere, namely Datin Seri Sunita Mei-Lin Rajakumar, Datuk Leong Kwei Chun, JP @ Datuk Anne Eu and Norlela Baharudin.
The trio were joined by Datuk Hisham Othman and Tan Peng Lam.
“The appointment of these five new independent directors is part of the group’s ongoing strategic efforts to introduce a diverse range of experience to support its transformation into an institutionalised corporation managed by professionals,” BCorp pointed out in a media statement.
While many listed entities are grappling with poor woman on board number/ratio, BCorp has proven exemplary in that out of its 14 board members – with the latest inclusion – eight or 57% of its board line-up are now made up of the female specie.
This far exceeds the 30% recommended percentage under the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG).
Including Sunita, Leong and Norlela Baharudin, the other five woman directors on BCorp’s board are Nerine Tan Sheik Ping, Datuk Seri Zurainah Binti Musa and Vivienne Cheng Chi Fan (all are executive directors), Dr Jayanti Naidu G. Danasamy and Penelope Gan Paik Ling (both are INEDs).
The eight women directors have male boardroom colleagues in Vincent Tan himself (non- independent non-executive chairman), his son Datuk Seri Robin Tan Yeong Ching (who has been re-designated as non-independent non-executive deputy chairman), Abdul Jalil (executive director/group CEO), Datuk Robert Yong Kuen Loke (senior INED) and Peng Lam.
Of the three latest woman appointees, Sunita is well-known as a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia and a promoter of gender diversity on boards with the 30% Club which champions board participation for women.
Apart from BCorp, she is also the independent non-executive chairperson of Caring Pharmacy Group Bhd, and an INED for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, MCIS Insurance Bhd and Zurich General Insurance Malaysia Bhd.
Gender diversity on boards of Malaysian listed companies has shown slight improvement at 24.82% on the top 100 listed companies as of end-August 2020, up from 23.68% in 2018, according to the Securities Commission in a statement marking the release of its annual Corporate Governance Monitor 2020 on Oct 8 last year.
Across all listed companies, the ratio stood at 16.96% as of end-August 2020 compared with 15.69% in 2018, the SC said, adding that there are five companies with all-male boards on the top 100 listed companies, namely Comfort Glove Bhd, Focus Dynamics Group Bhd, Frontken Corp Bhd, Guan Chong Bhd, and Pentamaster Corp Bhd.
Overall, the number of companies with all-male boards stood at 248. – June 2, 2021
