Star Media Group (SMG) has earned another accolade, this time being recognised as the leading media company in the country during the Penang Future Forward Summit 2023.

Its chief executive officer Alex Yeow received the Penang Icon Leadership Award for Media from Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak at the summit.

“I am delighted and honoured to receive this award on behalf of the company which originated from Penang.

“Today, we have emerged as the most prominent English daily in the country.

“The award is a motivation for us to further enhance our content for the readers,” he said.

Khor is the founder of eAutoGen Capital and ezAUTO.MY in 2018, a digital car platform that connects buyers and sellers of Malaysia’s car dealers.

An experienced hand in the automotive industry, Khor was involved in the management of international car company franchises including Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Hyundai, Brilliance and Joylong.

Earlier, Ahmad Fuzi said the state’s challenges would be the successful implementation of the Penang2030 Vision that includes some major infrastructure projects.

“Penang also has to differentiate itself from other states so as to ensure that it remains a thriving and vibrant economy,” he said.

“Given the potential available, we need to be bold in ideas and dare to go global, take a fresh look at what other successful economies are doing and consider new models of development.

“In other words, we must dare to imagine policies, programmes and action beyond the ordinary,” he added.

“With the shift in thinking away from the Asia-Pacific or the South China Sea or the Strait of Malacca, we should consider our place in the world, not only in geo-strategic terms but also in geo-economic terms.

“Given our key role in the global electronic chip industry, it may be hard to separate our economic considerations from our strategic concerns,” said Ahmad Fuzi.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who was also present, spoke on the Penang Vision 2030-Partnership at the one-day summit.

Some 300 industry captains attended the summit which was organised by KSI Strategic Institute for Asia-Pacific.

SMG was among 26 companies which received the Industry Excellence Award at the summit themed “Future Proof Penang For The New Global Economy”.

Another award recipient was Khor Lin Yong, who won the Penang Distinguished Icon Leadership Award.