t34b4g

Thanks JC3.

kebi

Being self-employed in Malaysia for more than 20 years in different businesses (restaurant, furniture, consulting) I would say Malaysia is not really business friendly for small caps. Like with the MM2H program they want people with a certain income only and for foreign businesses they set the entry level also quite high (RM 500.000) or you must have special skills. Many of the 27 exempted businesses require either even more capital (i.e. rental of cargo vessels) or a deep know how in special fields. One of the 27 is food serving in a 4 to 5 star hotel - maybe as a caterer for a hotel. The requirements of a hotel to engage you as a caterer will not be very low (investment wise) and they will dictate the sales price.

Now we are already at the second point why I would say Malaysia is not really business friendly – the environment. As a foreigner you will be mostly the second choice for locals for buying something from you. They will first support their relatives (many), friends (even more) and friends of friends (uncountable) before buying from you. You will need a very exceptional concept or product and a long breath to survive.

Maybe my first answer with questions only was too critical , but in the past I only saw those being successful who had a very long breath and iron will. I see only two ways doing business here:

1) Come to Malaysia, do your research by talking to locals and foreigners for minimum a half year and then decide or
2) Start it as a hobby not depending on the income.

bakedbean

I'm trying to think of foreigners with businesses here in Penang and cannot think of too many.

There is a guy who has a specialist soaps business. Seems to have been going quite a while.

There was a Hungarian (or may have been German technically) who ran Kafe Mozart but I believe that business went under. I imagine Kebi may know of both of them.

t34b4g

Thanks Kebi & Bakedbean, that's really good info.

It's a shame.

We'll have to have a re-think.