Established in Malaysia while also advancing in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, EB Holdings is taking the education, training, and development of human capital industries by storm. Smart Trends International Sdn. Bhd. (STI) a member of EB Holdings is a leading multinational consulting firm which specializes in organisational improvement and human capital solutions whilst providing holistic a varied set of products and services for companies, organizations, and individuals.
EB Holdings and it’s co-subsidiaries have innovated a brand new app which also encompasses a website known as My Talent Share (MTS). This platform is set to revolutionise the human capital space globally.
Ahead of the game
Dato Dr. Emmanuel Benson, the Founder, Chairman, and Group CEO, at his HQ office in Bangsar Utama, recently stated, “Our ‘game-changing’ MTS app and website is managed by another EB Holdings subsidiary, Smart Talent Share Sdn. Bhd. (STS). It is the most comprehensive worldwide ‘All-in-One’ Career Platform powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Meanwhile, STI focuses on reskilling and up-scaling the workforce and individuals by collaborating with multiple prestigious local and predominantly overseas bodies to offer the right skills for the country.”
He further added, “Malaysia is headed in an excellent direction presently through MOHR, KBS, MOE, NGOs, and other relevant government bodies and agencies which are supporting us greatly in championing the national belief and desire to propel the nation’s human capital to another level.”
The establishment of EB Holdings
EB Holdings was established in 2016 because they recognised the need in the market for a training and organisational company to help fulfil Malaysia’s ambition of becoming a high-income nation.
According to Dato’ Dr. Emmanuel Benson, it is the general perception of the public to solely look at academic qualifications and degrees as criteria’s of success, but in reality, vocational training and qualifications including micro-skilling are equally important in the workspace. Organizations can benefit greatly from employing workers with specialized micro-skills which would also help these individuals to generate substantially higher incomes without necessarily having degrees.
Dato’ Dr. Emmanuel Benson further stated, “With MTS, we will be leaders, and aim to conquer the overseas market whilst also being a prominent, credible, and reputable training organization. We will extend our operations in Sri Lanka and Vietnam whereas in Malaysia this platform has already received the full blessings and endorsements of various government ministries. In fact, Malaysian Youth & Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, officiated the soft launch of MTS earlier this year. The major launch is scheduled to be later this year after another soft launch in May. MTS can certainly become an indispensable tool for the government to solve many issues in the country’s job market.”
The other key people behind STI’s rise are Tim Dawkins (Director of Strategy & Innovation), Mr. Woon Foo Wen (Chief Financial Officer), Mr. Thiagaraja Balakrishnan (Business Development Director), and Datuk K. Yogeesvaran (Director of Strategic Planning and Delivery). In further working to strengthen STI’s services, the team are working with many international awarding or certifying bodies e.g. NOCN Group (UK), CIMA, Highfield International, and etc.
Filling the gap
“The AI enabled platform is the future of the learning and employment space not only within our nation but also globally. People often become irrelevant in the current workforce and get retrenched due to displacement by technology and Industry 4.0. So the AI in the MTS platform matches skills and jobs by informing the end user that they don’t possess the particular skill. Simply put, this portal can spot skills missing in the end user’s skills set. This will enable the end user to pick up the requisite micro-skills to get a particular job and would greatly benefit unemployed and retrenched people. Notably, a unique selling point in the MTS platform is that there is no searching needed as on traditional job sites because the AI-learning algorithm actually matches and ‘pushes’ jobs and other info to you.”
“We help fill or bridge gaps left void by colleges and universities to aid jobless people in getting employment. We are creating a new genre of products and services which has not exist in the past and were not fully developed. Currently, there are existing firms or organizations offering similar services like us but not comprehensively. Other platforms like Artwork, Freelancer.com or courses offered by Coursera are examples which don’t come on a single platform where people can also learn, engage, and get employed as on MTS. So our platform really makes us the only pioneer in our field internationally,” said Dato’ Dr. Emmanuel Benson .
The acceptance
Like all businesses, Dato and his team have faced many challenges over the years. They have had their fair share of criticisms, negative publicities and false rumours spread about them by sceptics and detractors alike, which were designed to discourage them. However, by always believing in their core values, products, and ideas while going back to basics they have successfully overcome even the most challenging of situations.
Dato explained, “Our other notable challenges include the language barrier and cultural differences faced in Vietnam and also the recent tragedies in Sri Lanka which have disrupted life and commerce in that country. We had to re-plan our business future over there.”
However, he lamented that success and a good name takes years to earn but may be lost in minutes. When asked how EB Holdings and its subsidiaries differ from its competitors, he expressed,
“We’re in a niche of our own and have garnered an exclusive market share. We also look at what the problems are, what the industry wants, and what we would want to provide. Hence, our products and services are tailored along these lines. However, more importantly, we always want a match and avoid mismatches of jobs versus skills. Due to our direction and hard work we have won several prestigious awards like the SME-100 Awards-2018, Master-Class CEO of the Year-2018, and others. ”
Future Success
The corporate culture in EB Holdings is family-like with team-work being the core value. There is a spirit of social togetherness mixed with multiculturalism in the group of companies. Ever evolving, they never take things for granted while constantly innovating and being on their toes. “We never say to ourselves we are already there as success is an ongoing process. From 2019 onwards, we will continue being the leader and work with more government ministries and agencies.”
Dato further added “In 5 years’ time we aim to consolidate further our leadership and get public-listed. We should by that time have spread our wings across Asia and to Africa with Malaysia always being our base. As for my favourite quotes, they are ‘All Glory to God’ and ‘You Never Walk Alone,”
In conclusion, his words of advice to young entrepreneurs who want to venture into this business is, “Always be credible, honest, sincere, hardworking, and don’t copy others. Instead, always ‘think-out-of-the-box’ and be different from others. Then you will survive if not thrive.”
