This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 14, 2019 - June 20, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: InvestKL chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Zainal Amanshah will step down from his position upon the completion of his contract on July 10.

In a statement yesterday, InvestKL said Zainal was appointed its first CEO in 2011 and will have served a full eight-year term. It said he is leaving to pursue opportunities within the private sector.

Under his leadership, InvestKL had successfully attracted 80 multinational corporations (MNCs) as of May 31, 2019, bringing in total committed and approved investments of RM12 billion in Greater Kuala Lumpur. Zainal said Malaysia is in a position of strength with its business-friendly environment and resources to attract high-value, high-skilled and innovation-led investments.

“Despite the global economic volatility amid US-China trade tensions, among others, InvestKL’s investment pipeline remains resilient. We continue to see healthy interest from US, European, Chinese and Japanese MNCs to set up regional services and innovation hubs in Malaysia. These companies come from our targeted sectors, which include smart technologies, consumer technologies, e-commerce, medical devices, industrial automation as well as energy and renewables,” he said.

InvestKL chairman Datuk Seri Michael Yam said Zainal had been an inspirational leader to the InvestKL team, having led the agency in achieving many key milestones. Yam also announced the appointment of Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli as the acting CEO effective July 1.