After 10 Years in Business: What's GOLD vs What's S**T? 4 Malaysian Founders Get Brutally Honest at SME Growth Summit 2026
Ask any founder who's survived a decade in business, and you'll get the same answer: the war stories they don't tell on LinkedIn are the ones that actually teach you something. That's exactly the premise of one of the most anticipated sessions at the SME Growth Summit 2026, happening 18 November at Wyndham Grand, Bangsar KL.
Organised by Kakitangan.com and MyFreelysAcademy, the panel — provocatively titled "After 10 Years in Biz, What's GOLD vs SHITs!" — brings together four Malaysian business leaders from wildly different industries to separate real, sustainable growth from the vanity metrics that look good on paper but fall apart under pressure.
Meet the Panel
- Effon Khoo, Founder & CEO of Kakitangan.com — Malaysia's HR and payroll software platform
- Joe Khoo, Co-Founder & CEO of iStore iSend — a logistics and fulfilment company
- Keong Chun Chieh, Founder & CEO of IGL Coatings — a property and industrial coatings brand
- Gavin Liew, Co-Founder of The Makeover Guys — a manufacturing and personal care business
Four sectors. Four scaling journeys. One brutally honest conversation.
What They'll Cover
1. Survival vs. Vanity Metrics
The panel strips away surface-level growth numbers to discuss what actually builds a sustainable company over a decade — versus strategies that looked good on paper but ultimately failed. Expect a hard look at the difference between "growth theatre" and real business fundamentals.
2. Navigating Industry-Specific Pivots
From HR software (Kakitangan.com) to logistics (iStore iSend), manufacturing (IGL Coatings), and property solutions (The Makeover Guys), each panelist has had to adapt their business model through major economic shifts. This segment unpacks how leaders across very different industries read the market and pivoted before it was too late.
3. The Real Cost of Scaling Teams
Perhaps the most candid part of the session: unfiltered truths about managing human capital as a company grows — the early hiring mistakes, the leadership styles that had to evolve, and what nobody warns founders about when headcount scales faster than culture.
Why These Speakers, Not Just Any Founders
This isn't a panel of consultants theorising about growth — it's four operators who've actually run the gauntlet. Each speaker has built and scaled a company in a distinct, competitive Malaysian industry (HR tech, logistics, industrial coatings, and manufacturing), giving SME owners a rare cross-sector view of what "good" and "bad" growth actually look like in practice — not just in the tech or startup bubble most panels focus on.
For Malaysian SME founders wrestling with hiring decisions, team scaling, or industry pivots of their own, this session offers something most business events don't: unscripted, cross-industry honesty from people with nothing left to prove.
Catch This Session Live
📅 18 November 2026 | 🕗 8AM – 6PM | 📍 Wyndham Grand, Bangsar KL
💼 100% HRDC Claimable | 🌟 Early Bird: RM388 (Save RM611)
Register now: kakitangan.com/sme-growth-summit-2026