Dominant Enterprise Bhd – Growing fast at home and abroad

Expanding a business overseas may seem daunting but having a trusted banking partner can make a significant difference. Just ask Dominant Enterprise Berhad.

Despite being a public listed company and one of the largest wood panel distributors in Malaysia, the company faced financing hurdles when it ventured overseas into markets like Australia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The lack of a track record in those new markets made it difficult for Dominant Enterprise to secure financing support from domestic banks. However, the company’s solution could be found much closer to home. UOB Malaysia, as a long-term financial partner of Dominant Enterprise, was ready to support their plans and fast-track their regional expansion.

In this episode, find out how the Bank, with its deep understanding of the company’s business and risk management model, was able to provide financing based on a corporate guarantee to kick-start Dominant Enterprise’s expansion plans. Its regional expertise also helped Dominant Enterprise navigate foreign regulations and overcome language barriers to help pave the road to success.

With comprehensive solutions tailored to clients’ needs, UOB’s “One Bank” approach connects businesses to growth opportunities in the region, and beyond.

About this series

Building Asia is a collection of business stories on CNA that examines the financial forces driving Asia’s position as an economic powerhouse.

Dominant Enterprise – Growing fast at home and abroad was first aired on 3 October 2022 under the Building Asia with UOB series. It looks at how Dominant Enterprise tapped UOB’s regional expertise to overcome new market entry challenges and successfully expanded into ASEAN and beyond.

Transcript

Danny Owee (Managing Director, Dominant Enterprise Bhd):

Dominant Enterprise is one of the largest wood panel distributors in Malaysia.

Ng Wei Wei (Chief Executive Officer, UOB Malaysia):

UOB started our banking relationship with Dominant Enterprise Bhd nearly 20 years ago. Initially they were facing challenges when expanding outside of Malaysia.

Danny Owee:

Even though we are a public listed company in Malaysia, when we entered Australia in 2005, we had zero track record.

Because of that it was almost impossible for us to approach a bank in Australia.

Ng Wei Wei:

UOB Malaysia took a long-term view on the business and became the first banking group to support their overseas expansion. And today we bank all their regional subsidiaries.

In the case of Dominant, we had a long-standing banking relationship with them. Plus a good understanding of their business and also risk management model. UOB was very comfortable to provide financing based only on a corporate guarantee.

That works out really well for Dominant to get access to much needed financing to support their expansion and scale their business much faster.

Danny Owee:

UOB opened the door for us, we tapped onto their network to understand the local markets and set up operations there.

Ng Wei Wei:

Our strong regional footprint actually places us in a very good position to support corporates looking to venture into the region.

On top of that, with the bank’s sector expertise we can also connect them to other players in the same industry that UOB banks.

Danny Owee:

We have 16 warehouses and factories across Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.

UOB’s Malaysia team helped us to set up our financial facilities with UOB Vietnam, UOB Thailand, UOB Singapore, when we expanded to those countries.

Ng Wei Wei:

UOB tailors our approach to our client’s business needs.

From market entry to regional network management, we aim to be the one bank that meets all their business expansion needs.

Danny Owee:

We are looking at further expansion in Malaysia and also within the Asia Pacific region with large, young populations.

Ng Wei Wei:

This sounds like a really good plan and yes, we can definitely help.

Danny Owee:

I think, we are not only business partners, we are friends. They understand our needs, they understand our requirements and they give us a helping hand to grow together.