The capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur covers 94 square miles and is part of the fastest growing metropolitan region in Southeast Asia. Formerly a simple township established in the late 1800s to serve the regional tin mines, today Kuala Lumpur is the thriving cultural, financial and economic centre of Malaysia. Join us as we discover how business in Kuala Lumpur is defining the Malaysian economy.
Location
As with any city’s economic success, geographical location is key to Kuala Lumpur’s continued growth. Much like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur benefits from its prime position in the Malay Archipelago and resulting excellent travel and trade routes with mainland Indochina and Australia. For businesses seeking to grow strategically within the region, Kuala Lumpur is a very attractive prospect for this reason, with major business cities such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Tokyo reachable within a matter of hours by plane. The ease of movement between these locations also enhances the Malaysian capital’s status as a business travel destination, meaning the number of corporate serviced apartments in Kuala Lumpur continues to flourish. Consequently, investment in the city (and wider nation) has seen rapid growth in recent years: as of 2016, inward FDI stock amounted to USD117.3 billion, with over 5,000 companies from 60 countries having laid roots in Malaysia – a number that is sure to grow in the post-pandemic market.
Infrastructure
Kuala Lumpur’s impressive infrastructure caters to its increasing population and expanding tourism sector, effectively future-proofing the city for further growth and development. Indeed, Malaysia ranks second for infrastructure investment in Asia and comes in at an impressive fifth place globally; nowhere is this more apparent than the country’s impressive public transportation network which facilitates business in Kuala Lumpur.
Commuters are blessed with a plethora of convenient options for city travel. The Light Rail Transit (LRT) conveys passengers throughout Kuala Lumpur proper and beyond, serving a range of suburban areas and extending into the Klang Valley. Similarly, inner-city travellers can make short work of their commute with the KL Monorail. Encompassing 11 city stops and arriving every five minutes during peak hours, the monorail is a simple and efficient way to get from A to B without resorting to taxis. The city is also well equipped to usher international arrivals and business travellers directly to its centre thanks to the Express Train, offering fast travel between the city and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and KLIA2.
Equally impressive is Kuala Lumpur’s excellent telecommunications infrastructure. Signal is never hard to find; it is a prerequisite that all food and beverage outlets provide free Wi-Fi as standard, and 4G is readily available throughout the capital. Providing an excellent level of connectivity, Kuala Lumpur’s high-speed broadband services and strong mobile-data capabilities make the city especially appealing for business travellers and new businesses moving to the region.
Incentives and Opportunities
The city’s aforementioned robust infrastructure is one reason why Kuala Lumpur was ranked as having the 11th best emerging start-up ecosystem in the world. The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2020 found Kuala Lumpur’s offering for start-up companies one of the most attractive from over 250 competing global regions/cities. One contributing factor to the city’s excellent reputation for new companies is the number of financial incentives it provides. In addition to a number of grants and funds targeting employers establishing new business in Kuala Lumpur, the city also provides additional tax incentives to companies from specific industries, including biotechnology, manufacturing, agriculture and technology. The city also boasts a comparatively low rental cost for office space. In 2016, office space in Kuala Lumpur cost, on average, USD14.7 per square metre, whereas in Singapore the cost was USD69.8, and in Hong Kong the cost was a staggering USD190.3.
Kuala Lumpur is also a hotbed for talent. Ranked within the top twenty cities worldwide for talent, the city receives roughly 33% of the country’s 200,000 graduates every year. Furthermore, many of these graduates, and countless other city residents, are multi-lingual. In fact, Malaysia was ranked the second most English proficient country in the ASEAN, with other languages fluently spoken including Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. This makes a workforce based in Kuala Lumpur an especially attractive prospect for companies seeking an international presence in the region.
With business in Kuala Lumpur booming, there has never been a better time to consider your business connections in the Malaysian capital. Discover the very best serviced apartments in Kuala Lumpur in our portfolio and begin your journey to this growing economic hub today.
