Muhammad Syamil Email and Phone Number

Appointed as Group Human Resources Director with the accountability and oversight of the people agenda for Loob Holdings which owns and manages a myriad of Food and Beverage brands - more notably the leading and fast growing network of outlets under the Tealive and Bask Bear Coffee brands in Malaysia and internationally.

Promoted to Director of Human Resources, leading the HR team to deliver the People agenda for all formats and businesses- both Food and Health & Beauty across Malaysia & Brunei. Managed the people transition when DFI divested its Food business in Malaysia in 1st half of 2023.

Promoted to Head of HR with accountability and oversight for the HR services and the team across all business banners- Giant (incl Malls), Giant Mini, Cold Storage, Mercato and Guardian Pharmacy and, Health and Beauty Stores including the support functions in the Store Support Centre and Distribution Centres- Ambient & Fresh across Malaysia and Brunei. Key accountability for the people agenda to drive and grow our expansion.

Whilst continuing with the transformation journey in Food Malaysia, undertook the total Malaysia business partnering and increased regional bandwidth with the portfolio of Store Operations HR in Singapore for Giant and Cold Storage stores. On a people angle, continued to support the key focus in the resetting of Malaysia Food business especially the emergence of the convenience formats-ramping up massive recruitment in a limited span with no compromise on skills set, supporting refresher and refurbs of Giant stores and the rebranding of Cold Storage stores to Mercato. Also for both countries, I was actively involved in the efficiency programs revolving our Labor Models.The biggest challenge by far has been the Covid 19 Pandemic where I took on the Lead People role in the BCP committee to oversee and manage the safety and well being of all our team members across all buinesses in DFI Malaysia

Played a key role as a HR Partner to the business in driving business transformation in reimagining the state of stores and upscaling to meet changing customer behaviors where by I led the people agenda for the business transformation of the Dairy Farm Food business which saw the closure of close to 100 hypermarkets and supermarkets across Peninsular, East Malaysia & Brunei as well as the reorganisation of the central support functions in line with the reshaping and rebranding of the business and introduction of new formats. Central to this work was our paramount interest on the impacted team members and the transition support given to them. The People agenda comprised of advising the stake holders on risk mitigation in rolling our restructuring and redundancies, liaison with Federal/State Labor Departments- PK01 and most importantly the end to end communications to the impacted team members -managing deployment ( where possible), the severance packages and the post redundancy transition support leveraging on the support from the Company as well as the Government. This is done according team members with the full respect and dignity they deserve

Led a Business Partnering team with regional presence across Klang Valley, South Central, Southern, East Coast, Northern as well as East Malaysia and Brunei stores. Also led the BP teams that covered the SSC and DCs. Was also assigned to undertake the new COE role for Communications where I was responsible for internal communications which also included the production and broadcasting of the E-Newsletter

I was promoted to a COE lead role with an oversight for the entire network of Giant, Cold Storage, Mercato, Jasons, Guardian businesses. Role had dual portfolio where I managed the Talent Acquisition Team for SSC and Stores/ DC across all banners- existing plus new business expansions and IR Team handling engagement, disciplinary cases, grievances and compliance via the Employment Acts and Ordinances across Pen Msia, East Malaysia & Brunei

In line with the business expansion in Pen Malaysia and my track record in acquistions and new start ups, I was tasked to lead the people agenda for the business acquisitions in West Malaysia- local retail chains which involved the portfolio of acquisition, rebranding and harmonisation to Dairy Farm culture, values and operating model. This also included new start ups

I was promoted to head up HR for East Malaysia & Brunei after the successful acquisitions and start ups in East Malaysia and the successful venture into Brunei where we set up the Giant and Guardian businesses. The expansion drive continued and throughout this period, I had built a solid HR team to support both the existing businesses and the start ups for the new ones. This enabled me to be actively involved in the operations of the business engaging closely with the Operations and Commercial stake holders

I was promoted to manage full spectrum of HR for the new business acquisitions and start ups for Dairy Farm's expansion in East Malaysia and later Brunei. This included HR due diligence, acquisition, harmonisation of structure and way of work, and rebranding. I was also the lead person who undertook the HR groundwork to facilitate our entry into Brunei. As for start ups, built and led a HR team to provide the full spectrum of HR support to open hypermarkets, supermarkets and Guardian stores throughout Borneo

Based on my success in Guardian, I was promoted to head the human capital development needs for the Giant & Cold Storage businesses whilst continuing to manage Guardian Malaysia needs as well. Notable accomplishments were improvising and value adding to the existing Graduate training progams to churn out store and head office executives and more importantly the Retail Manager Program to churn out Managers for Stores and Head Office support functions. These were to cater to our very aggressive store expansion plan

I was responsible for the training and succession development for Guardian Malaysia stores whereby I designed and executed the Retail Trainee Manager Program to cater to the need for Guardian Store Managers for the business expansion and, co-designed and executed the Nutritionist Development Trainee Programs. Both of the programs were vital for the transition of Guardian Malaysia from the Pharmacy business to the Health and Beauty formats which pivoted the monumental growth of stores across Malaysia. The transistion was due to the Government's enforcement on the pharmacy graduates to serve the govt sector for 3 years before venturing into the private sector which impacted our ability to secure business licences for pharmacy stores

Key contact person to manage the exclusive master license franchise agreement with the Educational Institute of American Hotel & Lodging Association (EI AHLA) which enabled us to provide this program in Malaysia- 5 Centres in KL, Melaka, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak. My core responsibilities included student enrolment, welfare of staff and students, handling statutory requirements such as registration license and teaching permits, managing foreign students, managing a teaching and staff workforce of 20-25 employees, handling academic and non-academic affairs, examinations and convocations. More importantly was responsible in ensuring that all courses offered attain at least minimum standards if not full accreditation as stipulated by The National Accreditation Board (LAN) now known as MQA

Key areas of responsibility included lecturing, monitoring syllabus completion, marketing of programs, organizing activities and counseling of students, handling internships and job placements. Handled the groundwork for our courses to be validated by Pacific Southern University and London College of Management. Also tet up for the provision of hospitality courses in 2 private colleges in India; Madurai and Coimbatorre as part of our overseas collaboration initiative