MIHAS 2013- A Decade of Excellence

It's been a long and winding journey~ (Guy Sebastian- Angel song for introduction).

Journey~ Journey~ Journ... 

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(Sorry, the song suddenly crashed).

Anyways, for those who are unaware. I was one of the main secretariat for the recent international event held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, KLCC on the 3-6 April 2013.

MIHAS 2013 celebrate its 10th birthday this year, with the tagline: A Decade of Excellence. (Well, maybe not so 'birth'-ey. But more like 'establish'-ey. Anyways, you get the point!)

I've been involved with the POLC (Business students, particularly Operations Mgt students, you must know this!) of MIHAS 2013 for the last 8 months. The first 5 months as an intern student. Then I had my break for 2 months.And the past month, I was back with the team as an officer.

It has been a rough journey. Organizing an international event is no small deal. Setting up the location, contacting international buyers overseas to participate in the event, arranging programs tentatively, portioning budgets accordingly, preparing handbooks, directories and tags for everybody, and all the many things (big or small) are ALL crucial matters. We've worked together with the government, semi, and non-government organizations, all for the sake of the success of MIHAS 2013.

The Opening Ceremony

Us main secretariats get the luxurious benefit of staying at the Seri Pacific Hotel in KL throughout the 4-day event. Know what that means? Primarily?...Good food. Jyeahhh baby!

Hotel foods usually get my compliments. Until now, I've never experienced bad foods served in hotels. So ya see why it's a heaven for me? *grin*. My usual 4-day breakfast would consists of a few mini chicken sausages, few chicken slices, an omelette, mini pancakes with syrup, few dim sums, a scoop of bread pudding, a bowl of salad, some fruits, a bowl of yogurt, few types of pastries, and some more of this and that. Noticed the word 'few'? Yeah, I'm not that monstrous to be attacking the whole foods served there ya know? I'm just filling my tummy with its necessity needs to survive the whole day. I'm sure you've heard the saying 'Breakfast Like a King'. No? Lunch was taken at KLCC, so we didn't have that luxury choice of foods cuz we were tied with a coupon-basis. But dinner... *evil laugh* was another feast for the tummy. And as a reward for overcoming yet another tough day.

So what really happened at MIHAS 2013? I was mainly attached to the Secretariat Room at the mezzanine floor. It has this fantastic view of Hall 1 and 2. My job specifically was to ensure the whole program runs accordingly, and to be ready at all times for any abrupt events. For example, *inhale* to make amendments for the VIP speech, printing out extra copies for forms, running to the neighboring Suria KLCC to buy some stationaries, stop by at Petrosains to say Hi to kindergarten kids, attending hours of meeting, go on a walking marathon to dispatch documents from Hall 1 to Hall 5, ensuring essential documents are available when asked, distributing food coupons to secretariats, and generally to keep everything in pace. *exhale*. While some of you might see this as an easy job, it isn't. For those who feel me, *offers handshake*, thank you.

On the whole, I am happy, proud, ecstatic and overwhelmed, despite being sad, aggrieved, angry and furious at the least time of event. There, I met a lot of new faces whom I never knew worked in the same building as I work. From familiar to recognition, from no name to name. From no friend to friend. And from never-spoken-to to chit-chattering. We laughed we grieved. But the most important thing is, we went through it together.

The first 3 days of MIHAS was opened to trade visitors. Which meant that local and international trade companies (non participants) come to MIHAS to meet or source companies providing the products or services sourced for. They meet, exchange business cards, make future appointments or business deals, or even purchase products showcased. Mind you, MIHAS is NOT an event where exhibitors would sell their products to visitors. It's an exhibition that showcases Halal products and services for the main purpose of trade. However, MIHAS does not restrict participating companies to sell their products as well. Usually, these companies will open up sales on the last day of MIHAS. This is because if they open up sales earlier, then they wouldn't have sufficient products to showcase to visitors. Lemme remind you, this is a trade event. Exhibitors come all the way from Brazil, France, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Korea etc. to make business and tradings, not to bring a cargo full of products to be sold.

Facts on MIHAS 2013

Participating companies:

• Local            :  286 companies
• International  :  177 companies from 29 countries worldwide

Visitors:

• Local            :  16,561 visitors
• International  :  1,299 visitors

The participating company/brand logos

View of Hall 1 & 2

In short, MIHAS is a good platform for existing and new entrepreneurs to bring their products/services into the international level. So if any of you intends to participate or visit this marvelous annual Halal showcase event, be sure to alert on the next date of MIHAS.


See you there! 

Enjoy our random acts.