KUALA LUMPUR: Yayasan Peneraju will leverage generative artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and nurture Bumiputera talent through its Talent Bank platform.
Yayasan Peneraju CEO Ibrahim Sani said the initiative aims to create an automated value-creator composite index which will track talent from enrolment through to graduation and beyond.
“This AI-powered system will identify and nurture Bumiputera talent, optimising their capacity, capability, competency, and aptitude to create value,” he said in an interview recently.
Ibrahim mentioned that the initiative is off to a strong start, with 70,000 data points and growing towards 75,000.
“Just like training any AI model, we must continuously refine and improve the data,” he added.
Ibrahim said that the challenge now is determining which model to adopt.
“Should we use a dynamic model, a static model, a human capital index, or a value-creator composite index?
“We haven’t made a decision yet, which is why we aren’t making bold promises that it will be ready tomorrow,” he said.
Ibrahim stated that the team is working hard to meet the 2026 timeline. “With 25% of the staff being new, they’re not only building the programme from the ground up but also adapting to existing workflows and aligning our current data with what we aim to create.”
He elaborated on the complexity of managing this transformation which requires balancing business-as-usual operations and transformative initiatives to shape the future.
“To handle both, we’ve established two steering committees – one for programme restructuring and one for IT.
Ibrahim said that these committees allow it to balance day-to-day operations with project management responsibilities.
Furthermore, Ibrahim said the key performance indicator (KPI) for Talent Bank is the success rate of its enrolment, measured by the number of leaders it develops.
“Over the next six years, until the end of RMK-13 (13th Malaysia Plant) in 2030, our target is to produce 10,000 leaders. Of those 10,000 leaders, 5,000 will come from professional backgrounds, 4,000 will be business leaders, and 1,000 will be community leaders.”
Ibrahim said the leaders will be self-defined, as leadership is often recognised instinctively.
“For example, if you ask about the KPI for Mother Teresa’s leadership, would it be the number of people she helped or the number she lifted out of poverty?”
Ibrahim said no one knows the exact figure, but it was acknowledged she was a community leader. “The same principle applies here, we don’t want to limit leadership to specific metrics,” he explained.
Yayasan Peneraju is an agency under the Ministry of Economy that acts as a talent bank to identify, nurture and manage Bumiputera talent to drive competitiveness at the global level.
The main functions of Yayasan Peneraju include talent identification and acquisition, competency improvement and development, mobilisation of financial resources, and network and industry integration.
The vision of Yayasan Peneraju is to drive Bumiputera competitiveness at the global level.
