Sarawak’s business events sector has expanded its pool of certified professionals as 26 participants graduated from the Sarawak Business Events Accelerator Programme (BEAP) in Sibu, concluding the initiative’s two-city rollout.
Combined with 29 graduates from the Miri cohort, the programme has now equipped 55 regional event planners with commercial and operational expertise. Co-developed by Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak), the local Business Events Committees of Miri and Sibu, and the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) Sarawak Chapter, BEAP delivers targeted professional training directly to the state’s emerging event hubs.
The curriculum covered the end-to-end event lifecycle, including commercial viability framing, resource management, financial planning, execution, and post-event analysis. AI integration served as a core focus area, training participants to apply AI tools to enhance productivity, event design, and strategic decision-making.
“It’s no longer enough to know how to organise and deliver an event. Industry professionals need to understand the business behind it,” said Jason Tan Chin Foo, CEO of BESarawak. “Sibu is one of the preferred convention destinations in Sarawak… The next step is to strengthen the local expertise, services and solutions around that demand, enabling Sibu’s industry to take on a greater share of the role.”
The initiative aligns with MACEOS’ national framework to standardise industry credentials across Malaysia’s secondary markets.
“Malaysia’s competitiveness as a business events destination is strengthened when industry capabilities grow across all our destinations,” said Lim Win Nee, Vice President of MACEOS Education. “By making professional development more accessible, we can strengthen expertise where it is needed.”
