A champion of grassroots sports development in Malaysia and driven by its brand purpose in providing energy for active and healthy Malaysians, MILO embarked on its mission to inspire Malaysians to go further with sports by setting up a Sports Marketing unit within its business, led at the time by Brand Manager Leonard Wee.
From the iconic MILO van that can be spotted during any school’s sports day providing children with the necessary energy to perform, Leonard grew MILO’s sports marketing efforts even further, which helped to support and launch the career of former hurdler and national sports icon Datuk Marina Chin. She would go on to win a career total of seven SEA Games medals.
The helm of MILO’s sports marketing was taken over by Datuk Dina Rizal in 1980, steering it to even greater heights. He proved to be instrumental by conceptualizing some of MILO’s most recognisable sports campaigns, most notably the Malaysia Boleh chant in support of the Malaysian contingent at the 1992 SEA Games.
Malaysia Boleh went on to galvanise the nation at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998 and continued to fuel the spirit of our national athletes to this day. Rizal also played an integral role in launching the MILO MSSM Games in partnership with the Ministry of Education Malaysia.
Upon Dina’s retirement in 2004, his role was taken over by Ng Ping Loong who joined Nestlé (Malaysia) in 1992. Carrying on the MILO sports marketing legacy left by his predecessors, Ng established and launched MILO Hidup Bola in 2006.
MILO® Hidup Bola grew to become Malaysia’s largest annual futsal carnival, attracting over 12,000 players every year. It also helped to discover young sporting talents, many of whom went on to compete at international tournaments and later became national footballers.
After serving the company for 35 years, 27 of which were dedicated to championing grassroots sports development with MILO, Ng retired recently at the start of the year. He is succeeded by Lim Kerwin.
While under Ng’s wings, Lim worked to establish MILO Champions Clinic, a grassroots sports program that provides early exposure and skills training to children aged seven to 12 years old under the guidance of professional coaches. Since its launch in 2015, more than 3,000 children have benefited from MILO Champions Clinic.
In 2020, MILO® remains committed to its grassroots sports development efforts and will continue to spur the nation to lead an active lifestyle through its many sports initiatives that are now united under MILO® Aktif Negaraku.
Caption
1. Second from left: Nestle (Malaysia) Berhad Sports Marketing Manager Lim Kerwin, Datuk Dina Rizal, MILO & Milks Business Unit Executive Director Kumaran Nowurum, Ng Ping Loong, Leonard Wee, Tunku Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Imran ibni Almarhum Tuanku Ja’afar al-Haj and the MILO Malaysia team celebrating the retirement of Ng.
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