Our Story
Fueling Business Dreams:
Inspiring Entrepreneurship in the Malaysian Jaffnese Tamil Community
The inspiration to start a formal organization to promote the concept of business and entrepreneurial spirit among the Malaysian Jaffnese Tamil community was mooted in early 2009 and championed by Hj Muhammad Arif Bin Abdullah (Eric Kanapathy), Yogeswaran Lankasundram, Kanageswary Karthikeyan, Lingamoorthi Seevaratnam and Rajendran Thiagarajah. Friday the 13th was indeed auspicious as on that evening in 2009, the inaugural meeting was held at the ‘Kedai Makanan Sentul’ in Kuala Lumpur. The initial name proposed and used was the “Malaysian Ceylonese Business Club” or MCBC in short.
Business Connections That Deliver Results
Through MJTBA, members have forged valuable referrals and partnerships, collectively generating RM3–5 million in revenue
24th October 2011 was an important milestone for the business club which saw the registration, successful re-branding and emergence of the Malaysian Jaffnese Tamil Business Association (MJTBA) as an officially recognized non-governmental organization. That recognition proved to be the catalyst which would spur the growth of MJTBA. MJTBA is now widely recognized as the most prominent and dynamic business networking association within the Malaysian Jaffnese Tamil community with a membership that has expanded to more than 20 business professions from multiple industries. Since inception, countless business referrals and acquaintances have been established through MJTBA resulting in some RM3 – 5 million ringgit revenue collectively for its members.
In 2015, MJTBA, in its quest to further elevate financial growth amongst its members, took a bold step to incorporate associate members of non-Jaffnese origin. The amendments are currently pending the approval of the Registrar of Societies. It is anticipated that this will spur the growth of this organization even further and simultaneously propel MJTBA towards becoming one of the foremost business networking associations in Malaysia.