The Story of BIGSABAH Sale – Taking Your Business Across Markets, Beyond Borders

From that conviction, the BIGSABAH Sale was born in 2023, a homegrown international exhibition created to give local businesses the stage they deserved, while attracting regional participation from across East ASEAN.

In just two years, the event expanded in scale and impact, earning national recognition with the Consumer Exhibition Excellence (5,001 to 10,000 sqm) award at the Malaysian Business Events Awards (MBEA) 2025.

In this exclusive insight, Datuk Dr Hajah Rosmawati Haji Lasuki J.P, shares how the BIGSABAH Sale evolved from an ambitious idea into an award-winning platform and why the 2025 edition promises to be its biggest and most strategic yet.

What inspired the creation of the BIG SABAH Sale in 2023?

The Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) was completed in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, during that period, all business events came to a halt. By 2023, when we revisited the idea of using SICC, our aim was clear: this purpose-built, international-standard venue needed to be showcased as the place for businesses and products to be presented. We could not simply wait for opportunities to come; we had to create them.

That was how the BIGSABAH Sale was born, a homegrown international event where we, as organisers, could determine its timing, scale, and focus.

At the time, I was with Yayasan Sabah, an organisation committed to capacity building. I saw how many local entrepreneurs needed a platform to showcase their products, especially since there were no major international expos in the immediate post-pandemic period. The 2023 BIG SABAH Sale was created to give local entrepreneurs that opportunity, enabling them to reach new customers and grow their potential.

What drove the decision to expand BIGSABAH Sale beyond local entrepreneurs to the wider East ASEAN market?

The success of that first edition inspired us to aim higher. We realised that if we only featured local entrepreneurs, growth would be limited. To truly help them expand, we needed a blend of local and international participation. So, we began outreach to neighbouring markets such as Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines, highlighting Sabah’s strategic location in the East ASEAN region. Brunei is just 29 minutes away by air, while Jakarta and Manila are only two hours away. With nearby regions such as southern Philippines, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan, the opportunity was clear.

When you talk about export, purchasing power matters. Sabah’s population of 4 million alone could not attract significant international participation. But by including the East ASEAN market, we were looking at a potential reach of 89–90 million people. In 2023, we successfully brought in participants from Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore. The response was so positive that participants immediately began asking when the next edition would be.

We decided to hold the 2025 edition in October, the ideal month, as it’s close enough to Chinese New Year and Hari Raya for advance orders, but avoids the holiday slowdown in December. This timing makes it a valuable planning period for businesses and customers alike.