Among the many names listed in MIHAS Awards 2026's official winners release, one felt familiar to us after following MIHAS 2026's coverage since day three: NIMS Adeliciousz Sdn Bhd. The company won one of this year's three Product/Service Excellence Awards — and notably, the company's General Manager, Tengku Norhanim Tengku Othman, had appeared as a panelist just two days earlier at the WiEX Forum @ MIHAS, a discussion forum themed "Thriving Through Uncertainty: How Women Exporters Can Adapt, Compete & Grow."
This connection might look like a small coincidence, but it actually illustrates something bigger about how the MIHAS ecosystem works. The WiEX Forum itself is designed as a space for sharing insights among industry leaders, policymakers, and successful exporters on navigating ever-changing global trade dynamics — including leveraging digitalisation, artificial intelligence, diversifying into new markets, and building resilient, sustainable businesses. Two days later, one of its own panelists proved to have put those discussions into practice — with her company earning official recognition through the Product/Service Excellence Award.
It's worth noting that NIMS Adeliciousz's award wasn't from the newly introduced WiEX Award category this year, but from the regular Excellence Award category — a category open to all exhibitors, not just women-led businesses. This means NIMS Adeliciousz competed and won in the open category, not merely a "designated" women's track. For anyone following discussions about women's representation in business, this is a fairly meaningful point: proof that women-led businesses can compete and excel under the same evaluation criteria as businesses in general, without needing a "separate category" to be recognised.
MIHAS Awards 2026 itself was judged through a fairly rigorous process — a pre-assessment stage, pitching sessions before an independent panel of judges, and validation from an external auditor overseeing the entire evaluation process. The evaluation criteria have also shifted from simply assessing business performance alone, toward something more comprehensive: innovation, sustainability, digitalisation, and the capability to navigate market change. MATRADE Chairman Dato' Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican described the awards as being about recognising capabilities that will shape the halal industry's future — not just today's achievements.
Unfortunately, we haven't yet managed to interview NIMS Adeliciousz directly about what made them a winner, or the specific products/services the judges evaluated. That detail isn't available from MATRADE's official release, which only lists winning company names without a detailed narrative per category. Should an interview opportunity open up going forward, the story behind this win could certainly be enriched further — including what Tengku Norhanim discussed on the WiEX Forum panel and how it relates to her company's achievement.
What's clear is that this connection between a discussion forum and an award is a small but interesting reminder: amid MIHAS's packed four-day schedule, the people we encounter in one session often turn out to be the same people who resurface in another — sometimes as a speaker, sometimes as a winner. For us, it's a reminder of why it matters to keep track of the names that come up throughout our coverage, since their story may not end where we first encountered them.
Stories like this also show the value of continuous coverage across a multi-day event like MIHAS — rather than only covering one big moment and stopping there. Had we only focused on the MIHAS Awards winners announcement without remembering who appeared at earlier forums, the connection between Tengku Norhanim and NIMS Adeliciousz might never have surfaced. It's a small reminder that details that seem minor in one session can sometimes only reveal their meaning days later — and why carefully tracking speaker names throughout multi-day coverage matters beyond just that day's article.
Moslem Journey will continue following the journey of MIHAS Awards 2026 winners, including NIMS Adeliciousz. Stay tuned for full coverage.
