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STARTUP
FireFlyz | 21
Let’s Accelerate Campaign
SettingOffStartupRevolution inMalaysia
W
hat
is an en-
trepreneur? An
entrepreneur is
someone who
starts a brand-
new business or
startup, taking on
some degree of financial risk in order to get
his or her company off the ground.
Entrepreneurs are ones who are adept in
identifying opportunities and taking the risk
of turning them into reality.
Malaysia – particularly the Multimedia
Development Corporation (MDeC) – is
making efforts to encouragemoreMalaysians
to become Information & Communications
Technologies (ICT) entrepreneurs and help
get their ideas off the ground and into
fruition.
Indeed, Year 2014 thus far has been an
eventful period for the startup and entre-
preneurship ecosystem as MSC Malaysia
witnessed high profile global events, intensi-
fied activities by funders and accelerators,
as well as greater commitment from the
government – all pushing the momentum of
the ecosystem several notches higher.
As MDeC, the custodian of the MSC
Malaysia national ICT initiative, move further
into the year, it has embarked on the “Let’s
Accelerate” campaign.
This campaign aims to set the stage in
building viable tech businesses through
acceleration platforms and support structures
available in Malaysia.
Essentially, the idea is to look at the bigger
picture, which is establishing a healthy
ecosystem for entrepreneurs to thrive, rather
than advocating piece-meal initiatives.
The “Let’s Accelerate” campaign also
celebrates the “Malaysian entrepreneurship
spirit” by showcasing entrepreneurs who
have walked the distance and experienced
success along the way. Some of these entre-
preneurs are now mentors or even funding
the local startups. When successful entrepre-
neurs are “giving back” to the ecosystem, you
know the ecosystem is complete!
Recently, MDeC welcomed a mix of
prominent mentors and passionate digital
business owners to talk about their startup
experiences through a series of interviews in
Malaysian radio stations, namely Bernama
Radio, Red FM and Capital FM.
Among the “stars” interviewed by Ber-
nama Radio included Andrew Wong, who
co-founded the Bootstrap Accelerator Asia;
Farhan Hafetz, who launched myDoctor
after going through guidance at the Founder
hosted were Chu Tzu Ming, who is the co-
director for Kuala Lumpur Founder Institute
(KLFI); Vincent Lee Hong Fay, founder of
Wavelet Solutions and top participant from
the Digital Malaysia Corporate Accelerator
Programme (DM CAP) and Khailee Ng from
the micro start-up fund 500 Durians.
Ng Wan Peng, COO of MDeC, said: “By
definition, a tech startup is not yet a com-
pany, but a corporation set up in search
of a scalable, repeatable business model.
In other words, a startup is an experiment
that entrepreneurs run to test a bunch of
hypothesis and assumptions for their ideas.
“Startups shouldn’t expect instant results,
but be willing to invest their time and other
resources and reap the benefits later.”
Wan Peng adds: “MDeC can serve to
bridge local startups here with the rest of
the world, in Southeast Asia and also Silicon
Valley. Our local talent needs more exposure
abroad to be able to understand the global
markets and build valuable tech companies
that have global scale.”
This year is another year for entrepreneur-
ship as MDeC forge newer and stronger
partnerships with regional and global
ecosystems while focusing on accelerating
local high-potential startups to become high
growth companies. If you lack the right
assistance, unsure of your million-dollar
ICT idea or want to jumpstart your digital
business – just be part of the exciting ICT
startup ecosystem through MSC Malaysia.
Log on to
www.mscmalaysia.my/seedstartups
for more information.
I like to pridemyself
on thinking pretty
long-term, but not
that long-term.”
–
Mark Zuckerberg
Institute (a global accelerator programme);
and Ramesh Balakrishnan, the founder of the
Residenz – an integrated residential software.
Some of the entrepreneurs interviewed on
Capital FM include Janice Tan who founded
the app development studio Alphapod and
Joann Soon who developed bill separator
software Owe$ome. They took part in two
separate Breakfast Show discussions on
Capital FM, sharing tips on how to accelerate
digital businesses.
Meanwhile, some of the icons Red FM
Media Exposure for Local
Entrepreneurs ... Farhan Hafetz, the
founder of myDoctor, all smiles before
his radio interview at Bernama Radio.
Wan Peng … ‘MDeC can serve to bridge local
startups here with the rest of the world, in
Southeast Asia and also Silicon Valley.’