Last week, Malaysia Tech Week 2019 brought together various industry players, startups and SMEs and one topic of the week was connections with talents.
In her opening remarks, Surina Shukri, CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) highlighted that the goal is to make it easy for ecosystem builders to set up businesses in Malaysia.
“Connection is what we hope for you all to continue to build,” she added. “You are in the tech industry. You are entrepreneurs. You are innovators. At the end of the day, we are all builders.”
“We are building the future but we can’t do it alone and it’s not going to be easy.”
Throughout the day, experts and industry insiders shared their approaches on ongoing efforts in Malaysia to develop the talents who are the next generation in building the ecosystem.
Here are 3 of note.
1. Build think tanks
The Malaysia Innovation Policy Council (MPIC) was established last year in September.
This council will serve as a platform for supporting private sectors’ digital tech initiatives. YB Gobind Singh Deo, the Minister of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia, stated that the government has taken a consultative approach in harnessing the strength and energy of the ecosystem.
“I hope you will use this council to suggest ways that we can streamline processes, improve access to markets and funding, working towards legalising regulations and to ensure that the government able to cater to the fast-changing technological ecosystem in Malaysia,” he added.
Surina highlighted two programmes that offer opportunities for entrepreneurs and freelancers.
- Last year, Malaysia Tech Entrepreneur Programme was established last year to offer passes to new and established entrepreneurs from overseas. These passes will enable them to come over to Malaysia and set up their businesses.
- Currently in the works, the pilot Digital Freelancer Programme offers work visas for tech freelancers to work in Malaysia for the short-term. This will fulfil the demand for block chain capable talents.
2. Set up tech platforms
Facebook Blueprint provides the knowledge for talents so that they are able to use the right tools and build their capabilities.
Nicole Tan, Country Director of Facebook is happy to say that a large number of local businesses are taking the short online courses and training in Facebook Blueprint.
Taking a Malaysian jewellery designer’s Facebook Business story as an example, Facebook Malaysia continues to help local businesses in gaining more B2B opportunities. This platform allows talents to think about the regional and global perspectives in businesses and markets.
“Malaysia is a unique place where you have talents and infrastructure,” she added.
3. Support women breaking the glass ceiling
During the “Where’s The Money” panel session, one of the audience asked the speakers about their views in supporting women in becoming entrepreneurs.
Ahn Sae Min, Managing Partner of Rakuten Ventures pointed out that companies need to understand their ideas and interpretations, minimise the gender barriers, and make sure that they share the vision with the team.
“We would like to see more women entrepreneurs join in,” he added. “It’s not enough to lead the way.”
Khailee Ng, Managing Partner of 500 Startups mentioned that the pool of female talents is small. To date, there are 57 female founders in 500 Startups Malaysia portfolio.
“I think that it is important what these services look at all genders and types of people is talent and not let anybody get in the way,” he said.
Razif Aziz, Acting Group CEO of Cradle Fund said that we need to spread the word about women entrepreneurs in Malaysia so that businesses can recruit more talented women to their teams.
By supporting the women entrepreneurs, they will be able to use their knowledge and capabilities in helping businesses and contributing to Malaysia’s ecosystem.
- Learn more about the speakers’ discussions about the challenges to overcome to make 5G work in Malaysia here.
Feature Image Credit: Malaysia Tech Week 2019