U.S. Entrepreneurship Speaker Ignites Startups Across Malaysia

U.S. Speaker Marc Nager mentors Malaysian entrepreneurs at the Startup Weekend in Kuala Lumpur.

U.S. Speaker Marc Nager empowered hundreds of Malaysian entrepreneurs during the “Ignite Your Startup Tour” organized by Warisan Global in four cities across Malaysia, October 18-28, 2010.  The highlight of the program was the 54-hour “Startup Weekend” program for 60 entrepreneurs at the Plug & Play incubator in Kuala Lumpur.  This workshop-style program connected passionate and skilled people and helps transform their entrepreneurial ideas into reality.  This program took a hands-on, active approach to create start-ups in a fun, interactive and results-driven way.  Participants pitched their ideas, then worked in teams to develop their ideas into real businesses which they presented to a panel of experts.  CAO Nicholas Papp delivered welcome remarks to the participants encouraging them to work hard, collaborate, and have fun.  US Embassy Economic officers Paul Brown and Juha Salin also dropped by to witness the hard work and entrepreneurial transformations which occurred over the course of a weekend. 

Startup Weekends are run from Friday to Saturday, use a “No-talk, Just Action” model and incorporate experts to help mentor and guide participants as they convert their ideas into actual start-ups.   Participants for the Ignite Your Startup Programs included:   students, youth, serial entrepreneurs, computer geeks, inventors, business executives, business managers, creative-types, and people who simply had an idea and were ready to Startup!

Attending the Kuala Lumpur event were four Malaysian YES Program alumni (ages 19-21).  These young aspiring entrepreneurs surprised themselves how interesting entrepreneurship could be.  In fact, they did so well, their business plan for a payment system for on-line gaming was selected by the panel of experts as one of the projects most likely to be realized.  

The Ignite Your Startup Tour traveled to 4 cities, including Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Kelantan (home of Malaysia’s only entrepreneurship focused university UKM) & Johor Bharu to help young enterprising people with startup ideas convert these ideas into innovative ventures.   Local media covered the event.

Marc Nager has personally facilitated Startup Weekend programs in over 80 cities around the world, inspiring over 16,000 entrepreneurs, and launching over 700 new startup ventures.  Marc has spoken at prominent events such as the Entrepreneurial Congress in Dubai as well as the Global Entrepreneurship Summit hosted by the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City.   His work has led him to consult with the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems with governments, universities, and private companies around the world including Oman, Brazil, France, Costa Rica, Singapore, and a myriad of cities across the US.

Participants taking part in Startup Weekend events can benefit in the following ways:

• Education – learning more about entrepreneurship and how to put together an actual startup strategy, plus get feedback from experts and potential investors and partners
• Co-Founder Networking – networking with like-minded people as well as finding potential partners/co-founders for the start-ups.
• Learn to Launch – figuring out everything from target markets to go-to-market strategies, then giving a full presentation of a working prototype, then getting validation of the concept from a panel of expert judges
• Actually Launch a Business! – from Talk to Action – turning your idea into a real startup while at the Startup Weekend. Over 36% of startup created during Startup Weekends are still alive 3-months following the program and 10% produce revenue and/or get seed funding.

The Ignite Your Startup Tour programs held over 10 days in 4 cities helped to:

• Connect – participants met likeminded peers, mentors, already established entrepreneurs and potential investors
• Inspire – experts supported participants and encouraged them to transform and develop their ideas in to ventures
• Real Results – the program emphasized less talk, more action and aimed to achieve real results and actual start-ups to come out of each program
• Go Global – participants and start-ups joined the growing movement of entrepreneurial people through the Global Entrepreneurship Week, which opens up even greater opportunities for connections, mentoring, inspiration and investment.

Before heading off to Singapore, Marc Nager shared his perspective on the many Malaysian entrepreneurs he met during the tour.  First, he was highly impressed with the dedication and passion the Malaysian entrepreneurs brought to the workshops.  Second, Marc noted that the number of social entrepreneurship projects was the largest of any country he has visited.   In fact, the project most likely to be realized at the Startup Weekend event in Kuala Lumpur was a social entrepreneurship project focused on scaling-up recycling.

Following the program, one participant told the CAO his impressions on the program:  “This weekend was such an unforgettable 3 days. I came without any expectations and left recharged, reconfirming my passion for entrepreneurship.   My whole team has decided to go ahead with realizing our vision, empowered to meet the challenges ahead.  This was an excellent program.  Thanks to the U.S. Embassy for supporting it.”

The following are comments following the program:

“My initial intention was to be an observer here, For me this is a fantastic learning curve and wouldn't have had the chance if my friend didn't drag me here! I would like my children to enjoy the same environment of entrepreneurial skills that is found here, because I think being self-employed and making your own money is the best feeling in the world.”   Chan Sook Peng, Homeschooling mother

“I heard about the Startup Weekend via Facebook. It's a cool experience.  We developed some great ideas, an online mock-up, and presented to some potential investors. Definitely worth the experience, and I would recommend it to others to attend in the future... cause it's just so cool!”  Muhammad Rasyadi Mohd Rashid, Universiti Technologi Petronas
 
“All the while we all have these ideas in our heads, and in StartUpWeekend, you get a chance to share these ideas with others. Once you start talking to each other, you learn more about your idea, and ways of making a business out of it. StartUpWeekend is a platform for that.  For those who haven't been to StartUpWeekend- If you're an 'idea' guy, you definitely need to come to StartUpWeekend; that's where you see if your idea really works or there are loopholes in it.  Even if you're not a business person, or an IT student like me; its still a good platform where you learn and network with people, and you know about the challenges faced at work.” Zeffree Kan, Universiti Technologi Petronas

“I've been here since Friday, from the start. The energy I see here is amazing; the quality of work the refinement and evolution of ideas I'm seeing here is amazing. I hope they can take whatever they've learned from this, beyond this event and apply it to their life. I really look forward to some quality startups coming out from this event.”  Peter H.S Tam, Director of Local Software Innovations, Microsoft Malaysia

“It is very inspiring. I am glad to share my ideas with others and they even came up to me saying “That’s a great idea and go ahead!”  By working with other people, we also came up with a lot of great business ideas. I think everyone should take part in this kind of program!”  Soo Cheng Guan, CEO, Agara Base

“It was great, fun and really crazy. We have a lot of crazy ideas here and I know we are going somewhere from here. You should come here and enjoy it.“  Nur Izzati Lau Abdullah, Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide