Workshop participants together with iCube personnel and representatives from MaGIC pose for a group photo.
KUCHING: Young entrepreneurs in Sarawak can now learn new ideas to develop their businesses through a series of capability development workshops by Malaysian Global Innovation and Creative Centre (MaGIC), an agency under the federal Ministry of Finance.
These thematic workshops, held in collaboration with Kuching-based iCube Innovation Sdn Bhd, include the Business & Impact Modelling theme which was held yesterday and registered some 50 participants.
This will be followed by Strategy Development & Execution on Sept 19 and Business & Finance Operations on Oct 24. All these workshops take place at iCube’s premises in Icom Square here.
There will also be a Social Enterprise Bootcamp from Oct 2 to 4 in Kuching specially designed for aspiring and early stage social enterprises to develop and validate their ideas. MaGIC’s Social Entrepreneurship (Academy) programme executive Roslin Daud said businesses defined as social enterprises are those that solve social and environmental issues surrounding them and benefit the community that they represent, and are important drivers of sustainable economic growth. She cited Simply Cookies, based in Puchong, Selangor, as an example of a social enterprise as it teaches single mothers how to bake, provides baking equipment for them and then sells their products.
She also mentioned the Malaysian Social Enterprise Blueprint 2015 – 2018 which was launched by the prime minister in May this year, and MaGIC was allocated a fund of RM20 million last year to lead and strengthen the social enterprise space in Malaysia.
“We have programmes such as Amplify Awards and SE Accelerator Programme for social enterprises. These capability development workshops, held in collaboration with iCube Innovation Sdn Bhd (for Sarawak), are to assist young entrepreneurs to develop their social enterprise ideas into a viable business model,” she said when met yesterday.
Meanwhile, iCube founder and chairman Dato Patrick Liew said the collaboration with MaGIC will benefit young entrepreneurs in Sarawak to improve their competency level.
“Besides providing space and facilities as a business incubation centre, our added value is to provide the essential development programmes needed to be acquired by our young entrepreneurs in order to be improve their capability in the competitive business environment,” said Liew.
The iCube, launched by Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud on Aug 10, offers a top notch contemporary co-working environment with 7,300 sqft (to be expanded to 10,000 sqft by December 2015) dedicated to facilitate the creation of start up companies and nurture the growth of young entrepreneurs. On the other hand, MaGIC, based in Cyberjaya, was launced by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Apr 27 last year in the hopes of nurturing a vibrant entrepreneurial hub in the region.