SIGNED AND SEALED: Lee (centre) witnessing the exchange of MoU between Chew (left) and Mingins.
KUCHING: Entrepreneurs must have a clear mental vision of what they want to achieve and a passion in what they do.
Summer Mall managing director Datuk Lee Chee Fui was speaking from his varied experience during his speech at the launch of FTMS International College Sarawak’s new Diploma in Entrepreneurship course.
He cited commitment, creativity and strategy when it comes to developing a competitive edge for business.
“Entrepreneurs may face many challenges and this course will help close the knowledge gap,” he said before launching the course yesterday.
Lee said that many great ideas never get off the ground because the person who came up with it doesn’t know how to source for funding or develop a branding strategy. He also pointed how drastically the business world had changed since he started out.
“Now it’s even easier to do business globally than it was in the past, but the competition is also greater,” he said.
The new course was created as a response to the college’s findings in the state and national business landscape.
FTMS CEO David Chew said that they foresee a need to increase the population of young professional entrepreneurs in Sarawak as it is one of the factors to improve the economy in this region.
“Entrepreneurs in the past have no entrepreneurship diploma or degree courses to attend or train them to get equipped with knowledge to face challenges in the business world,” he said.
Diploma in Entrepreneurship will equip their graduates with the values, sensitivity to business opportunities, better understanding about branding, franchising system, funding system, investment concept, international business, self-branding, self-marketing and so forth.
“This will make them think nearer to bosses. This will be an advantage to the employee in climbing the career ladder.”
When we talk about entrepreneurship, we commonly think of doing business and making money, Chew said.
“If we look in depth, entrepreneurs can solve problems such as social, environmental and health problems. They see opportunities that others don’t, they have a clear vision, they create a solution to the problem, create job opportunities, fuel growth, change people’s lives, move the economy and make dreams come true. These are all the values of entrepreneurs. Without them, we don’t come to what we have now.”
Diploma in Entrepreneurship has been approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and accredited by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) to be conducted in Malaysia.
In the same ceremony, FTMS International College Sarawak also formalised their collaboration with University of Cumbria UK.
This allows FTMS diploma graduates to complete their final year degree with Cumbria University.
Also present at the ceremony yesterday were FTMS academic head Simon Yong, Student Services and marketing manager Rachel Choo, Diploma in Entrepreneurship programme coordinator Lee Siok Ching, Cumbria University representative Kirsten Mingins and PDVL representative David Low.
For more information on the course, contact FTMS at 082-285777, email [email protected], look them up on Facebook or drop in to the college at Brighton Square, Jalan Song.