Ignite Your Startup Tour begins today!

KUALA LUMPUR: Budding entrepreneurs now have the opportunity to transform their ideas into business ventures through the "Ignite Your Startup Tour" programme.

In the line-up for the coming Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2010, the programme comprises a three-day Startup Weekend in Kuala Lumpur, and three one-day Startup Day workshops across the country from Oct 18 to 28.

Dhakshinamoorthy Balakrishnan or Dash, founder of Global Entrepreneurship Sdn Bhd -- a non-profit arm of GEW country host Warisan Global Sdn Bhd -- which brought the programme with the US embassy, said many entrepreneurs from various countries were inspired to set up business after attending the workshops.

"The workshops will inspire, guide and mentor entrepreneurs, especially youths who plan to start a business but do not know how to convert their ideas into ventures."

In Malaysia, he said, there were many entrepreneurs who had failed in business because they did not weigh the potential of their ideas in the early stages while others were clueless about how to go on from there.

"Many of us have ideas but can our ideas be turned into an opportunity? To know if it works, one needs to put them on a stress test," said Dash, who attended the first United States presidential summit on entrepreneurship hosted by President Barack Obama recently. .

"Discuss the ideas. Take it to an expert who can help convert them into business concepts which then follows a business model that allows them to start their brand new venture.

"Startup is essential because it provides an entrepreneur with a clearer view and a sense of direction of his or her ideas."

At the workshops, participants can look forward to learning how to pitch ideas to investors, work with mentors and present their business prototypes from Startup Weekend USA director Marc Nager, Kumpulan Modal Perdana Sdn Bhd principal Mohammad Hazani Hassan and SimuGen chief operating officer Matthjis van Leeuwen.

The Startup Day workshops will be held in Penang today and tomorrow at Sunway Hotel George Town, in Kota Baru on Oct 26 and Oct 27 at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and in Johor Baru on Oct 28 at Persada International Convention Centre.

The Startup Weekend will be held in Plug & Play Technology Garden Kuala Lumpur from Friday to Sunday.

For more information, contact the secretariat of GEW Malaysia, Vivian, at 012-307 0658 or email her at vivian@gewmalaysia.com

Read more: Turning business ideas into reality http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/14hge/Article#ixzz130keOBvl

1 down, 3 to go...

The Ignite Your Startup Tour is a signature activity for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010 campaign in Malaysia. Leading the one to three days workshop in four cities - Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Bharu and Johor Bahru, is Marc Nager, one of the directors for Startup Weekend out of Seattle, USA.

After weeks of anticipation, the Tour finally landed in George Town, Pulau Pinang (Penang) last Monday & Tuesday, 18-19 OCTOBER 2010. The first ever Startup Day Penang was attended by over 50 entrepreneurs including a dozen mentors, five of which were from Kuala Lumpur. Over 20 participants were from rural Balik Pulau with out-of-state participants included two gentlemen from KL and Langkawi respectively.

Present mentors including YBhg Dato' Mohd Noor Kamaludin (Penang Cluster Alliance - TechBiz, SCoPe & ICT Penang), Pn Bismillah (Internexia), Mr Dash (Warisan Global) & Dr Janaka Low (Foundasoft) are CEOs or head of respective organisations/companies. Other mentors for Startup Day Penang (KORIDOR UTARA) were from ACCA, Aspasti, Emanec, Foundasoft, Microsoft, Mutiara, IXC Bhd, Sangar Sains @ Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), TEKUN & PERDA and Bank Rakyat.

The event was sponsored by the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA/Koridor Utara) & Mutiara.com Sdn Bhd. Also present during the closing session were YBhg Dato' Redza Rafiq, Chief Executive of NCIA and Mr Gaffor, COO of Mutiara.com.

Enjoy these snapshots:-

1. Pre-Day Networking Evening
   
   
   
2. Startup Day
   
   
   
   
3. Vivian's Collection
   
   (coming soon)
   
   

The tour's first stop in Malaysia, was brought to Pulau Pinang, Malaysia by Global Entrepreneurship Sdn Bhd and the United States of America Embassy, and hosted by Koperasi Usahawan Muda Pulau Pinang Bhd (KUMUDA).

Ignite Your Startup Tour to stop in four Malaysian cities

For the first time in Southeast Asia, Startup Weekend-inspired workshops will be held to inspire, guide and teach as many as 360 existing or would-be entrepreneurs in a span of 10 days starting October 19th until Oct 28th.

Leading these one to three days workshop in four-cities tour throughout Peninsular Malaysia, dubbed the "Ignite Your Startup Tour" -- starting in Penang Island in the north, and in ending Johor Bahru at the southern tip with Kuala Lumpur & Kota Bharu in between, will be Mr Mark Nager, one of the directors of Seattle, USA based Startup Weekend. Mr Nager has personally helped advise and create hundreds of new startup ventures in just the last year alone, and thus will be instrumental to help spark the startup business movements in Malaysia. Globally, Startup Weekend has helped educate over 15,000 entrepreneurs and launched over 560 new startup ventures with over 36% of the Startup Weekend Startups continue to run after three months.

"One of the missions of Startup Day is to gather 80 like-minded individuals with startup ideas in each city, and connect each of them with at least one potential partner or co-founder as well as to match each individual or group formed from this meeting with at least one potential mentor, ideally, from respective industry. We call this activity the 'Co-Founder Dating'!", says Nasir Sobri, Chairman of Koperasi Usahawan Muda Pulau Pinang Berhad (KUMUDA), one of the State Partners for the tour.

He pointed out that Malaysians need to actively encourage and support startup culture among the youths, or even among those currently working in either government or private sectors to improve overall economic composition of, or contributory elements for the nation, particularly in cities, towns and villages outside Klang Valley.

It is targeted by the organising team that at least ten new startups will immediately emerge from each city that Ignite Your Startup Tour stops.

Startup Day workshops will be held in Penang (Sunway Hotel George Town, Oct 18-19), Kelantan (Dewan Keusahawanan Terbuka, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Oct 26-27) and Johor (Persada International Convention Centre, Oct 28) and the 3-day Startup Weekend will be held in Kuala Lumpur (Plug & Play Technology Garden, Oct 22-24).

Overall Ignite Your Startup programme is supported by the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and MSC Malaysia. Overall winner of the tour will be offered to be flown to California, USA for a week to learn from startup companies in Silicon Valley.

For registrations and more information, visit http://malaysia.startupweekend.org or contact Vivian@WarisanGlobal.com (012-307-0768)

Ignite Your Startup Tour (Startup Day & Startup Weekend Malaysia)

In Penang, Startup Day is co-organized by Koperasi Usahawan Muda Pulau Pinang Bhd (KUMUDA - Penang Young Entrepreneurs Co-operative) and sponsored by the Northern Corridor Implementation Agency (NCIA) - http://kumuda.org (Cik Atiqah, En. Hadi or En. Nasir - 04-866-2706 / 04-866-0098 / startupp@kumuda.org)

In Kelantan, Startup Day is co-organized by Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK). http://umk.edu.my (Pn. Wan Tik - wantik@umk.edu.my - 019-983-4219 )

In Johor, Startup Day is co-organized by the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA). http://www.irda.gov.my (En. Ridzuan - ridzuan@irda.com.my)

In Kuala Lumpur, Startup Weekend is fully organized by Global Entrepreneurship Sdn Bhd and will be hosted by Plug & Play. http://warisanglobal.com (Ms. Vivian - vivian@gewmalaysia.com - 012-307-0658)