KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) has launched the MaGIC Accelerator Program (MAP) in the quest to churn out more entrepreneurs or business start-ups in Southeast Asia.
Its Chief Operating Officer, Norita Jaafar said MAP, which was MaGIC's biggest programme this year, was inspired by the 'Start-up Chile' model and was set to be the biggest entrepreneurial accelerator programme in the region.
"MAP is aimed at expanding the regional start-up community and developing social entrepreneurship," she told Bernama recently.
Norita said MAP's participants were put through their paces at the four-month programme, fully funded by MaGIC, by trainers, mentors and industry experts from around the world.
Through MAP, interaction among entrepreneurs is maximised, particularly through group discussions and brainstorming of ASEAN market studies, she added.
Norita said since its launch in April last year, the MaGIC Start-up Academy had trained 13,800 entrepreneurs, mostly companies and individuals using high technology in their business or operations.
She said unlike small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and public-listed companies, MaGIC gave more emphasis on efforts to assist and support start-ups from various industries with potential to grow regionally and globally.
"In the first year of its establishment, MaGIC focused on highly-skilled companies to achieve the goal of putting Malaysia on the world map.
"MaGIC also paves the way for companies not ready to adopt technology in their business operations through a long-term plan initiative," she said.
Outlining MaGIC's major achievements since its inception, Norita said the Cyberjaya-based government agency had created 218 networks in the Silicon Valley, the US through the 'e@Stanford' programme.
"Selected entrepreneurs have been sent to Stanford University and the Silicon Valley to take part in the world's most innovative entrepreneurial hub for two weeks," she said, adding this year, MaGIC would sponsor 42 more new entrepreneurs.
In addition, 51 local companies have expanded into the Indonesian market through the "Start-up Asia Jakarta' programme, which was created to promote regional access through strategic cooperation and consultation with investors and the media, she added.
"MaGIC aspires to continue to empower high-growth start-ups to expand their business regionally and globally, particularly capitalising on the ASEAN population of over 600 million people," she said.
Norita conceded that many entrepreneurs outside Kuala Lumpur were still not aware of MaGIC as it had been focusing on high-tech companies or entrepreneurs in the Klang Valley.
In an effort to raise awareness on MaGIC, she said the agency had expanded its wings to Alor Setar, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching in order to raise the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country.
She said budding entrepreneurs could visit MaGIC to learn more about its programmes, including MaGIC Central; MaGIC entrepreneurship dialogues and social entrepreneurial roundtables.
MaGIC was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and US President Barack Obama in April 2014 with the aim of transforming Malaysia into a dynamic entrepreneurial country.
-- BERNAMA
Source: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=1192397
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