Khazanah launches entrepreneurship outreach programme

Khazanah

KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd has launched the Khazanah Nasional Entrepreneurship Outreach Programme (KNEO), with the aim to help discover  entrepreneural skills among fellow Malaysians.

Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani officiated KNEO programme at the closing of the Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2017 earlier Tuesday evening.

Khazanah’s executive directorfor investments Tengku Datuk Seri Azmil Zahruddin said the programme, opened to start-ups, is an extended version of Khazanah’s Project Brainchild that kicked off in 2015 to develop entrepreneural skills within the state investment arm and companies linked to it.

“To date, Malaysia has the most number of successful entrepreneurs compared to Singapore. Hence the need for such programmes to support the entrepreneur ecosystem.

“The programme is in line with our mandate to help build and develop human capital for the nation and employment opportunities, apart from turning innovative ideas into viable businesses,” Azmil told reporters at a pre-launch media briefing on KNEO. 

KNEO will encompass a 28-week programme that will take start-ups through multiple phases – Ideation, Selection, Incubation and Acceleration, with the finale being the Demo Day.

The programme will equip them with vital training and industry information via a series of bootcamp and accelerator coaching.

Azmil said once start-ups enter the Acceleration phase, each team will be given mobilisation funding of RM20,000, in exchange for a 2% stake in their start-up to be undertaken by Khazanah’s accelerator partners.

The three accelerators roped in by Khazanah include 1337 Ventures, Code Ar.my and Watch Tower & Friends.

On the Demo Day, the top three finalists will be awarded RM30,000 each.

Asked if the programme is open to only tech start-ups, Azmil noted that those in non-tech fields and social enterprise ideas/ventures are welcome to enrol.

“These can be either at ideation stage, start-up or mature stage of a business,” he added.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Khazanah managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said a major component of Khazanah’s mandate was to help build capacity and develop human capital for the nation.

“Entrepreneurship and innovation are key drivers of the company and through KNEO programme, we hope to unearth talent with innovative and scalable ideas. We want to help them realise those ideas,” Azman noted. 

Azman assured that in line with Bumiputera Empowerment Agenda, where Khazanah is the ongoing secretariat for Government-Linked Companies, the programme will see significant participation by Bumiputera entrepreneurs.

Open to Malaysians above 18 years of age, the programme is open for registration from Oct 3 to Nov 27, 2017 via its website at https://www.khazanahneo.com.my/