KUCHING, Aug 2: A total of 20 early-stage startups were selected to take part in the Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Sarawak (Tegas) Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp 2021 programme.
Tegas chairman Datu Len Talif Salleh, who is also Assistant Minister of Urban Planning, Land Administration and Environment, explained the programme is to help in accelerating the growth of local early-stage startups and social enterprises, as part of efforts to continue to spur digital innovation and entrepreneurship in Sarawak.
“Going into the fourth year conducting the Tegas Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp, we believe the programme could be a great springboard for young entrepreneurs in Sarawak to fine-tune and validate their innovative ideas before going to market,” he said in a statement today.
The programme, which starts from Aug 1 until Aug 7, 2021, aims to promote digital innovation and entrepreneurship in the State, in line with the Sarawak Digital Economy Strategy 2018-2022.
It is designed to take early-stage startups to the next level, from validating ideas into creating a minimum viable product (MVP) and a go-to-market strategy. All participating startups will be exposed to various modules such as starting a startup, business and financial modelling, product development, going to market, fundraising and pitching.
The programme is supported by Tegas’ ecosystem partners such as Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC), Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), FutureLab, Amazon Web Services, GRAB and Borneo Digital.
Among the participating startups are Clifton Food Asia, Borneo Scarves, The Market, SnappEd, Kompia House, GoPasar, Kiyoomi Enterprise, Fixcolab, Seed, Moredoor Interactive Sdn Bhd, Cloud Design Studio, TravGether, Flibz, YCollection, Headstream, Blankskript Consultants Sdn Bhd, Ben Raz Millions Resources Sdn Bhd, FarmforAll Enterprise, WAT Academy and Icarus GrowthLab (IGL).
The seven-day programme mentors onboarded for the programme are FutureLab chief executive officer (CEO) Brian Tan, Biji-Biji Initiative and Me.reka Group CEO Rashvin Pal Singh, RunCloud CEO and co-founder Arif Tukiman, Mindswitch founder Zaharah Malim, CentaCube managing director Sharifah Rafidah, FinTech Association of Malaysia president Karen Puah, pitchIN co-founder and CEO Sam Shafie, TheLorry CEO and co-founder Nadhir Ashafiq, Fave co-founder Yeoh Chen Chow, Borneo Digital co-founder A.R Mohd. and Aerodyne Group chief product officer Razwan Zakaria.
The bootcamp prepares participants for the Virtual Demo Day to select the top three winners and a chance to pitch to early-stage investors as well as a green lane to participate in Tegas Startup Lab, Tegas Social Impact Accelerator and Sarawak Shell LiveWIRE.
Demo Day winners are set to receive packages which include company incorporation support from Tegas, six-month access to FutureLab’s mentorship platform, free tools from ecosystem partners as well as three-month free co-working access to Tegas Digital Innovation Hub (TDIH) in Kuching, Bintulu and Miri.
Tegas Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp 2021 is open to all early-stage startups and social enterprises or businesses with at least one Sarawakian co-founder. — DayakDaily
