By Karen Bong and Ling Hui
KUCHING, Oct 13: With big and bold visions and a combination of good strategies, initiatives, hungry talents and ecosystem for innovation, Sarawak is the place where real breakthroughs are expected to happen.
This is the view of Sunway Bhd chief innovation officer and Sunway iLabs director Matt Van Leeuwen on Sarawak in making the most out of disruption to create value and drive positive change.
“I noticed three things. First, the humble, young and talented Sarawakians, even those working in peninsula who in fact are looking forward to coming back to contribute and make a difference to their home state.
“Second is Sarawak’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita which is one of the highest in Malaysia. If not mistaken, it was about RM6,000 last year which is 40 per cent higher than Malaysia’s average. Now, Sarawak is aiming for eight per cent growth towards 2030.
“Third is the strong focus by the Sarawak government on digitalisation that is really playing to its strength,” he shared during an interactive panel session on ‘Future of Business — Game Changing Innovation and New Market Trends’ at the 1st Borneo Corporate Innovation Summit (BCIS) 2022 held in Tegas Digital Village here today.
Van Leeuwen was joined by Ficus Group Capital managing director Rina Neoh, Agile in Tandem chief executive officer Subash Palaniappan and Damansara Holdings Bhd head of digital Alan Fung where they discussed today’s market landscape, changes in managing business and ways companies and industries can turn changes into competitive advantages.
One of the highlights that captured Van Leeuwen’s attention was how the Sarawak government has included agri-tech at the heart of its strategy to shape the local economy towards stronger food security and especially achieving Sarawak’s aim of becoming a net food exporter by 2030.
“That’s a really big vision to have and I’m looking forward to coming back here (Sarawak) soon to see some of the innovations happening in real time,” he added.
Van Leeuwen also praised Tegas for building an innovation hub which creates a good ecosystem to fund innovative entrepreneurs, especially young ones with amazing ideas.
He also noted that the Sarawak government places importance on the private sector so that they can work closely in harmony through partnership being a key driver, to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ensuring availability of venture capital that goes into funding ideas.
Sharing her thoughts on managing change in the age of disruption and technology advancement, Neoh emphasised that disruption is good “because without which you (companies and organisations) will not be progressing”.
“Most of the time, big organisations are disrupted because they did what their predecessors did, thus remaining status quo. We all know there is not enough inside innovation.
“So before someone disrupts you, ask yourself what can disrupt the company. Like brick-and-mortar companies, they were complacent thinking they were the big guy but little did they realise that small startups could disrupt their business,” she said referring to how e-commerce giants like Amazon had taken over physical stores.
Echoing Neoh’s views, Fung emphasised the need for landscape change and reinvention given how digital disruption like online gaming and betting has taken people away from turf clubs to punt and how the future of autonomous vehicles will threaten many sectors including manufacturing and parking business.
He added, Malaysia should be an innovation-based economy rather than looking at minimising cost, and it should think about maximising profit and value.
On ways to cultivate startups and fund ideas, Subash said the private sector has to step up while noting banks are afraid to invest in a startup due to the high-risk factor.
“For startups to attract more private funds, especially from financial institutions, they must make sure they have solid ideas and strategies that can solve real problems with factual figures, data and expectations.
“They must show there is going to be profit, that there are real values. No one is going to buy an idea based on graphs and presentations,” he added.
BCIS brought together visionary leaders, startups and innovators to share insights and best practices to innovate, and address issues confronting the business and corporate world today. — DayakDaily
