MaGIC Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp: Female Founders Edition

The first MaGIC Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp:Female Founders Edition with a Demo Day saw 15 female-led startups present their refined ideas to a room full of investors. The bootcamp by Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) is a two-week programme to empower womenpreneurs to transform their business ideas into investment-ready solutions through mentorship and capacity building initiatives while catalysing creativity and innovation.

The bootcamp was specially curated for startups with female founders and provided them with the opportunity to gain practical skills and capabilities, mentorship from key industry players, and valuable insights from Malaysia’s leading womenpreneurs to help boost the participants’ learning curve. The 27 shortlisted startups are exposed to training on topics such as idea and market validation, business fundamentals and modelling, go-to-market strategies and product development as well as gaining pitching and demo day experiences.

The lineup of mentors and trainers included Brett Martin, Co-Founder and Investor at Charge Ventures in USA, Suresh Tan, Former Head of Business Development at Service Hero as well as MaGIC’s very own Executive Director of MaGIC Academy, Johnathan Lee. Annabelle Co-Martinent, Founder of LaJuiceria and Super Saigon, Francesca Chia, Co-Founder and Chief Community Officer of GoGet, Fave Group’s Regional Head of People, Audra Pakalnyte and Deborah Henry, Co-Founder of Fugee School and TV Host, amongst others were also a part of the bootcamp to inspire and guide the participants through talks and sharing sessions.

Ashran Dato’ Ghani, MaGIC CEO says This is MaGIC’s  first-ever female-centered bootcamp. While we have been witnessing a steady climb in the number of womenpreneurs these past few years, we want to keep the momentum going and in order to do so, we knew that we needed to create that mindset shift at the grassroots level to ensure that women are not left behind as we build a pool of exponential entrepreneurial with the ability to continuously generate innovative business ideas. We want to nurture their talent through the empowerment of these aspiring entrepreneurs to create new business solutions – from ideas to investment-ready solutions in just 14 days. The bootcamp was designed in such a way where we were offering a comprehensive and guided syllabus while keeping these womenpreneurs in mind.”

The MaGIC Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp:Female Founders Edition received a total of 175 applications with 152 applications coming from Malaysia and the remainder from startups within the region and  around the globe. 27 startups from 5 countries were selected to undergo rigorous training and mentorship. The majority of the cohort was led with 18.5% of the womenpreneurs with ideas for the Food & Beverage industry, another 18.5% in Lifestyle & Fashion and 11.1% in Medical, Health & Wellness.

After undergoing an intense immersion into the basic startup fundamentals 15 startups were narrowed down from the shortlisted 27 who participated in the bootcamp to pitch their refined ideas to local and international investors. The 3 winners of the Demo Day will receive a company incorporation package, post-programme mentoring session for 3 months and access to MaGIC’s co-working space at its campus for 3 months.

Through MaGIC Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp:Female Founders Edition, MaGIC is creating an environment which empowers women and provides them with an opportunity to pursue their entrepreneurial journey. The Global Startup Ecosystem reported 23% women founders for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2017 which is 7% higher than the global average. In Malaysia alone, the number of Malaysian womenpreneurs has increased over the years. Today womenpreneurs account for about 20% of registered SMEs, according to the SME Association of Malaysia.

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