How to thrive in the age of constant digital disruption? How can young startups forge their own path?
Answers to these questions and more were found at the much–anticipated Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2018 that was held on 28th September. Organised by the New Entrepreneurs Foundation Malaysia (myNEF) and now into its fourth year, the Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards is the platform for recognising young startups disrupting old processes and industries.
“I am extremely happy to hear that Malaysian Startups are accelerating faster than ever, and we hope that they become a significant contributor to our nation’s GDP and growth, and also become a significant type of business that employs and cultivate cutting edge talent and become a key source of employment”, said YB Tuan Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Communications and Multimedia as he officiated the awards.
For the 4th year in a row, Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards continues its mission to recognise breakout startups in the country that harness digital technology, and celebrate rising tech entrepreneurs in various categories of excellence ranging from retail, media, digital, tech, products, services and innovative campaigns to women and social enterprises.
As the organiser, New Entrepreneurs Foundation Malaysia (myNEF) believes businesses can grow fast and be sustainable when they harness technology and knowledge. It plays a significant role in bridging industry players and the government, working closely with various agencies and government-related organisations to support existing and upcoming entrepreneur development programmes.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of myNEF, Lilyana Abdul Latiff, “With over 50 nominations for Founder of the Year, and over 70 nominations for Startup of the Year at this year’s Rice Bowl Startup Awards – I think Malaysia’s Tech Startup Ecosystem has matured rapidly in the past 3 years. It is a testament to the developmental investments and programmes by the Malaysian government, private sector support and independent initiatives. For a modest market size, we should be on track to produce Malaysian-based ‘Unicorns’ within the next few years”.
The Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards and ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards are among myNEF’s signature programmes. The Rice Bowl Award (Rice Bowl) is beneficial to both the Malaysian startup and ASEAN startup ecosystems as it connects and empowers the ASEAN Economic Community to power up their local economies with startups and scaleups. Rice Bowl recognises innovation, excellence and best practice in startups and ecosystem players across ASEAN, as well as celebrates the ASEAN community’s spirit of diversity in entrepreneurship to solve local rice bowl issues that are replicable across the region.
