A screengrab of the opening day of the programme, which was conducted virtually.
KUCHING (Aug 2): A total 20 early-stage startups have been selected to participate in the ongoing Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Sarawak (Tegas) Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp 2021, said Assistant Minister of Urban Planning, Land Administration and Environment Datu Len Talif Saleh.
The Tegas chairman said the programme from Aug 1-7 aims to promote digital innovation and entrepreneurship in the state in line with the Sarawak Digital Economy Strategy 2018-2022.
He said the programme is open to all early-stage startups and social enterprises or businesses with at least one Sarawakian co-founder.
“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,” he said in a statement.
“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.”
Len Talif explained 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 a green lane to participate in Tegas Startup Lab, Tegas Social Impact Accelerator, and Sarawak Shell LiveWIRE.
Among the mentors for the programme are FutureLab 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 AR Mohd, and Aerodyne Group chief product officer Razwan Zakaria.
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 programme, held virtually for a second consecutive year, 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 programmed 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.
Demo Day winners will receive packages which include company incorporation support from Tegas, six months’ 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.