Cradle Buzz platform for regional collaborations
By Karamjit Singh March 17, 2015
- Asean entrepreneur community invited to be part of equation
- University students invited to be inspired, to look for cool startups
THE upcoming Cradle Buzz conference from March 19-21 will attempt to answer not only the three key concerns all startups have – market access opportunities, talent challenges and funding – but through the participation of entrepreneurs from throughout Asean, will prove to be an excellent opportunity to forge collaborations across the region.
“While our goal is to instill Malaysian entrepreneurs with the knowhow to bring their ventures to the regional market, we are opening up and welcoming the Asean entrepreneur community to be part of the vital equation here at Cradle Buzz,” says Hazel Hassan (pic above), vice president of marketing and strategic partnerships at Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, the Ministry of Finance agency organising the event.
The ambition is to eventually position the event as the conduit to future regional collaborations. Indeed, Hazel emphasises, “We would like for Cradle Buzz to be a place for all entrepreneurs to find new regional partners.”
With that ambition achieved, Malaysian entrepreneurs will naturally have greater confidence in bringing their business to the regional level, with more collaboration between them and partners across the Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations) region.
Asean startups which attend will also get a better understanding of what the entrepreneurial ecosystem is like in Malaysia, and hopefully bring back some lessons to their home countries.
With a stellar lineup of panelists over the three-day conference, Cradle is also hoping that entrepreneurs attending Cradle Buzz walk away with valuable lessons and tips by the panellists on their own experiences of going regional.
Among the panellists are Joel Neoh, international vice president of Asia Pacific at Groupon; Jason Khoo vice president of business development at Flexiroam; Bob Chua of Pulsate, Leon Foong, general manager of Uber Technologies; and Matt Chandran, founder and chief executive officer of InfoValley Group.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurs aside, Cradle has also reached out to the Junior World Economic Forum and a few targeted universities and colleges to encourage their members and students (both Malaysians and Asean students) to attend Cradle Buzz.
The hope is that the students are not just be inspired to become entrepreneurs themselves, but would perhaps zoom in on cool startups they may want to be involved with.
And though the focus is on startups and small medium enterprises, Hazel says, “We do welcome large companies to join in.”
Cradle feels that the networking opportunity offered at Cradle Buzz will allow them to meet potential partners who can add value to their businesses or even be acquisition targets – yet even more incentive for startups to join Cradle Buzz happening in two days’ time.
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