MaGIC’s first female-centered Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp Demo Day

• Over 175 applications received from aspiring womenpreneurs
• Nature Renascent, Nommi and Travelight emerges as judgee’ favourites

THE Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) celebrated the completion of the first MaGIC Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp:Female Founders Edition with a Demo Day where 15 female-led startups presented their refined ideas to a room full of investors.

The bootcamp 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 which commenced in the first week of July 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 were 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 bootcamp’s syllabus was structured to help impart learnings in those five main areas which was led by industry experts who served as mentors and trainers during the bootcamp.

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 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.

The demo day kicked off with opening remarks from Ashran Ghazi, chief executive officer of MaGIC and a keynote by Raessa Sya, founder of Orkid Cosmetics.

The winner was selected after the panel of judges comprising of Melissa Foo Suyin, council member at Malaysian Business Angel Network (MBAN) and vice president of Social Innovation at Agensi Inovasi Malaysia, Rossuriana Hamzah of Cradle’s Grant Division and executive director of MaGIC Academy, Johnathan Lee deliberated upon hearing the 15 startups pitch, based on three main criteria 1) Idea & Validation 2) Business Model and 3) Visual & Pitching.

The judges came to a consensus and awarded Nature Renascent, Nommi and Travelight as the winners of MaGIC’s Pre-Accelerator Bootcamp:Female Founders Edition.

Ashran (pic, above) said “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. Twenty-seven startups from five 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 three winners of the Demo Day will receive a company incorporation package, post-programme mentoring session for three months and access to MaGIC’s co-working space at its campus for three 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.

MaGIC’s latest effort is also in line with the United Nations’ (UN) focus on increasing the participation and contribution of women in the economy.

One of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is gender equality. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) stated that it has been proven time and time again that empowering females has a multiplier effect, and helps drive economic growth and development across the board.

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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