StartupMalaysia.org and JFDI.Asia (JFDI) today announced that 8 ASEAN startup teams have begun the intensive JFDI Discover 21-day pre-accelerator program as part of their prize for winning the Global Startup Youth ASEAN 2015 (GSY ASEAN) event held last month in Kuala Lumpur. On completion of the pre-accelerator program and further work on the startups, StartupMalaysia.org will select 5 teams and invest RM25k in each team. The teams will move to Malaysia for Startup Malaysia’s new accelerator program – The Asian Launchpad.
In the meantime, JFDI Discover will help the winners connect with budding entrepreneurs from around the world and, together, get familiar with powerful startup tools including Lean Canvas, Pirate Metrics and OKR (Objectives & Key Results). JFDI Discover aims to help startup teams answer the key questions that angel investors, accelerators, and government agencies are certain to ask them, such as: “Who is your customer?”, “What problem are you solving for them?” and “Has this team got what it takes to succeed?”
JFDI CEO Hugh Mason said: “The energy I experienced when I first met these young people in Kuala Lumpur was truly inspiring. For so long many entrepreneurs from our region have felt they have to go to Silicon Valley to build businesses that have real scale and impact but I really sensed a desire from this generation to build success in Asia, for Asia. It is an honour for JFDI to be able to support GSY ASEAN and Startup Malaysia and I look forward to working with these talented young people long into the future.”
GSY ASEAN brought together 300 young leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs from the 10 Asean countries for three days, in Kuala Lumpur, in March. It was part of the 1ASEAN Entrepreneurship (1AES) Summit organized by the Ministry of Finance, Malaysia.
StartupMalaysia.org founder Dhakshinamoorthy ‘Dash’ Balakrishnan said: “Our vision is to increase the number of fundable startups in the region. To achieve this vision we plan to start by re-engineering the gene pool of startups by putting together founders from different countries to solve a common ASEAN problem. We believe this is a good way to scale in ASEAN as each member of the team don’t only bring their insights from their home countries to bear on the startup but also their connections and know-who which helps navigate the more challenging ecosystem in the ASEAN countries”.
Dash also added, ‘ We will put our utmost effort to support these startups through the Discover program. There is huge synergy between JFDI and Startup Malaysia in what we do to educate young leaders in Asia’s startup ecosystem. JFDI’s expertise of bringing Asia-based startups from idea to investment will be very valuable for the teams.”
1AES was a 2 day event which brought together 3000 entrepreneurs, community leaders and prominent speakers to Kuala Lumpur. The event was held at the sidelines of the ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting.
15Finance Ministers attending the Summit shared the same ambition: to see young people build solutions that address the opportunities and challenges faced by Asia, in Asia.
Speaking of JFDI Discover, that’s our 21-day pre-accelerator program. It runs every month and will teach you how to apply and get results from powerful startup tools.