Providing a platform for young Malaysians to hone their skills in order to pursue brighter prospects, StartupMalaysia, sponsored by Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad (MAVCAP) recently hosted SPARK X, a free virtual upskilling programme for youths aged 18 to 25.
Taking place over the course of three full days from May 6 to May 8, 2020, the programme was aimed at equipping participants with skills in three key areas, namely the Basics of Design Thinking, Basics of Building a Website, and Basics of Communication and Digital Marketing with Social Media.
The programme is part of MAVCAP’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, as a means to provide young people with the necessary skill sets to navigate an uncertain future brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Encik Shahril Anas, Acting Chief Executive Officer of MAVCAP commented, “Areas such as design thinking, programming and marketing in the digital age are particularly relevant and timely during this global Covid-19 pandemic, which has seen digital solutions and innovative businesses come to the forefront in a very significant way. With this in mind, exposing participants to these skills will be greatly beneficial in terms of increasing employability.”
“These key skills are ideal for those interested in starting their own small ventures, utilising a website and social media as marketing platforms. Participants can also use the knowledge gained to provide basic website management services to small businesses. This will help young Malaysians supplement their income during this challenging period, and furthermore, these are valuable skills which they will be able to build on to grow their capabilities over the long-term.”
SPARK and SPARK-X are MAVCAP CSR initiatives that have been ongoing since 2016. With the primary objective of cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset amongst young Malaysians, the programmes have had the following reach and impact:
- SPARK targets secondary school students aged between 15 to 17 years old. The programme has reached out to 416 secondary students from 91 different schools from Kuala Lumpur, N.Sembilan, Sabah, Malacca, Pahang, Perak, Johor and Penang.
- Based on the success of SPARK, SPARK-X was held as a pilot programme in Kuala Lumpur in 2019 targeting Malaysian youths aged between 18 to 25 years old.
Both these programmes have been designed, developed and executed in collaboration with StartupMalaysia. MAVCAP had planned to roll out additional programmes in 2020, however, this is not possible at this juncture in light of Covid-19 and the Movement Control Order enforced to contain the pandemic. Nevertheless, recognising the many challenges faced by young Malaysians, MAVCAP took the initiative to pilot a virtual SPARK-X, moving away from a traditional classroom setting for the first time.
Encik Shahril added, “The response to the first virtual SPARK-X was overwhelmingly positive, with more than 180 applicants from across Malaysia. This demonstrates a real need on the ground for programmes such as SPARK-X which can provide young people with skill sets that they can use as a foundation to become more valuable employees or earn side income. We also realised that a virtual programme like this has the advantage of being able to involve young people beyond the Klang Valley.”
The virtual pilot SPARK-X was held via Zoom and was well-received by the participants, with a strong attendance rate on all three days. In total, there were 30 participants from diverse backgrounds and regions, with varying experience. Working in teams of three, they presented their ideas and completed websites to a panel of judges, which was all done virtually.
Eda Tee, a participant from the winning team, HEMX, shared, “The SPARK-X programme was really helpful because it gave us a chance to think about a product and we were provided with tools and knowledge to work on it over the three-day course. I enjoyed the session on website development the most. I am currently working at a preschool franchise company as a business development executive and my long-term plan is to start my own start-up!”
Mohammad Ikhwan Bin Khairun Nadzim from Team Pixel added, “I have been passionate about start-ups since university. SPARK-X is a great starting point for youths to learn about start-ups in a holistic manner. The programme really served its purpose to nurture a passion to become active community builders. In the future, I hope to create an educational start-up, which will help fill the gap in education practice in Malaysia.”
As a result of the wide interest and success of the pilot programme, additional sessions are slated to be conducted soon. SPARK-X is free for all participants and open to all Malaysian citizens aged between 18 to 25 years old, regardless of employment status. SPM leavers and Institute of Higher Learning students are also welcome to take part.
As there are limited seats available for each session, those interested should visit https://bit.ly/3ahmR31 to register. For further information, please contact Rina at siti.irina@startupmalaysia.org or 012-393 4982.
