The Malaysian Government recently launched the KL20 Summit 2024, which took place on 22 and 23 April 2024 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. They announced their aim to stimulate the local start-up environment as a national effort to drive Kuala Lumpur into the top 20 ranking of global start-up ecosystems by 2030.
Importing foreign expertise with the KL20 Action Plan
The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, launched the KL20 Action Paper in his keynote address at the summit. It is a comprehensive roadmap containing various initiatives and incentive packages for local and global stakeholders.
One of the government’s main goals is to attract foreign unicorn companies (start-ups valued over US$1 billion), venture capital (VC) firms, founders, and talents to establish physical firms in Malaysia. Some of the initiatives dedicated to them are the Unicorn Golden Pass, VC Golden Pass, and Innovation Pass. These passes allow foreign professionals to receive tax breaks, visa fee exemptions, expedited licence approvals, funding opportunities from top VC investors and more.
The physical presence of these global companies may also catalyse the growth of the domestic start-up landscape.
Single Window: One-stop concierge service for local start-ups
Besides offering incentives for foreign parties to come to Malaysia, the government also launched an initiative for Malaysians during the KL20 summit.
Local entrepreneurs can benefit directly from Malaysia’s Single Window for the Startup Ecosystem (MYStartup) initiative by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
It’s a one-stop online centre that offers a variety of support to domestic business owners in their company setup, operation and performance. Start-up founders can find diverse resources, get mentoring services and even check their eligibility to apply for funding from government agencies.
According to the KL20 Action Plan roadmap, the online platform comprises three components:
- Start-up database: This database contains a comprehensive list of all start-up companies in the country. It also includes business metrics of their operational performance and financial results.
- Business information: The platform provides essential information for start-up founders to start and run their companies in Malaysia. You can find visa information and application overviews for hiring foreign workers, as well as domestic market trends and key industries in regional markets.
- Resource repository: You can find various business templates and documents that can help speed up your paperwork procedures. There are checklists for start-up founders to ensure they’re on the right track and business templates that entail important elements such as financial statements.
Entrepreneurs can now navigate the start-up scene more efficiently as this initiative aims to eliminate the hassle of getting support and relevant business information from different sources.
This initiative benefits business owners as it can expedite business procedures, provide government regulatory information and showcase tech talents. Malaysians who want to work in start-up companies can also use the website to identify work opportunities. Start-up founders can focus on growing their businesses more effectively now that they have better access to funding and human resources.
When more companies improve their operations and performances, they may contribute to the growth of the Malaysian economy.
Study entrepreneurship in Malaysia
MYStartup is a great platform for entrepreneurs who are ready to start their businesses or are looking to grow their companies.
If you are interested in pursuing this field or want to add entrepreneurial skills to your expertise as a working professional, you can check out various entrepreneurship courses offered by Malaysian universities that suit your business goals.
Some undergraduate programmes even offer unique features to ease students into the world of entrepreneurship. Bachelor of Entrepreneurship (Hons) in Team Entrepreneurship students may be eligible to get funding from Taylor’s University for their initial capital to start their business venture. The Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Entrepreneurship programme from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) provides experiential learning for students by organising various entrepreneurial programmes.
Many local institutions also provide postgraduate courses in entrepreneurship. Master of Entrepreneurship students from HELP University have the chance to communicate with small and midsize (SME) leaders to learn about real-world challenges in the business landscape. Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL)’s Master of Business Administration (Entrepreneurship) covers diverse business topics, such as finance and accounting, marketing and human resource management.
Refer to this guide to get an idea of Malaysia’s entrepreneurial environment and how you can join.
Embark on your business venture
Malaysia is on its way to building a conducive environment for its start-ups with more governmental support and business owners should take advantage of this. Whether you’re an experienced professional looking for government funding or someone who’s just dipping their feet into the local start-up scene, there is now a clear starting point where you can begin your journey.