MDEC kicks off Malaysia Tech Month with online events

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) started the month-long Malaysia Tech Month 2020 (MTM 2020) today with virtual events that consisted of digital and technology keynotes, workshops, and discussion panels.

The online events centered around a different theme each week, with this week’s theme being ‘Reinventing Malaysia’s Digital Economy’.

Reinventing Malaysia’s Digital Economy

Today’s events started with the opening remarks from Surina Shukri, CEO of MDEC, who stated that the event is to provide visibility to Malaysia’s tech ecosystem.

This was then followed by the keynote speaker, Alexander Stubb, Former Prime Minister of Finland & Vice President of the European Investment Bank (2017-2020), Finland. His keynote speech titled, How 2021 Will Shape the ‘Great Reset’. His points were that technological disruptions will still continue, and technology will be the driver of change for the workplace, economy, society and in politics. His most interesting point is that the global balance is shifting eastbound, where the US, UK, and Europe will no longer be the dominant force.

The next talk was, In Conversation: Zoom-ing into the Future, with Raymond Siva, CMO of MDEC, and Zoom’s Global Chief Information Officer, Harry Moseley. where he shared Zoom’s meteoric rise of the user base by 500 percent, which was enabled due to their ease of use and reliability. Zoom is confident that their userbase will continue to use their app even after the pandemic is over, given the convenience the video conferencing app gives to users who no longer need to extensively travel for meetings.

A discussion panel with the venture capitalists

Another interesting session was a discussion panel with the venture capitalists who invest in the ASEAN region. Among them were:

• Thomas G. Tsao, Co-Founder, Gobi Partners:
  • Gobi Partners invest in over 60 companies in South-East Asia and looking to do more. They have set up seven funds, consisting of four single country funds, and three regional funds, and are particularly interested in investing in the SIM market, which are Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Khailee Ng, Managing Partner, 500 Startups:
  • 500 Startups have invested in over 300 companies in South-East Asia, and will continue to invest more in this region.
• Saemin Ahn, Managing Partner, Rakuten Ventures.
  • Rakuten Ventures has invested in South East Asia, with heavy investments in Singapore in particular, with over USD65 million in the past six years.

The MTM 2020 is available online for free until the end of this month. Attendees just need to register here.

Farah I, Writer & Researcher

Farah Ishak is a Content Writer at Halalop. She grew up in the United Kingdom where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Management. Later, she completed her MBA and held senior-level positions in Malaysian based MNC. She left the corporate world to be with her young kids. She is passionate about issues concerning Muslim women, Startups and Muslim businesses in general.