GES 2013 set to be largest and most global in series

By Karamjit Singh August 21, 2013

Delegates will be a mix of locals and foreigners from over 40 countries
Enough events to keep everyone satisfied, with learning and sharing key outcomes

GES 2013 set to be largest and most global in series THE fourth Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), to be held Oct 11-12 in Kuala Lumpur, promises to be unlike any that have been held before.

There are two reasons here. Firstly, there is the scale, not just in terms of the number of delegates, which at 3,000 will be the largest yet, but also in terms of the number of other events to be held around the summit itself.

While the GES itself is a two-day affair, what lead organiser the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has done is to expand the summit by having a whole series of events in the week leading up to it.

There are 14 such ‘satellite events,’ a mix of existing events that are already happening around that period and events that are being held specifically in conjunction with GES 2013.

Among the latter are the Ideas 2 Invest, a nine-day ‘From Concept to Reality’ programme by Cradle Fund, MoF’s venture capital arm; the MSC Malaysia Cloud Showcase Conference; and the Asean IBM SmartCamp.

There is also the Global Nusantara Entrepreneur Network, the first event to gather Malay-speaking entrepreneurs from South-East Asia, as well as the global Malay diaspora.

The intention behind all the satellite events is to allow a larger number of people to participate in the GES, both directly and indirectly, and benefit from the networking and exchange of experiences and knowledge that will occur.

Then there is the mix of participants. Perhaps mindful of how it was very Middle Eastern-centric in 2012 when organised by the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, there is a conscious effort to ensure a wider participation this time around, both from a delegates and speakers point.

Of the expected 3,000 delegates, 30% are expected to be international. The hope is that they will come from 50 countries.

At a recent media briefing, both MoF secretary-general Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah and Multimedia Development Corporation chief executive officer Badlisham Ghazali emphasised the global nature of the summit, and hence the mix of Malaysian and global speakers during the actual two-day summit.

MDeC, the national ICT custodian, claimed that over 90% of the speaking slots have been taken up already, and that expected 105 speakers will come from both Malaysia and from around the world.

Among the Malaysian speakers will be Bob Chua, a founder of Virtuous Investment Circle; Ganesh Kumar Bangah, founder and chief executive officer of MOL Global; Ashran Ghazi, chairman of the New Entrepreneurs Foundation (MyNEF); Mark Chang, founder and chief executive officer of JobStreet.com; A.K. Nathan, chairman and group managing director of Eversendai Corporation; and others.

GES 2013 set to be largest and most global in series The international speakers include Chris Anderson, former editor-in-chief of Wired magazine; Joel Barker, futurist and author; Don Tapscott (pic), consultant and author of 14 books including the seminal Paradigm Shift; and Dr W. Chan Kim, co-author of Blue Ocean Strategy.

Co-chairs MDeC and SME Corporation Malaysia are leading the efforts to put together the programme for GES 2013. The former’s Badlisham claimed that 20 groups representing industry, entrepreneur and non-governmental organisations that promote entrepreneurship had given their input in developing the ambitious agenda.

“So really, it was crafted by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. And in an open economy like Malaysia, entrepreneurs are key to our competitiveness,” he said.

There will be four tracks during the summit which has ‘Empowering and Connecting Entrepreneurs’ as its anchor theme. Designed to capture the essence of entrepreneurship, these tracks are: