MDEC’s FOX programme hits the spot for Respond.io and Juwai-IQI Holdings as they scale globally

Standfirst: MDEC's FOX programme builds resilient companies with strong fundamentals

Gerardo Salandra and Georg Chmiel share a lot in common, notably their participation in the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s (MDEC) Founders Centre of Excellence (FOX), a multifaceted programme designed to accelerate the growth of high potential Malaysian based tech companies .

The FOX programme is aligned with the Malaysia Digital (MD) national strategic initiative, which seeks to cultivate and advance domestic tech companies to attain Unicorn status by 2025. By fostering a robust support network and providing targeted resources, the FOX programme helps these organisations solidify their business fundamentals and strategic capabilities.

Both Gerardo and Georg are foreign founders who are rapidly building global businesses from Malaysia. Despite offers from other countries to relocate, they chose to stay, believing that Malaysia provides everything they need to grow their startups—even before the FOX programme was launched in March 2023.

Gerardo, from El Salvador, started his Business-to-Business Software as a Service (B2B SaaS) company in Hong Kong and then, deciding that being in Hong Kong was not going to help him achieve his dream of building a global company, picked Malaysia as his base.

 “I already had a few people working here but then I met some MDEC folks at a conference and they told me about this amazing service they had for founders called the Malaysian Tech Entrepreneurs Pass (MTEP) where I got a five-year work visa for myself. I mean, five years? Nobody gives you a five-year visa. That is enough time for me to build a business,” he said.   

Unlike Gerardo, Georg was already well familiar with Malaysia through his role as Group Managing Director of iProperty in the mid-2010s. After having successfully seen the sale of iProperty to Australia’s REA Group, where he once served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Georg is now aiming to build his second property technology winner as co-founder and executive chairman of Juwai IQI Holdings.

With over 25 years of experience in real estate across Australia, Asia, and now Malaysia, Georg has seen a lot of government programmes aimed at helping companies grow but even he is impressed by the FOX programme. “To put it concisely, this is like joining a premier concierge service. Just ask a question and you get pointed in the right direction,” he says.

Besides the concierge-like service that he feels is a standout feature of MDEC’s FOX programme, Georg, who does a fair bit of travelling, has noticed something interesting about the impact of the programme.

“People look at us differently when I say we have been selected to be part of the programme and explain how it works,” he says. The creation of the FOX programme with its goal of helping accelerate the growth of its companies, attests to Malaysia’s ambitions of playing a bigger role in the global digital economy. “This positions Malaysia as an innovative country, in the eyes of outside investors. And that benefits us,” he explains. 

That shift in perception shown by the testimonials of Respond.io and Juwai IQI gives Malaysia a reputational boost. Indeed, MDEC’s efforts via the FOX programme has assisted high-growth companies to grow into global companies, and potentially unicorns. The companies that choose to remain in Malaysia after they become very successful, will inspire more companies outside the country to consider Malaysia as their base to grow into global companies too.

If the enthusiastic feedback from Georg and Gerardo is any indication, the FOX programme, in this early stage, seems to be pressing all the right buttons for its companies.

It seems like the programme carefully curates which companies it needs to be helping most. It persists in its outreach efforts, overcoming initial rejections with numerous emails and messages until it successfully captured Gerardo's attention and persuaded him to engage with the programme.

Gerardo reflects, “As a founder, I understand the need for constant self-improvement and growth. But as a startup founder, the emails, messages, calls, and meetings never seem to stop. When I return to the office after this interview, I'll be greeted with a stack of tasks demanding my attention. So, when is there time to focus on personal growth?”

This seems to be a reality that MDEC has built into the FOX programme, with some very strategic partnerships with global outfits, designed to capture the attention of founders and their senior leadership teams. 

One of these engagements, with Ernst & Young Malaysia (EY Malaysia), even changed Gerardo’s perception of consultants. “I would never have paid for consultants previously, as you tend to believe they are expensive and cannot relate to startup challenges.”

But his experience with EY and a competitive analysis it did using the EY 7 Drivers of Growth Framework, has made Gerardo and his leadership team see the value of consultants. “And today, we do pay for consultants.”  

An even bigger value that Gerardo got from his FOX programme exposure was being connected to founders who have successfully built B2B SaaS companies like his. “Let’s face it, there are not too many people in Malaysia or the region who can relate to the challenge of globally scaling a B2B business like mine. Who can I pick up the phone to ask for help?”

This is where MDEC tying up with Endeavor via the Malaysian office has been of immense help to Gerardo. Thanks to the FOX programme he was connected to the C-suite executive of a European-based Nasdaq listed B2B SaaS company. He also got to speak to the founder of a key Middle East startup, in pursuit of his ambition to expand into the Middle East market himself. Raving about both conversations (which are on-going) and the immense value he got, Gerardo himself is now in the process of joining Endeavor Malaysia.

With its strategic partnerships and relentless outreach, the FOX programme not only supports high-potential startups but also enhances Malaysia’s position to scale globally and achieve technological innovation.

For more information on MDEC and its programmes, please visit www.mdec.com.my