Sabah Creative Economy & Innovation Centre launches mentorship programme with MaGIC

• 500 hours pledged by 30 mentors to serve 300 Sabahan entrepreneurs
• Aim to accelerate industries in Sabah through technology, innovation & creativity

Sabah Creative Economy & Innovation Centre (SCEIC) a government initiative under Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park Sdn Bhd (KKIP) mooted by the Ministry of Industrial Development Sabah (MID) today announced a collaboration with the Malaysian Global Creativity & Innovation Centre (MaGIC) in developing an online mentorship programme, Co-ETIC.

Collaborative Entrepreneurship, Technology, Innovation and Creativity (Co-ETIC) is a programme where mentors from diverse sectors will come together to serve and assist entrepreneurs, makers, innovators and creative talents in Sabah.  In an ecosystem, each component party plays a significant role in creating value to nurture entrepreneurs towards sustainability and scalability and a dynamic ecosystem is only possible where all parties are working together in tandem towards the success of the programme.

“The programme is looking towards targeting anyone in the Sabah entrepreneur ecosystem and entrepreneurial community, no matter where they are located in Sabah, no matter what their backgrounds are.  We would like to invite everyone to be part of this effort especially those seeking guidance from mentors who are experts in their fields. Most importantly this programme is absolutely free for mentees to bring their skills and knowledge to the next level,” said Viviantie Sarjuni (pic), General Manager of SCEIC.

“We are all experiencing an unprecedented global pandemic and many entrepreneurs are frantically trying to develop strategies for survival. They need help, guidance and more importantly someone to listen and advise them during this difficult time. Via the platform, the entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to be mentored in various subjects in areas such as funding, sales and marketing, data science, AI, AR/VR, robotics, animation, leadership, film making, innovation and many more.  I would like to call upon all Sabah entrepreneurs & its entrepreneurial community to take full advantage of the platform.” Viviantie adds.

SCEIC looks forward to working with more ecosystem partners like Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), SME Corporation Malaysia (SMECorp), Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju), Malaysian Business Angels Network (MBAN) and Malaysia based crowdfunding platform partners like pitchIN and ATA Plus to name a few, for more programmes for the Sabah entrepreneurial community, in the near future.

Ir. Melvin G Disimond (pic, right), CEO of Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park Sdn Bhd (KKIP) said that “KKIP realises the importance of accelerating industries in Sabah through technology, innovation and creativity hence the formation of Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Industrial Development. The industrial landscape is constantly changing and with this pandemic, we don't have a choice but to think out of the box and new ways of surviving the economy.”

Expressing KKIP’s full support of this initiative between SCEIC and MaGIC, he adds: “With COETIC mentorship platform, startups, innovators, makers, creative talents - will be able to learn from industry experts and widen your network beyond just Sabah. Not only that, this inclusive initiative will be able to reach out to communities in the rural areas.”

CO-ETIC is a programme of SCEIC with the technology and innovation team in MaGIC who has helped build the platform for Sabahan talents. SCEIC has curated and managed programmes both online and offline to push the agenda of innovation and creativity in Sabah despite the current global health crisis that is impacting everybody. SCEIC is encouraged by kicking off the programme with 500 hours already pledged by 30 mentors to serve 300 entrepreneurs who are the first group to have registered for the programme.