What keeps the MDeC CEO awake at night: Page 2 of 2

 
Stake in the ground as a games hub
 
Meanwhile, the third cluster, Creative Content, sees Yasmin excited enough about its potential that she is putting a stake in the ground and calling for Malaysia to be “a hub for games.”
 
“We have done well in the animation part but I feel that with our natural cultural affinity with our Asean neighbours and China, coupled with the clear talent and creativity that exists in the sector, we can tap the region’s gaming markets,” she says.
 
She uses the example of an outsourced animation studio called Lemon Sky. The studio does work for leading Japanese gaming company Namco Bandai, whose executives have raved about the quality and capability that Lemon Sky possesses, she says.
 
Expressing confidence that a company like Lemon Sky can move up and start developing its own games eventually, Yasmin wants to accelerate the process and “take the animation industry to the next level.”
 
One added advantage for her in picking gaming is that it allows her to comfortably live up to her mantra of not doing anything that overlaps with other government agencies.
 
Repeating what is a consistent theme for her during the interview, Yasmin is adamant about there being no overlap, or at least minimising it, with work other government agencies are doing. “The sum of the whole has to be incrementally greater than the sum of each. That is our responsibility.”
 
Having highlighted in Part 1 of her interview with DNA, on responsibility and setting high standards for MDeC, Yasmin is also propagating a new mantra within MDeC. “I tell my people that we should be doing things that are of the ‘tip of the spear’ type.
 
She is challenging her team to be innovative and creative in all that they do. “We should be doing things that no one else can do or has thought about, and doing them in an innovative manner. That should be the mark of MDeC.”
 
In line with this, MDeC, for the first time, has established an ‘Ideation’ unit that helps the agency solve everyday problems using technology and innovation. This falls under its IPSH initiative which stands for Incubate, Pilot, Scale and Handover.
 
With all that is going on at MDeC, the two-year contract of Yasmin will fly by. And while the volume of activities will surely increase, she will be mainly judged by how well her MSC Malaysia status companies have done, specifically the homegrown Malaysian ones.
 
Previous Instalment: Yasmin Mahmood starts to shape MDeC
 
 
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