Malaysian PM announces blue ocean competition

• Competition launched at GREAT 2016, seeking high-impact ideas
• GREAT also hosted Sehati outreach progamme on social entrepreneurship

 
MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Najib Razak has officially launched the National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) Competition, which seeks to discover creative and innovative ideas for the business, social or public sector spaces.
 
The NBOS Competition, open to all Malaysians aged 16 and above, was announced at the two-day Gathering of Rising Entrepreneurs, Act Together (GREAT) 2016 event in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) said in a statement.
 
Through NBOS, more than 80 ministries and agencies are collaborating on national transformation programmes.
 
The focus of the NBOS competition is on high-impact ideas that can be quickly executed, and which are low-cost and sustainable. Winning ideas can get cash prizes and seed funding worth over a total RM350,000 [RM1 = US$0.25 at current rates].
 
There are three categories: Civil Service, Social Entrepreneurship and For-Profit Business. The first prize winner in each category will win a cash prize of RM30,000 and RM50,000 in seed funding.
 
For more information on NBOS Competition, visit www.nboscompetition.my.
 
Sehati lands at GREAT 2016
 

 
According to the MoF, over 5,000 entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs and investors attended GREAT 2016 held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) from April 2-3.
 
The event itself was an initiative under NBOS, and the brainchild of the MoF, and was organised by the National Entrepreneur Development Office and the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), with support from the state government of Sarawak.
 
The event also included Sehati 2016, an outreach programme by MaGIC’s Social Entrepreneurship (MaGIC SE) unit, which tours Malaysia to educate the public, specifically university students, on social entrepreneurship and how it can impact society.
 
The Kuching leg was attended by 800 participants, according to MaGIC SE.
 
“We want the community to champion issues happening in their own backyard, be it social or environmental, creating solutions that have an impact and improving lives whilst building a sustainable world,” said MaGIC SE executive director Ehon Chan (pic above).
 
“We believe that local communities can be part of the solution to the social and environmental problems that we face,” he added.
 
Related Stories:
 
Malaysia unveils social enterprise blueprint
 
Malaysia’s MoF takes its GREAT event to Sarawak
 
CEO Cheryl Yeoh lays out MaGIC’s ingredients
 
 
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