MediaCorp appoints head for its media entrepreneur programme

• Mediapreneur enters 2nd year, Dr Francis Yeoh appointed executive director
• Media startups to benefit from mentoring and investments from MediaCorp incubator

SINGAPORE’S MediaCorp has announced the appointment of Dr Francis Yeoh (pic) to spearhead the next phase of its Mediapreneur incubator programme aimed at media startups.
 
Mediapreneur enters its second year with the key objective of providing a conducive, operational platform for media startups to be systematically nurtured and developed into full-fledged tech companies, MediaCorp said in a statement.
 
Startups in the programme will have access to funding, networking opportunities and intellectual property and content, to enable them to work alongside media and domain specialists and gain valuable insights into the media business, the company claimed.
 
MediaCorp runs a range of platforms spanning television, radio, newspapers, magazines, movies, digital and out-of-home media. It has over 50 products and brands in four languages (English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil).
 
Yeoh, who will assume the role of executive director of the Mediapreneur programme, is well-known in the Singapore entrepreneurial community, and has played many different roles in his career, MediaCorp said.
 
He was a research institute director, venture investor, Internet startup chief executive officer, government policy-maker, and is now Professorial Fellow for Entrepreneurship at the National University of Singapore.
 
“We are delighted to have Francis [Yeoh] on board to drive our next phase of the Mediapreneur programme,” said MediaCorp strategic planning head Guillaume Sachet.
 
“Our goal is to provide paths for local entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams in the media space, and Francis is the ideal person to get us to that goal.
 
“In addition to Francis, successful incubatees will be mentored by experienced technopreneurs and investors … as well as guided by a larger mentor network comprising well-known entrepreneur-investors.
 
“They will also have special access to domain experts within MediaCorp, which is one of the distinct benefits Mediapreneur offers,” he added.
 
Sachet said that under the one-year programme, MediaCorp is targeting to work with about 10 startup companies, and to also be their strategic partners in the longer term.
 
“The world of media is undergoing seismic shifts as online and interactive technologies displace or augment traditional channels – new opportunities are appearing by the day,” said Yeoh.
 
“Yet the core remains unchanged: Entertaining and informing people is still the name of the game, and MediaCorp has deep experience of how to do that. The Mediapreneur incubator is about giving hungry young entrepreneurs a decisive advantage by leveraging that experience,” he added.
 
Applications for the Mediapreneur programme are open now till Feb 22 ,2015. Interested startups are invited to submit their applications online at www.mediacorp.sg/themediapreneur. Shortlisted companies will be invited to deliver a five- to 10-minute pitch of their business plan.
 
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