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

• Programme aims to help firms accelerate growth, grow into global companies
• Supports high-potential startups and boosts Malaysia’s global scaling and innovation

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) programme, a multifaceted programme designed to accelerate the growth of high potential Malaysian based tech companies. 

They are both foreign founders who are building rapidly global businesses from Malaysia. Both have also been enticed by other countries to relocate away from Malaysia, but both turned down those offers as they believe they have all the pieces in place in Malaysia to grow their startups. And this was even before FOX, launched in March 2023, came into the picture. 

Salandra, 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 Salandra, Chmiel 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), Chmiel is now aiming to build his second property technology winner as co-founder and executive chairman of Juwei IQI Holdings. 

With over 25 years of experience in real estate across Australia, Asia and now Malaysia, Chmiel has seen a lot of government programmes aimed at helping companies grow but even he is impressed by FOX. “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 FOX, Chmiel, who does a fair bit of travelling, has noticed something interesting about the impact of FOX. 

“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 FOX 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 also gives the country a reputational boost, acknowledges Gopi Ganesalingam (pic), head of Digital Exports, MDEC. “Through our efforts to help our FOX companies grow into global companies, and hopefully unicorns that choose to remain in Malaysia after they become very successful, we are hoping to galvanise more companies outside the country to consider us as their base to grow into global companies too.”  

If the enthusiastic feedback from Chmiel and Salandra is any indication, FOX, 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 Salandra’s attention and persuaded him to engage with the programme.

Salandra 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 FOX, 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 Salandra’s perception about 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 Salandra and his leadership team see the value of consultants. “And today, we do pay for consultants.”   

An even bigger value that Salandra got from his FOX 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 Salandra. Thanks to FOX 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, Salandra himself is now in the process of joining Endeavor Malaysia. 

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