KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak wants university students to delve into the possibilities of entrepreneurial endeavours instead of becoming reliant on the government to provide job opportunities.
Najib said the field of entrepreneurship which particularly involves e-commerce sector is among the country’s sources of wealth, and called on youths to challenge themselves by jumping into the business foray.
“I want a shift in our mentality. I do not want for us to think that, upon graduation, we can only work for the government,” Najib said during a question and answer session at the Varsity Entrepreneurship Skills And Talents (VEST) competition finale last night
He said the entrepreneurship offers vast opportunities in creating a better life and future.
“We must challenge ourselves to think of the possibilities offered in the field of entrepreneurship, which can guarantee us a meaningful future.
“Students should look for opportunities to be the one who does the hiring, rather than is hired for a basic salary. They should not be waiting to be hired, and instead, explore the possibilities to be their own boss.”
Najib said the contemporary idea of entrepreneurship is relevant for the younger generation who need not conform to a rigid structure whether in life or work.
“There is no fixed structure in their lives. I remember visiting my child at Georgetown University, and I was surprised that there were no books in sight in the hostel room.
“But my child told me not to worry because even though there were no books in sight it didn’t mean that they weren’t studying. The university students were all wired and they do their revision online.”
Najib then advised parents to continue to support their children as “facilitators in their lives”.
When asked, Najib it was important to him keep a healthy balance between his work as the prime minister and at home.
“We need to find a way to find balance in everything that we do. Be it work, leisure and religion, that is important if we want to succeed. We must also keep learning and widen our knowledge because only with that we are able to be on par with our counterparts.
“We must be competent, and not be caught off-guard when faced by problems or our counterparts. Otherwise, we would be left behind.”
Najib later witnessed the prize presentation award to Vest participants.
The finale was held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) saw three winners from Universiti Teknologi Petronas (first prize), University Putra Malaysia (second prize) and UKM (third place).
Each winner was awarded RM25,000, RM15,000 and RM10,000 cash respectively.
VEST is an entrepreneurial competition programme that was participated by more than 1,600 students from 20 higher learning institutions nationwide.
Two hundred business ideas were proposed and were developed within six months.
The participants were taught and mentored on sale techniques, marketing, branding, effective communication, building franchise networks and financial planning in preparation to be groomed as future entrepreneurs.
The team from UTP which won the competition had created an app SolviePro to allow job seekers to search for jobs based on their geolocation.
This application also serves as a platform for employers to channel their feedback on potential employment.
These feedbacks will help build and improve a candidate's resume based on criteria required by employers in the market.
Winners were judged based on creativity, franchise marketability, online-friendly and mobile-friendly.