KUALA LUMPUR: Five enterprises from Peninsular Malaysia were announced as winners of the Shell LiveWIRE programme, Shell's flagship enterprise development programme, which aims to strengthen local economies across the globe by promoting entrepreneurship and developing entrepreneurs.
This programme, which kick-started in Sabah in 2015 and in Sarawak in 2016, aims to inspire young entrepreneurs to innovate and produce real business solutions that meets today's socio-economic needs.
This year marks Shell's first time in running this entrepreneurship development initiative for Peninsular Malaysia entrepreneurs.
The winning enterprises — Sapot, Beebag, Qarbotech, manekNya, and Sayur Kita — were selected from more than 60 competitors, during the Peninsular Malaysia programme.
They comprised Sapot founders Najiya Ilya Mohd Arif and Nur Fatiha Shuib; Beebag founders Joshua Lim and Joel Lim; Qarbotech founders Mohamad Syazwan Abdul Rahman and Chee Hoe Chor; manekNya founders Swee Lin Lee and Swee May Lee, and Sayur Kita founders Naviin Thiagarajan and Mohamad Alif Aminuddin.
"At Shell, we aim to contribute to the local economy through entrepreneurship, innovation, and meaningful employment. We have supported thousands of individuals every year to access knowledge, skills, networks and resources to turn their ideas into successful businesses," said Shell Malaysia chairman and Upstream Malaysia senior vice-president, Datuk Ivan Tan.
"Through this initiative, not only do we develop entrepreneurs, but we also empower them to uplift the livelihoods of their communities through job opportunities," he said.
Tan pointed out that the Shell LiveWIRE programme has benefited communities by enabling young people around the world to start up and run viable businesses.
"This is how Shell helps tackle unemployment by providing budding entrepreneurs with pre-start-up business awareness, planning and management training, business capital, and mentorship.
"On the global front, besides networking and sharing, participants also stand a chance to compete in the Global Top Ten Innovators which is a platform that recognises and celebrates the excellence in entrepreneurship among the Shell LiveWIRE fraternity from 20 countries."
"To date, we have invested over RM4 million in organising the programme, awarded approximately RM400,000 start-up grants and trained over 300 budding entrepreneurs, who have now become successful business owners," he added.
Beebag co-founder Joshua Lim Yi Fan said Shell LiveWIRE was a hands-on programme that helped participants to improve their entrepreneurship skills.
"Even though we have taken part in other programmes, Shell LiveWIRE is the first one that we feel has truly affected us.
"Shell LiveWIRE has taught us real-life issues, which the coaches advised were problems that could actually improve us," he expressed.
Beebag has created the first-ever smart reusable bags powered by NFC chips with Smart QR codes to enable shoppers to track their positive environmental impact and later exchange them with rewards.
Sayur Kita founder Naviin Thiagarajan remarked that Shell LiveWIRE had provided an ideal platform for budding entrepreneurs.
"The programme provided us with lessons on how to manage our business during the earliest stages, as well as explanations of business models and factors that business owners should take into account before beginning operations.
"We have had access to priceless information that is difficult to find elsewhere," he added.
Mohamad Alif Aminuddin, the chief marketing officer at Sayur Kita, said the company planned to boost their marketing plan using the RM10,000 grant they received.
"To encourage more youth to join us, we aim to enhance our marketing strategy, by including video and improving the audio quality of our materials.
"We want our students to have a reliable reference because Sayur Kita is a community-based platform where youths can connect with competent tutors and like-minded peers to solve problems, learn, and produce crops together," he added.
manekNya founder Swee Lin Lee expressed her excitement to be selected as one of the winners. Her company produces handmade contemporary and comfortable Peranakan beaded shoes, made in Malaysia by embroiderers from marginalised communities.
"This is our first time participating in this kind of a programme as we recently began manekNya in August and through this programme, we have learnt how to analyse the issues that our company faces.
"From this, we have gained a lot of knowledge and with the substantial award, we want to concentrate on internal operations to further our goal of preventing the extinction of the Peranakan culture," she said.
Qarbotech founder Mohamad Syazwan Abdul Rahman said the Shell LiveWIRE programme has created a networking opportunity among the entrepreneurs.
Qarbotech provides carbon nanotechnology products and solutions for smallholder farmers.
"Although the participants come from diverse backgrounds, they have valuable business exposure and we have learnt from the experiences they have shared on how to improve ourselves.
"In fact, Shell has an ecosystem that gives access to knowledge, and experiences that support the growth of young entrepreneurs," he added.
Sapot is an organisation which aims to prevent people from developing mental disorders due to prolonged stress and encourages them to seek help from professionals if necessary. Its founder, Najiya llya Mohd Arif, said the Shell LiveWIRE experience was a valuable and unforgettable one.
"Both the mentors and the participants shared relevant experiences, providing useful guidance related to the realistic life of an entrepreneur," she said.
The 2022 winners received a RM10,000 start-up fund and a year of business coaching support from Shell LiveWIRE facilitators in order to empower them achieve their entrepreneurial aspirations and enable them to turn their concepts into full-fledged businesses.
The five winners of Shell LiveWIRE Peninsular Malaysia 2022 will compete against five winners each from Sabah and Sarawak at the national final of Shell LiveWIRE Malaysia, next year.