Roundtable with Mr Ortmans

TeAM organized a roundtable discussion with Jonathan.

This event took place after the session with the Minister.

The objective of the roundtable was : to tap into the knowledge and experience of Mr. Ortmans and the Kauffman Foundation in helping to create a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem in Malaysia.

The following people were on the panel :

a) Mr. Stephen Chia – President of the Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia
b) Mr. Ashran Ghazi - President of New Entrepreneurs Forum
c) Mr. David Fong – President of Malaysian Venture Capital Association
d) Mr. Nazrin Hassan - CEO of Cradle Fund
e) Mr. Roslan Bakri Zakaria – Sr. General Manager – Multimedia Development Corporation
f) Dato Dr Rajen M, CEO of Holista Biotech

The Panel was chaired by Dr. Siva.

There were also about 20 other invited guests who were given the opportunity to ask questions of Mr. Ortmans or any member of the Panel.

The discussions touched on many topics such as : essential elements of a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, Institutions necessary to foster and grow innovation and innovative entrepreneurs, Government’s role – when should the government intervene & when should it stay out, The education system – what must be done to ensure a larger pool of science & technology graduates to drive future innovation initiatives, Financing entrepreneurial ventures: The impact of a lack of Angels in Malaysia, the risk averse nature of VCs, the Grant system (seed & R&D) and poor IPO outlook for 2009 and more...

The session was covered by Malaysia’s leading business magazine “The Edge”.

We expect the article to be published soon.

At the end of the session, people were still asking many questions.

Jonathan then signed and distributed the GEW Partner certificates prepared by WG.

It was raining in KL and there was one more stop before he headed to the airport. I had to be ruthless in managing his time to ensure, as a responsible host, I do my job : give the audience their time with the special guest and at the same time be mindful of his next schedule.

The day went well, from the looks of it...see Jonathan's entry here.

Jonathan was engaged and was engaging !