Thank You ALL !

We are 3 days away from the First Global Entrepreneurship Week.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped us to put Malaysia on the Map.

Of course - the first thanks goes to ALL partners. Without you, we will not be where we are today.

However, a handful of people were working closely with me to make GEW Malaysia happen and I wish to thank them here.

If I forget to mention anyone here, I beg your pardon.

I am sure my team will highlight to me who you are and I will find the opportunity to do so.

From the very FIRST Partners' meeting, it was all my friends in the industry who came forward to support.

Roslan Bakri - one of the first few people who came forward and let me use his venue for the first partner's meeting.

Nazrin Hassan who was a constant support - he introduced me to Bfm89.9.

Karam of the Edge - he gave me the first story in NetValue - this got the ball rolling.

Zainal of Modal Perdana - he was ever eager to help and support. He was one of the first people I met when I was planning the Week- he and his bosses were the initial supporters.

Nas Sobri - no Penang without him...I mean NO Penang in GEW lah.

Andrew from MIRC - he was there to help during the SpeedNetworking with Oli Barret.

Azim and his wife Dr Suraya - they have pulled in many partners.

Daniel Cerventus - for helping me with the website and ideas to make it snazzy and the cool Start-up Camp.

Keng Yew, was no less in his help. Tiki got me writing this blog !

Dr Siva - he was my sounding board. Whenever I got riled up by some people who like to do things the old Gomen way, I will picked up the phone to call him to "get it out of my chest"

Renu - this lady brought us so many partners. The entire biotech community is here as partner, thanks to Renu.

Prem of Malaysiakini - his banner ad of GEW on Malaysiakini crashed my site a few times ! Thanks for the traffic bro.

My friend and mentor, Datuk Ahmad for introducing me to many people including Dato' Saifuddin Abdullah, the Deputy Minister of MeCD.

Dato Saifuddin himself - for his support and keen interest. In fact he rang me today to ask if he can wear the t-shirt for the launch ! Shows his support for the Week.

MeCD is sponsoring a private luncheon and a MOU signing during the visit of Jonathan Ortmans.

KTAK - for their total support for the Week. In fact its their PIDs that delivered 350 activities from all over Malaysia.

We got some cash sponsorships too:

Cradle is sponsoring RM10k for the Unleashing Entrepreneurship with Kauffman talk and TeAM RM5k.

MSC Malaysia as you all know is sponsoring the launch.

Then we have our t-shirt sponsors :

Graduan Bersatu gave us 400 t-shirts. Graduan is a WG vendor and he is doing us a favour.
Giordano - 104
Kauffman sent us 85

The media. They have been awesome : NST, Star, Utusan, NTV7, 8TV, Astro Awani, Quickie, Surf, Malaysiakini, Bfm89.9 - you name the media, we were covered !

I also would like to thank the team at MakeYourMark and Kauffman for all their support. They have been in touch with me and have shown me great support and guidance.

I also would like to thank the Board of Directors of Warisan Global. They have basically let me run the show and I thank them for their faith and confidence in me.

We have dipped into our own pockets for many expenses:

- the cost of the Secretariat for the last 3 months;
- the cost of all collaterals :buntings, buttons, posters for the promo and media kits;
- we sponsored 140 of the t-shirts we got from the above for the Bar-Camp
- RM3k for the Pop Collective showcase;
- RM1k for BarCamp JB
- the entire closing in Sahara Tent to thank our partners for their support.
- Breaking Barriers - by a WG company

Then my team - I can't thank them enough.

Last but not least my family - they suffered the most ! Will have to make it up to them.

Finallly my wife - she is my constant support and sounding board. She only have one warning for me before I undertake anything "don't screw it up dude".

Anyway, I guess, all in all, with very little resource, we all have pulled together to create one helluva Week !

Now, to make it all happen guys !

One more thing, we at the secretariat sincerely apologize if we had upset anyone by our words or deeds during this journey and also if we did so during the week, tell us and we will rectify our shortcomings. We are all running high on adrenalin with a small team and we are bound to make mistakes.

Let us together make Change happen through the Global Entrepreneurship Week.

You see the batik painting on the Week here ? Its sent to me by a batik painter in Beranang - a grassroots entrepreneur who is excited about the week ! You will see more of it during the week !

Cheers !

Edit 1.

I knew I will miss some people : thanking my massage and spa kaki Chris Chan of TMS for his support and contribution for the 2nd partners' meet.