Three startups complete PwC mentoring programme in collaboration with MDEC

KUALA LUMPUR, 27 November 2019 – PwC Malaysia and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) celebrated the achievements of 3 startups at the end of a six-month mentoring journey with 3 partners from PwC’s Assurance, Deals and Tax practice. A graduation ceremony was held to mark the end of the PwC-MDEC Immersion programme, a two-way mentoring programme to immerse, exchange ideas and discover new paradigms for businesses in the digital world. 

The startups recognised were:

• Mark Koh, CEO and Co-founder, Supahands

• Lennise Ng, CEO and Co-founder, Dropee; Aizat Rahim, COO and Co-founder, Dropee

• Jimmy How, Founder and CEO, Involve Asia

The highlight of the event was a fireside chat themed ‘Start Up with Mentors’ moderated by Freda Liu, Producer and Presenter at BFM 89.9. 

Mark and Lennise shared their takeaways from the mentoring programme from the perspective of scale-ups and early stage companies respectively. Malek Ali, Founder of BFM 89.9 also took part in the discussion, sharing his experience as a business leader and mentor of several entrepreneurship programmes. 

The discussion delved into why trust matters in a mentoring relationship, recognising that trust is a key ingredient at every stage of a startup’s journey. The panellists agreed that building trust needs to be intentional, including seeking out mentors to help them develop their capabilities in the eyes of investors, using technology to listen to customer feedback, and engaging consumers on-the-ground.

Sridharan (Sri) Nair, PwC Malaysia Managing Partner said: “We would like to congratulate the startups for completing this mentoring journey. They have demonstrated commitment and tenacity in learning and exchanging knowledge with the PwC partners they were paired with. The insights they brought to our partners in the programme were invaluable to PwC as it deepens our understanding of the investments they have made in digitising their organisations and their approach in disrupting the business. 

The mentoring programme was an opportunity for the participants to build trust with each other, a fundamental for any learning experience, be it in the course of making business decisions or through  knowledge-sharing initiatives like this. Since we started engaging businesses on the importance of trust in 2015 as part of our Building Trust programme, we have been interacting with various groups, from corporates, to young professionals and students, as well as startups. We plan to continue growing the conversation on trust with the startup community with the support of this inaugural Immersion programme in collaboration with MDEC.” 

Through the Immersion programme, the startups had access to PwC’s network through sharing sessions on selected topics like funding and raising an IPO, as well as access to thought leadership. They also attended PwC’s Building Trust Awards 2019, a flagship initiative under PwC’s Building Trust programme. 

Providing his thoughts on the pilot programme, MDEC's Vice President of Growth Ecosystem Development Norhizam Abdul Kadir said: “We’re excited to have partnered with PwC Malaysia for the opportunity to empower these extremely promising startups and potentially kickoff another initiative that will benefit Malaysian tech innovators. With many Malaysian startups now growing into global market players, we feel it’s necessary for there to be more similar programmes that can impart world-class business acumen to our base of upcoming entrepreneurs.”

The event was attended by various players from Malaysia’s entrepreneur ecosystem, including startups, scale-ups, small and medium enterprises, and co-working space providers.

ENDS