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| Source: myNEF. From left: Dato' Husni Salleh, CEO, TERAJU, Lilyana Abdul Latiff, CEO, New Entrepreneurs Foundation (myNEF), Tuan YB Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Communications & Multimedia, Malaysia; Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of MDEC at the press conference for the Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2018 |
Winners for the Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2018 have been announced. The awards recognise startups in the country that harness digital technology, and celebrate rising tech entrepreneurs in various categories of excellence ranging from retail, media, digital, tech, products, services and innovative campaigns to women and social enterprises.
YB Tuan Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Communications and Multimedia commented, “I am extremely happy to hear that Malaysian startups are accelerating faster than ever, and we hope that they become a significant contributor to our nation’s GDP and growth, and also become a significant type of business that employs and cultivate cutting edge talent and become a key source of employment.”
Said Lilyana Abdul Latiff, CEO of New Entrepreneurs Foundation Malaysia (myNEF), the organisers: “With over 50 nominations for Founder of the Year, and over 70 nominations for Startup of the Year at this year’s Rice Bowl Startup Awards - I think Malaysia’s tech startup ecosystem has matured rapidly in the past three years. It is a testament to the developmental investments and programmes by the Malaysian government, private sector support and independent initiatives. For a modest market size, we should be on track to produce Malaysian-based unicorns* within the next few years.”
Winners include:
- Best FoodTech / AgriTech Startup: Stixfresh is a sticker that is placed on a fruit to prolong its shelf life. In a message on the Stixfresh website, Stixfresh co-founder Zhafri Zainudin said, "Many technologies out there promise to preserve the freshness of fruits at optimum levels. However, only Stixfresh uses 100% natural ingredients which is fully in line with our company’s long-standing belief that Nature’s Gift is the Future of Technology. Studies conducted through collaborations with industry experts have shown that Stixfresh can extend the freshness of certain fruits by up to 50%."
The company says the Stixfresh sticker is all-natural and can keep fruit looking and tasting fresh for up to 14 days longer.
- Best e-Commerce Startup: Tripfez Travel offers Muslim-friendly travel solutions. Tripfez has a global reference site for Muslim travellers worldwide looking to find the simplest, cheapest way to travel. Using the Salam Standard, Tripfez displays the hotel’s compliance to Islamic hospitality requirements to increase the overall experience of Muslim travellers.
Salam standards range from bronze to silver, gold and platinum. A facility is awarded the bronze Salam standard, if it has:
- 100% of the rooms with shower/toilet or bath tub/toilet
- A Muslim prayer rug is available or can be requested
- The qiblah is clearly displayed or can be requested.
In contrast, a platinum Salam standard facility would have all of the above, plus:
- A list of halal restaurants nearby the hotel is placed in the room, or can be requested to be made available
- There is no alcohol in the room minibar (or it can be requested to be removed before the arrival of the guest)
- The hotel offers halal-certified food (breakfast and/or room service) certified by a locally-recognised certification body
- The premises are completely alcohol-free
Tripfez is also a TERAJU Superb winner. TERAJU was established as a strategic unit in the Prime Minister’s Department in Malaysia to lead, drive and coordinate the bumiputera** agenda as part of the National Transformation Plan. The Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Startup Scheme (SUPERB) provides grants of up to RM500,000 to support innovative and creative business ideas. The programme is open to bumiputera who aspire to be an entrepreneur or bumiputera companies operating for less than three years. As of January 2018, a total of RM79.79 million out of a pot of RM100 million had been allocated.
The company says the Stixfresh sticker is all-natural and can keep fruit looking and tasting fresh for up to 14 days longer.
- Best e-Commerce Startup: Tripfez Travel offers Muslim-friendly travel solutions. Tripfez has a global reference site for Muslim travellers worldwide looking to find the simplest, cheapest way to travel. Using the Salam Standard, Tripfez displays the hotel’s compliance to Islamic hospitality requirements to increase the overall experience of Muslim travellers.
Salam standards range from bronze to silver, gold and platinum. A facility is awarded the bronze Salam standard, if it has:
- 100% of the rooms with shower/toilet or bath tub/toilet
- A Muslim prayer rug is available or can be requested
- The qiblah is clearly displayed or can be requested.
In contrast, a platinum Salam standard facility would have all of the above, plus:
- A list of halal restaurants nearby the hotel is placed in the room, or can be requested to be made available
- There is no alcohol in the room minibar (or it can be requested to be removed before the arrival of the guest)
- The hotel offers halal-certified food (breakfast and/or room service) certified by a locally-recognised certification body
- The premises are completely alcohol-free
Tripfez is also a TERAJU Superb winner. TERAJU was established as a strategic unit in the Prime Minister’s Department in Malaysia to lead, drive and coordinate the bumiputera** agenda as part of the National Transformation Plan. The Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Startup Scheme (SUPERB) provides grants of up to RM500,000 to support innovative and creative business ideas. The programme is open to bumiputera who aspire to be an entrepreneur or bumiputera companies operating for less than three years. As of January 2018, a total of RM79.79 million out of a pot of RM100 million had been allocated.
Under the Rice Bowl Startups Awards rules, startups are defined as companies which have been in operations for five years or less, must be established in Southeast Asia. National award winners will proceed to compete at the regional ASEAN Rice Bowl Startups Awards 2018 to be held in Bali, Indonesia, in December, which highlights model entrepreneurship and inspires a dynamic community of startup enthusiasts, serial entrepreneurs, policymakers and diverse mentors in tech innovation.
Regional winners at the four-day ASEAN finale will benefit from partnership opportunities, media exposure, regional and global networking as well as funding from investors. They will go on to compete in the Global Startup Awards in 2019.
The Rice Bowl community consists of 3,372 alumni from 10 ASEAN countries and has seen US$108.4 million in pledged investments from 2015 to 2017.
Organised by the New Entrepreneurs Foundation Malaysia (myNEF) and now into its fourth year, the Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards is the platform for recognising young startups disrupting old processes and industries. The Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards and ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards are among myNEF’s signature programmes.
MyNEF believes businesses can grow fast and be sustainable when they harness technology and knowledge. It plays a significant role in bridging industry players and the government, working closely with various agencies and government-related organisations to support existing and upcoming entrepreneur development programmes. The organisation believes that by celebrating startups, together they can solve the diverse local rice bowl issues faced by each country across Southeast Asia. This will ultimately benefit Malaysia and subsequently ASEAN as a region.
Hashtags: #malaysiaricebowl, #ricebowlaward, #ricebowlstartupawards, #arbsa2018
*A unicorn startup is valued at more than US$1 billion and typically comes from the technology sector. Like unicorns, unicorn startups are fairly rare.
**Bumiputera are local people, including people where one of the parents is a Muslim Malay; natives of Sarawak, the Orang Asli and Sabah natives.