National Youth Entrepreneur Convention #2 – Tickets Available Now

The 2nd edition of YouthMalaysia’s National Youth Entrepreneur Convention, held in conjunction with YOUTH’09, is taking place at the Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur on the 10th of January 2009.

Among this year’s speakers are:

• Minister for Youth and Sports YB Dato’ Ismail Sabri
• Henry Goh, founder of Macro Kiosk
• Aidan Aquinas Chew, winner of Season 1 of Nescafe’s Kickstart
• Ricky Wong Shee Khai, founder & CEO of Asia Media
• Ganesh Kumar, founder & CEO of MOL Access Portal
• Jeffry Ong, Marketing Director for Marctensia
• Joe Flizzow, ex-Too Phat hip-hop artist and now owner of Kartel Records
• Ninie Ahmad, Kickstart finalist and founder of Be Yoga Santuary
• Shan Tan, founder & Managing Director of Rockin’ Reptile
• Anna Rina Rahim, photographer
• Fiona-Jane Gomez, founder of Talent Hub
• Joyce Wong, blogger at Tongue in Chic and Kinky Blue Fairy
• Aimann Faiz, co-founder of Don’t Panic
• Khailee Ng and Joel Neoh, co-founders of YouthMalaysia

There’s also an opportunity to present your business plan at the convention – sign up and you’ll be in the running for a slot. Registrations are RM80 for individual earlybirds (before 10th Dec) and groups of min 3 people, and RM120 for individuals after 10th Dec.

I won’t be around this time; however, the folks at the NYEC have appointed me as a supporter of the event. As a supporter, I’ve been given a co-branded link that pays EducateDeviate RM10 for each registrant that registers through my link. This would really help cover costs for EducateDeviate’s eventual move (to its own server space & domain), as well as software and design – which costs more than I anticipated! Just so you know.

Register & Support EducateDeviate!

Speaking of design costs: NYEC has asked for a logo to be put on their marketing material. I don’t actually have one. I’m looking around, but does anyone have any logo skills that they’ll like to contribute? Greatly appreciated!

Anyone who goes, please let me know how it went – you can write a guest post here if you wish 🙂

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Opportunities: YouthSays Seeks Uncommon Youth, Nescafe KickStart Wants Entrepreneurs, BarCamp Sets Up at JB

1. YouthSays are hunting for more people to join them for future projects, including the YOUTH’09 Festival. They’re looking for a Stats Beast, an Online Community Leader, and a Blogger + Art Director. Get in touch with Joel or Khailee for more information.

2. Nescafe KickStart is up for another season, and this time they’re focused specially on entrepreneurs. Take their entrepreneur evaluation and you’ll be contacted if they find you suitable for the program.

3. Malaysian entrepreneurship advocate Daniel CerVentus Lim of Ideapreneur.net is bringing international unconference camp format BarCamp to Johor Bahru on the 6th and 7th of December 2008. The main idea of unconferences is that participants build the program collaboratively, either online or on the day, rather than the program being set by a committee in advance. For more information and for registration, visit the BarCampJB wiki.

Young Malaysian Entrepreneurs WANTED for upcoming eBook

Daniel CerVentus, co-founder of Ideapreneur and myself are looking for 21 candidates to be featured in our upcoming eBook about young Malaysian entrepreneurs.

We are looking for the following:

• Malaysian – doesn’t have to be a citizen, but has to be connected to Malaysia in some way
• Age 30 and below by 31st Dec 2008
• Self made or revolutionary in an an existing business/organization – for profit, non-profit, social enterprise
• Highly respected in their industry
• Have great passion for what they are doing.
• A great example what Malaysia have to offer.

Please send all your suggestions to Daniel or myself before 14th February 2008. Thank you!

Entrepreneurship and Languages – two blogs for you

If you’d like some entrepreneurial inspiration, or would like to learn Japanese in double-quick time, here are two blogs you may want to subscribe to:

1) Australia-based HatchThat is filled with interviews with inspiring entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries. They cover all sorts of interests – from sexual and reproductive health to DJs and party planning. They are always on the lookout for other entrepreneurs to interview – maybe some of you from this list would be interested!

2) A lot of young Malaysians are into anime and manga, and consequently are trying to learn the Japanese language. What if I told you that you could learn enough Japanese in 18 months to not only be really fluent, but also be able to understand technical documents and ultimately be hired in software engineering? Impossible? Young African man Khatzumoto has done exactly that.

On his blog, All Japanese All The Time, Khatzumoto explains his method for learning total Japanese in such a short time – essentially being totally immersed in the culture (surrounding yourself with Japanese media, doing fun things in Japanese, etc), aiming to understand rather than memorize, as well as some smart use of flashcards. He is currently using the same system to learn Chinese, and shows you how to use this system to learn any language – no matter how old or young you are.

If you have any other interesting blogs, please share them with us!

1st National Youth Entrepreneur Convention 2008 – Registration Open

There seems to be a sudden wave of entrepreneurship events popping up in Malaysia around this time of year. Another one to leap on the bandwagon is the 1st National Youth Entrepreneur Convention, organized by YouthMalaysia, to be held on January 19 2008.

The event is essentially a series of speakers from different aspects of youth entrepreneurship in Malaysia. Among the more interesting speakers are cult-hit blogger Kenny Sia, co-founder of theCICAK Ng Khai Lee, and Raj Ridvan Singh, founder of SOLS 24/7, a boarding school and education center for at-risk children in South-East Asia. (I actually watched part of his presentation at GK3 and it was AWESOME.)

There are also opportunities to present your proposals before the Convention and to get your ideas sponsored by the Malaysian Independent Business Ownership Program, which is actually really interesting. I wish there was more information on both ventures as it seems like a great way to promote and make use of the convention. The main draw of the YSEI forum at GK3 was the possibility of funding and mentoring, and quite a few attendees managed to get some sort of assistance.

Registrations are open – it’s RM100 per person but you can get a discounted rate of RM50 per person if you can get into a group of 3 or more (anyone want to join me?). It’s cheap for a conference/convention, but I’m not sure if it’s worth all that much considering it seems to be just a bunch of back-to-back talks and not enough interaction, sharing, or action (just like how the UN Conference in August turned out!). The idea to back and assist with entrepreneurial ventures would be great, and people like Khai Lee and Raj are worth talking to if you ever get the opportunity.

Take a look, and if you have an entrepreneurial dream or spirit, give it a go! And let me know if you are interested in the discount; I could make an EducateDeviate group.

KaosPilots: Now This Is Learning

Imagine a business school where all your assignments are real-life projects from real clients. Imagine spending your second year in a different country working on community projects. Imagine your final exam being a sustainable project for change.

For the KaosPilots, this is reality.

I’ll just quote the post I made on MetaFilter about them:

The KaosPilots, deemed “the world’s most adventurous alternative business school“, teaches social entrepreneurship and leadership through real-life situations.

Part of their education involves international outposts in Vancouver, Buenos Aires, and Bahia, working on projects related to business, community, and sustainability. The final exam is an operational project of your own.

Many former students go on to the private sector or create projects and jobs of their own (though creative industries and non-profits are very common).

They have been nominated for design awards, are considered as worldchanging, and have published a book about their methods. New web technologies are highly utilized by both students and board members alike.

The KaosPilots have been based in Aarhus, Denmark for 15 years, but there are also schools running (or about to start) in Sweden, Norway, and The Netherlands, with more coming in other continents.

The KaosPilots are my new obsession. They are EXACTLY what I have been looking for education-wise. I’ve been looking for ways to actually learn how to run projects and gain first-hand experience, and while I was hoping to get that in QUT, I’ve been getting more theory than anything else. This actually makes things RELEVANT – your work actually matters, and your passion is rewarded. Their core values aren’t gooblyspeak, they’re six simple but powerful aims: real world, balance, being streetwise, being playful, risk taking and compassion.

I’ve applied for the Stockholm (Sweden) program, which starts next year. This would be a major change as it means I drop out of university and I have to work out how to support myself in Sweden for about three years. It also costs a LOT, and I’m not sure I can afford it. But the sheer value of the education I receive would be priceless. That’s if I can handle how hardcore it is, anyway. There will be a 2-day workshop in Stockholm in November for those shortlisted, so I’ll know pretty soon if I make it.

I know the people over at the Stockholm KaosPilots have seen this blog, and may still be reading it – HELLO! I’ll also be meeting one current KaosPilot, Kamilla, at the Youth Enterprise Symposium this weekend, and I’ll have tea with Michael Doneman, a KaosPilots board member and founder of Edgeware who also happens to be a postgrad in my faculty. How convenient. I can’t wait to pick their brains and find out what they’re all about.

Do you have any more information on the KaosPilots? Please share them to me, because they’re awesome and I want to know more. Otherwise, watch this video to see how awesome they are: (you might need to amp up the volume on your computer, as the video’s volume is very soft)

Links in Post:

• KaosPilots (Denmark)
• MetaFilter: KaosPilots
• FastCompany: Business School for KaosPilots
• KaosPilots (Denmark): Syllabus
• KaosPilots (Denmark): Core Competences
• KaosPilots (Denmark): Outposts
• The Tyee: Incoming! KaosPilots!
• The KaosPilots Norway Outpost 2007, Buenos Aires
• Homebase: PauBrasil
• KaosPilots (Denmark): Final Projects
• KlubKaos: People
• KaosPilots (Denmark): KaosPilots In Work
• KlubKaos: Projects
• sTUDENTERHUS åRHUS: The KaosPilots
• INDEX:2007 INDEX: AWARD: KaosPilots International
• Worldchanging: Kaospilots
• KaosPilots (Denmark): Kaospilot A-Z
• del.icio.us: kaospilots
• Homebase: KaosPilots
• Board’s Corner KP
• KaosPilots (Denmark): History
• KaosPilots (Sweden)
• KaosPilots (Norway)
• KaosPilots (The Netherlands)
• Youth Enterprise Symposium 2007
• KaosPilots (Denmark): KaosPilot International Board
• Edgeware