 "Over 100 Malaysian start-ups launch deals site to showcase ‘Malaysia boleh’")
Malaysia has been grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons in the last few weeks. The Wall Street Journal reported US federal prosecutors have filed a lawsuit to seize more than $1 billion in assets they believe were siphoned off the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad fund or 1MDB. At the centre of the scandal is Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who’s accused of pocketing $731 million from the fund, according to The New York Times.
To counter the unfortunate turn of events, some 130 Malaysian start-ups have come together to bring a little positivity into the news cycle by launching Project Merdeka, an initiative to “celebrate Malaysian entrepreneurship in the spirit of Malaysia boleh (which loosely translated means ‘Malaysia can do it’)”.
Driven by Unicroach — a community of the top founders and ecosystem enablers in Malaysia, Project Merdeka is a site offering deals from 130 start-ups. The deals across fashion, food and beverage, and travel and other services will run from today until Hari Malaysia (Malaysia Day) on September 16.
“We’re doing this to showcase the Malaysia boleh attitude amidst all the 1MDB and political issues we face as a country. Merdeka means independence,” explains Warren Leow, a former executive of Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre who’s now with 123RF and runs Unicroach.
Any Malaysian start-up can submit deals to go live as long as there’s commitment to jointly market the initiative, Warren says.
The group doesn’t plan on bringing down the site once the promo period ends. “We’ll make this a yearly thing,” notes Warren.
This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here
This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here
