Maxis, MDEC collaborate through IdeaKita to drive innovation for Malaysian’s startups

SHAH ALAM - Maxis Berhad (Maxis) announces its collaboration with Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) for the company’s IdeaKita programme to push the startups’ innovation and tech breakthroughs.

Under the Malaysia Digital initiative, innovators and entrepreneurs were given a two-track training course for those without business ideas and those looking for customer and market validation and MVP development in order for them to be able to validate their problem statements, ideas, and business models to bring them to market.

The 10-day innovation camp will be held from Oct 3 to Oct 31 with Maxis Head of Brand and Marketing Tai Kam Leong and Maxis Head of Consumer Arjun Varma as industry mentors to guide participants in the Office Hours Mentoring Sessions.

Maxis Chief Marketing Officer Loh Keh Jiat said they were excited about the collaboration and were committed to empower the budding local innovators.

“Maxis is excited to be a part of MDEC’s IdeaKita programme as an industry mentor to guide aspiring technopreneurs in the ideation and validation of tech solutions that are relevant to the market demands of today and the future.

We are committed to investing in Malaysia through such programmes and in empowering the local startup scene to bring greater tech innovation to the market,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Meanwhile, MDEC Chief Executive Officer Mahadhir Aziz said they aimed to create and cultivate 200 new tech companies by the end of 2022 as they improved the capabilities and capacities of the digital ecosystem.

“IdeaKita aims to catalyse and transform the capabilities and capacities of our digital ecosystem.

“As part of the new Malaysia Digital initiative, our goal is to create and foster 200 new tech companies by the end of the year.

“MDEC will continue to accelerate collaborations that will drive digital adoption among young entrepreneurs, businesses, and the people to make Malaysia a digital hub in Asean,” he said.

Through initiatives like the Maxis IoT Challenge, Spark series, and Market Access Day, MDEC and Maxis have worked together to build a number of programmes within the startup ecosystem.

Maxis has assisted more than 25,000 SMEs in going digital by giving them access to a variety of digital solutions as a Technology Solutions Provider under MDEC's SME Digitalisation Grant.