Investing In Social Enterprises In Sarawak
Hello! Welcome to all new and existing subscribers. Head’s Up is back again with another coverage of AM Rainforum’s series on social enterprises with inputs from authorities and founders in the field.
Present during the third discussion held by AM Rainforum, Show Me The Money: Investing In Sarawak’s Social Enterprises were panelists, Tan Sri Datuk Amar (Dr) Haji Abdul Aziz Bin Dato Haji Husain, Chairman of Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), Dr Melissa Foo, Vice President of Malaysian Business Angel Network, Wan Dazriq Wan Zulkiflee, Co-Founder of PurpoSE Malaysia and MD NeoUprise and Catrina Maddocks, Co-Founder of Catama Borneo.
The session was moderated by host, Kamarul Bahrin Haron with a special appearance by Matthew Ngau Jau of Sape Legend.
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Speaking at the third discussion held by AM Rainforum, Tan Sri Datuk Amar (Dr) Haji Abdul Aziz Bin Dato Haji Husain, Chairman of Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) said social enterprises hold the power to change and transform the way businesses in Malaysia are conducted enabling the profits made to return to the people.
“There are many social enterprises in Malaysia that are doing what they are doing without realising they actually function as one,” Tan Sri highlighted during the session, raising the need for more information dissemination.
The session focused on the importance of attracting investors so social enterprises can keep operating in a landscape that is increasingly requiring them to be more financial driven and at the same time to be socially impactful.
According to Tan Sri, social enterprises tend to lack financial records, financial standings and collaterals for loans making it difficult for banks to approve for financial aid.
On top of the absence of proper financial records, the Chairman also attributed the lack of good ideas that can work and convince the necessary authorities that the social enterprise can continue to generate income in the future.
“Applicants must have good ideas that can be converted into a business plan,” he said.
For this to happen, he urged for the need of a corporation that can come together and provide training for future entrepreneurs on what is lacking and that can also educate the public and private corporations on the workings of a social enterprise.
“Many still think that social enterprises are not profit making and the thought of making money and creating impact at the same time cannot co-exist,” he said.
Vice President of Malaysian Business Angel Network, Dr Melissa Foo, shares her opinion on a similar sentiment on the need to develop a local community of investors. “It would be very hard for social enterprises to get funding from an investor who is halfway around the world unless that person has a personal tie to the place the enterprise is located,” she shared.
“We need to bring more people to Sarawak. There are already few investors in the state, finding the right investor will be a struggle,” Dr Foo stressed, implying on a matching problem that social enterprises currently face.
“I also agree with Tan Sri that more awareness and dissemination of information needs to be done. Early stage investing is new so we need to train potential investors on the right way to invest and this can extend to both individuals and corporations,” she said.
Commenting on the process of producing good ideas, Wan Dazriq Wan Zulkiflee, Co-Founder of PurpoSE Malaysia and MD NeoUprise said founders need to realise that good ideas can produce money which can be invested into growing the talent.
“Develop good ideas that will allow you to relate to your shareholders and know that talent and knowledge are closely related,” Wan Dazriq said, pointing out that while money is an important form of capital for a business, the right talent is equally as vital in order to execute the ideas.
Co-founder of social enterprise, Catama Borneo. Catrina Maddocks on the other hand said it's important to hold for creatives and artists to have networking opportunities in order for them to explore ideas of attracting investments,
“2020 has shown that we cannot just rely on selling commercial products, we need to have a system of knowledge sharing through various programmes,” Maddocks said.
“I have come to realise that through our residency programmes, the community-at-large is much more receptive to knowledge sharing events that allows them to explore different and new ideas,” she said.
The 2014-founded social enterprise initially sold crafts woven by community members in Sarawak but slowly started moving from products and went into creating knowledge sharing and networking events to further help the community involved to upskill themselves.
Thank you once again for your consistent support for the newsletter. If you are a founder of a social enterprise, SME or a startup, feel free to reach out to me via headsupnewsletter@gmail.com
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