Building the startup ecosystem

To build a successful ecosystem, you need to first identify the end goal. Then, piece together all the components and players that will play a fundamental role in making that goal happen.

AS my tenure at MaGIC draws to a close, I wanted to reflect on my thought process for building the startup ecosystem in Malaysia and the region.

When I was asked to be the founding CEO of MaGIC, I came up with a comprehensive gameplan to build the startup ecosystem within the country and Southeast Asia and presented it to an interview panel in February 2014. One interviewer asked: “Sounds like you want to do a lot. It’s a very ambitious plan. But if there’s only one thing you want to accomplish at MaGIC, what would that be?”

I answered without hesitation: “I will put Malaysia on the global map. Because Malaysia has so much untapped potential and my job is to show what’s possible.”

When I was appointed and shortly after President Obama and our Prime Minister launched MaGIC on April 27, 2014, I sketched the ecosystem map above.

You can’t build an ecosystem without first understanding what the end goal is – to help startups succeed at a regional and global level. Only then can you piece together all the components and players that will play a fundamental role in making that happen. As a healthy ecosystem requires various parties to play different roles towards a common objective, this charted a clear path for me to fill in the gaps in the current ecosystem.

One of the reasons why MaGIC has been able to make such an impact so quickly is because I’m a returning Malaysian with an international perspective; no historical baggage, no hidden agenda and nothing to lose.

MaGIC’s initial focus on education, exposure and acceleration charted an agnostic platform and foundation for all parties to genuinely come together and create a critical mass much needed to take this ecosystem to the next level.

To create this, we strived to equip entrepreneurs with the right startup skills via our education portal, MaGIC Academy, expose entrepreneurs to other ecosystems like Silicon Valley and big markets within Asean, and accelerate startups via a global platform such as our MaGIC Accelerator Program (MAP) and 500 Startups’ Distro Dojo.

This critical mass, complemented with our media strategy of exposing and highlighting successful entrepreneurs, generated visibility that did two things: inspired the masses, private corporations and GLCs towards understanding and adopting startups, and generated massive regional and global mentor/investor interest in Malaysian startups.

For example, before MaGIC existed, there was only one accelerator called 1337. Now, there are seven more on top of MAP: Tune Labs, Game Founders, Maybank Fintech, Infinity Ventures, WatchTowerFriends, DistroDojo, 1337. Before MaGIC existed, investors would usually skip Malaysia and fly to other countries such as Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia to seek investment deals. At the MAP Investor Demo Day in November 2015, over 150 investors from all over the region and world came to hear 50 MAP startups pitch. Before MaGIC existed, there was a dearth of interest in startups. Now corporations like Axiata, Khazanah, Maxis, Accenture, Sime Darby, Sunway Group, YTL Group, all the way down to family businesses are trying to set up programmes and funds for entrepreneurs.

On the social enterpreneurship (SE) side, we’ve published a National Social Enterprise Blueprint, a Social Enterprise 101 guide, and the team has been traveling all around Malaysia, doing workshops via SEHATI in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak to create more awareness on SE. There’s a big opportunity for MaGIC to be a thought leader in SE because it’s a relatively new concept to the country.

These forces come together to make up the so-called magic recipe (pun intended) for a successful ecosystem. This ecosystem will only be self-sustainable if all parties can work together in a neutral, agenda-free environment.

Looking into the future beyond our initial core focus, MaGIC’s leadership should continue to focus on the exits and acquisitions of startups, which most other fledgling ecosystems in the world don’t pay enough attention to. There is also a need remove roadblocks via government and regulatory policies to make it easier for startups in Malaysia to flourish, regardless of race, gender, age or nationality.

In my opinion, MaGIC’s mandate and goals should be flexible to change every two to three years to adapt to rapidly evolving market and ecosystem needs, to ensure the agency remains relevant in continuing to fill in the gaps. At the same time, because MaGIC utilises public funds, we should continue to spend very wisely to ensure that it commensurates with the impact and effectiveness of our programmes. This should be the mantra of any government-funded ecosystem builder in any country.

I believe in the past two years, my team and I have laid the groundwork for MaGIC and the larger community while showing real impact for what’s achievable within a short amount of time. As with startups, if you put the right team of people together with a vision for common good, anything is possible.

Ultimately, it’s the software (people) that matter more than hardware (infrastructure, capital or assets). A good ecosystem’s foundation is built on good people coming together, and even the most expensive buildings or funding can’t replace that.

Our playbook and strategy has been shared across other countries. We’ve had multiple interest and hosted delegations from Czech Republic, Hungary, South Korea, Thailand, Kazakhstan, India, Japan, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and many more. Most of these countries are keen to have their startups join MAP next year or collaborate with MaGIC in some ways.

As I approach the end of my contract and time at MaGIC, I can say with confidence and pride that the MaGIC team will continue to deliver as MaGIC moves on to its next phase under new leadership. Despite the initial challenges we faced as a new agency, we have gained the trust and respect of the community and entrepreneurs, and achieved regional and global recognition through our initiatives.

I hope you will visit impact.mymagic.my to view all the programmes we’ve set up and the accomplishments we’ve achieved in the past two years. This is a testament to my team’s absolute focus and commitment to deliver on our mandate.

I am truly proud of the MaGIC team and the empowering and transparent culture we’ve established. While I’m sad to leave my MaGIC family behind, I am privileged to have worked with each individual who will continue to give their all so passionately because they believe in elevating their beloved country and pushing boundaries for positive change in Malaysia.

And for true change to happen, we should have the courage to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, and be familiar with the unfamiliar.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my chairman Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan for convincing me to return to Malaysia to be the founding CEO of MaGIC, to all our ecosystem partners who’ve collaborated with us, to the mentors, instructors and investors who’ve generously stepped forth to give back to the community, to the entrepreneurs who believed in MaGIC, and last but not least, the MaGIC family who’ve worked so hard to make sure we create a sustainable and impactful ecosystem for entrepreneurs to thrive in, especially my first 10 hires who believed in me and my vision back when I had nothing.

I am ever so grateful to the Ministry of Finance for entrusting me to set up MaGIC and steer it in the right direction where it will benefit entrepreneurs not only within Malaysia but the larger Southeast Asia, and to truly put Malaysia on the map.

By Cheryl Yeoh

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How property prices are determined?

Factors affecting prices - It is not easy to predict trend as the property market involves all kinds of players

THE year 2015 will always be considered one of the more challenging years for the property sector, with several factors coming into play and leaving potential buyers and investors cautious.

Looking back, Jordan Lee & Jaafar executive director Yap Kian Ann says there were many factors – be it microeconomic or macroeconomic, political, social, among others, that affected the property market performance and its pricing either directly, indirectly and/or jointly.


Click for actual size:  http://clips.thestar.com.my.s3.amazonaws.com/clips/business/property-prices-chart-1912.pdf

“These factors are inter-related and influence each other. Individually, they give direct and indirect impact to the property market, property transaction volume and property prices at a different direction and degree.

“As the property market involves players (buyers and sellers) with all kinds of behaviour and is subject to a combination of factors that affect its performance at a given point in time, it is not an easy task to predict its trend and degree accurately.”

Looking ahead, property consultancy VPC Alliance (KL) Sdn Bhd managing director James Wong expects 2016 to be more subdued than this year.

Wong says most developers have launched their products aggressively in 2014.

“They knew the market this year would be soft and this softening would be carried forward to 2016. The full impact of the expiry of the developers’ interest bearing schemes (DIBS) will be felt next year.

Under DIBS, property buyers need not service the loan until the property is completed. Introduced in 2009 as an incentive, speculators purchased multiple units under DIBS because of the initial low outlay.

He expects to see softening demand in the high-rise high-end residential sector in the central region of the Klang Valley in 2016. Landed residential property demand is still resilient, especially with the gated and guarded community concept. House prices are expected to “self-correct”, he says.

Wong says foreign investors are actively monitoring residential properties in Kuala Lumpur due to weak ringgit but they remain cautious.

The increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve after nearly a decade is also keenly watched. Already, reports are filtering out that Federal Reserve’s sway on global interest rates is causing a sharp jump in Singapore’s benchmark borrowing cost, squeezing growth in the small Asian city-state.

On a state by state basis, MIDF Research said earlier this month that Johor’s house price index showed the slowest growth year-on-year at 3%, Penang (3.5%) while Selangor fared better at 6.2%, followed by Kuala Lumpur’s 5.3%.

“We believe that the outlook for property price is better in Greater KL (Selangor and KL) due to support from the urbanisation factor.”

Citing Bank Negara statistics, the research house also noted that demand for property loans declined 13% year-on-year in October 2015 to RM25.19bil.

“This was weaker than September 2015, which declined 9% year-on-year. On a monthly sequential basis, the data was 1% lower. We are negative on the data as the number was showing nine consecutive year-on-year declines since February 2015.

“Year-to-date October 2015, loans were lower by 7% year-on-year to RM253.88bil. In our view, consumer appetite for big ticket items such as property remains low due to the rising cost of living and the weakening ringgit.”

By Eugene Mahalingam The Star/Asia News Network

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State of the Internet in Malaysia is too slow for video streaming

Average Connection Speed by APAC Country/Region

Global Rank, Country/Region Q3 2015 Avg. Mbps, QoQ Change, YoY Change:

1   South Korea 20.5 -11% -19%
5   Hong Kong 15.8 -6.9% -2.7%
7   Japan 15.0 -8.1% 0.2%
17 Singapore 12.5 -1.8% 2.4%
33 Taiwan 10.1 -4.9% 5.5%
42 New Zealand 8.7 2.4% 23%
43 Thailand 8.2 -4.1% 25%
46 Australia 7.8 0.6% 13%
71 Sri Lanka 5.1 -3.6% 50%
73 Malaysia 4.9 -3.2% 20%
91 Vietnam 3.4 3.1% 33%
104 Indonesia 3.0 24% -20%
108 Philippines 2.8 -10% 14%
116 India 2.5 5.3% 26%

Malaysian net too slow for video streaming

KUALA LUMPUR: A report on “State of the Internet” showed that the current connection speed may not be able to meet the demand for video streaming in Malaysia, where about 87% of Internet users would stream videos on a regular basis.

In comparison, the average connection speed in Malaysia is slower than Thailand and Sri Lanka. It is also barely ahead of Vietnam, said Akamai Technologies in its Q3 2015 “State of the Internet” report released yesterday.

At a speed which is almost two times slower than Thailand, Malaysia, at 4.9 Megabits per second (Mbps) was ranked No. 73 in a Global survey from July to September.

South Korea had the highest average connection speed in the Asia-Pacific region at 20.5 Mbps. India registered the lowest at 2.5 Mbps.

Singapore remained in the top spot with average peak connection speed at 135.4 Mbps while India had the lowest average peak connection speed at 18.7 Mbps.

However, the report also noted that broadband connectivity had increased steadily in the third quarter of 2015.

Based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform, the report provides insight into key global statistics such as connection speed, broadband adoption metrics, notable Internet disruptions, IPv4 ex­h­aust­ion and IPv6 implementation.

According to the report, Malaysians may be one of the most globally-connected people but it was not necessarily at a speed they want.

Based on traffic data in recent reports from Ericsson, the worldwide volume of data traffic among mobile broadband consumers alone grew by 14% between the second and third quarters of 2015 and is expected to grow 10-fold by 2021.

The study also showed that almost 70% of current users are expected to be primary consumers of video consumption by 2021. — Bernama

State of the Internet Report | Akamai

Connectivity  

 Get insight into Internet trends to accelerate innovation and move your business faster forward, including:

• Internet speeds and broadband adoption
• Mobile connectivity and connection speeds
• IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 adoption
• Website performance for all devices

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To fellow US interest rate hike or to cut rates?

Emerging economies in a dilemma on whether to follow suit or cut rates

“Specifically, we expect rate cuts in India, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand in 2016. We also project a further 75bps of rate cuts and a 200bps reduction in RRR in China'. - Credit Suisse

THE big question is what happens next?

The much anticipated hike in US interest rates on Thursday meant that for the first time in almost a decade, US interest rates are on the way up. The 25 basis point (bps) rise in US interest rates by The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to between 0.25% and 0.5% was made as the US economy showed tangible signs of improvement.

Such gains in the US economy through lower unemployment and higher forecast inflation has meant that the target for interest rates by the end of 2016 has been pegged at 1.5%, meaning that rates are expected to rise by 25 basis points every quarter until the end of next year.

The implications of what the US FOMC does reverberates throughout the world. Conventional thinking of the past is that higher rates in the US does put pressure on central banks elsewhere to follow suit.

But times have changed. Countries today have their own domestic economies and issues to manage and that has taken precedence over what the US does with its monetary policy.

It is clear that the de-coupling has taken place a long time ago. The European Union and Japan are still engaged in quantitative easing and are keeping rates near zero or in the case of the EU, in negative territory.

For Malaysia, the thinking is that with the difference between domestic and US interest rates still having a nice cushion, the focus of Bank Negara will be on the Malaysian economy.

Rate pressure: Should the path of the US rate cycle starts to steepen, economists say it will put pressure on Bank Negara as the ringgit may be pressured by inaction. – Reuters Countries such as China cut its interest rates in October to 4.35% as it grapples with a slowing economy. Different priorities call for different action.

But analysts feel the move by the US does create a bit of a dilemma for policy makers. Raising rates does cool an economy, which is already shifting to a lower gear given the tangible cooling of major economic indicators.

Trimming interest rates further, while will help the economy, will put more pressure on the flow of capital. Analysts feel that might not be what the central bank will want to do at the moment considering the weakness of the ringgit not only against the US dollar this year but also against the currencies of its major trading partners.

“Our rate is accommodative for economic growth and Bank Negara can raise rates when the economy is slowing down,” says an economist with a local brokerage.

To each its own

The United States has been the traditional locomotive of growth for the world for much of recent history. But the emergence of China has changed that equation. Trade of the emerging world increases with China as the second largest economy of the world grows, its influence on Malaysia and the rest of Asia has become more affixed.

It is for that reason that some are speculating that emerging economies, such as Malaysia, will keep its eyes focused on what the People’s Bank of China does while having the US action in its periphery vision.

“We argue that Asian central banks’ monetary policy stance next year will be more influenced by economic and monetary policy cycles in China than in the past, and will diverge from the US. Unlike the previous US Fed hiking cycle when virtually all Asian central banks tightened their policies, we think this time Asian policy rates will stay lower for longer,” says Credit Suisse in a report.

“Specifically, we expect rate cuts in India, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand in 2016. We also project a further 75bps of rate cuts and a 200bps reduction in RRR in China.

“Given the challenging environment for exports, we expect growth in trade-dependent economies including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand to surprise the consensus on the downside. Meanwhile, more domestic-oriented economies with policy catalysts, including Indonesia and the Philippines, could outperform expectations considerably,” it says.

For Malaysia, the FOMC decision was keenly watched. Any time US interest rates move, Bank Negara pays close attention to it.

Is it the key determinant for the direction of domestic interest rates?

No, say economists. “Local conditions override what the US does,” says an economist.

For Malaysia, economists believe that the current overnight policy rate of 3.25% is appropriate to support growth. But they do too acknowledge that Malaysia is in a dicey situation depending on what happens next.

The general view is that the US will continue to push rates upwards. Just how rapidly will be important and as US rates goes up, the differential with Malaysia will narrow.

“If the local economy does as it is predicted, then there is a possibility of a small hike next year but there is no urgency to do that,” says an economist.

The question is what happens after next year should the path of the US rate cycle starts to steepen?

Economists say that will put pressure on Bank Negara as the ringgit might be pressured by inaction. As it is, the drop in crude oil prices is the most pressing issue affecting the value of the ringgit.

The effect on emerging currencies

Emerging markets have had a series of bad press over the past year. With sentiment souring and the outlook in the US getting brighter, it was no coincidence that the US dollar surged, gaining about 40% on average against emerging market currencies since May 2013.

But is it time for things to change?

Schroders thinks that might happen.

“It is difficult to argue that the Fed has been the sole factor in emerging market debt weakness. China hard landing fears, plummeting commodity prices, Brazilian political disarray, Russian policy concerns and general weakening of growth across all regions created a near perfect-storm for emerging market debt investors.

“However, a more predictable and less fraught path going forward for the Fed should help steady investor nerves and risk appetite. If developed market bond yields remain very low – as seems likely with a very slow hiking path, set out with some confidence – emerging market dollar yields may remain one of the few places to look for meaningful income generation for years to come,” it says.

Schroders says the move by the US Federal Reserve comes at a time when emerging market dollar debt seems particularly attractive.

“Yields in the primary sovereign dollar index are at highs not seen since 2010, when Treasury yields were much higher than today. Yield spreads over Treasuries for investment grade sovereign debt are just under 300 basis points, and remain at elevated levels that were last seen consistently during the European crisis of 2011. High yield sovereign debt currently has a yield to maturity of 8.5%.

“The divergence between developed market monetary policies has driven the dollar nearly 20% higher on a trade-weighted basis since July 2014. Emerging market currencies have fallen in lock step.

“With the European Central Bank now charting a path towards a steady dose of quantitative easing as growth in Europe stabilises, Fed predictability should help curb that dollar appreciation. Emerging market currencies should then likely steady at attractive levels, boosting sentiment towards the asset class. Even a modest virtuous cycle led by these factors could make emerging markets one of the strongest global fixed income performers next year, given today’s generous yield levels.”

By Jagdev Singh Sidhu The Star/Asia News Network

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Scientists Finally Discover How the Obesity Gene Works

Scientists have finally figured out how the key gene tied to obesity makes people fat, a major discovery that could open the door to an entirely new approach to the problem beyond diet and exercise.

The work solves a big mystery: Since 2007, researchers have known that a gene called FTO was related to obesity, but they didn’t know how, and could not tie it to appetite or other known factors.

Now experiments reveal that a faulty version of the gene causes energy from food to be stored as fat rather than burned. Genetic tinkering in mice and on human cells in the lab suggests this can be reversed, giving hope that a drug or other treatment might be developed to do the same in people.

The work was led by scientists at MIT and Harvard University and published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The discovery challenges the notion that “when people get obese it was basically their own choice because they choose to eat too much or not exercise,” said study leader Melina Claussnitzer, a genetics specialist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “For the first time, genetics has revealed a mechanism in obesity that was not really suspected before” and gives a third explanation or factor that’s involved.

Independent experts praised the discovery.

“It’s a big deal,” said Dr. Clifford Rosen, a scientist at Maine Medical Center Research Institute and an associate editor at the medical journal.

“A lot of people think the obesity epidemic is all about eating too much,” but our fat cells play a role in how food gets used, he said. With this discovery, “you now have a pathway for drugs that can make those fat cells work differently.”

Several obesity drugs are already on the market, but they are generally used for short-term weight loss and are aimed at the brain and appetite; they don’t directly target metabolism.

Researchers can’t guess how long it might take before a drug based on the new findings becomes available. But it’s unlikely it would be a magic pill that would enable people to eat anything they want without packing on the pounds. And targeting this fat pathway could affect other things, so a treatment would need rigorous testing to prove safe and effective.

The gene glitch doesn’t explain all obesity. It was found in 44 percent of Europeans but only 5 percent of blacks, so other genes clearly are at work, and food and exercise still matter.

Having the glitch doesn’t destine you to become obese but may predispose you to it. People with two faulty copies of the gene (one from Mom and one from Dad) weighed an average of 7 pounds more than those without them. But some were obviously a lot heavier than that, and even 7 pounds can be the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy weight, said Manolis Kellis, a professor at MIT.

Related: More U.S. Adults Are Now Obese than Overweight

He and Claussnitzer are seeking a patent related to the work. It was done on people in Europe, Sweden and Norway, and funded by the German Research Center for Environmental Health and others, including the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Researchers can’t guess how long it might take before a drug based on the new findings becomes available. But it’s unlikely it would be a magic pill that would enable people to eat anything they want without packing on the pounds. And targeting this fat pathway could affect other things, so a treatment would need rigorous testing to prove safe and effective.

The gene glitch doesn’t explain all obesity. It was found in 44 percent of Europeans but only 5 percent of blacks, so other genes clearly are at work, and food and exercise still matter.

Having the glitch doesn’t destine you to become obese but may predispose you to it. People with two faulty copies of the gene (one from Mom and one from Dad) weighed an average of 7 pounds more than those without them. But some were obviously a lot heavier than that, and even 7 pounds can be the difference between a healthy and an unhealthy weight, said Manolis Kellis, a professor at MIT.

Related: ‘Healthy Obesity’ Turns Unhealthy Over Time

He and Claussnitzer are seeking a patent related to the work. It was done on people in Europe, Sweden and Norway, and funded by the German Research Center for Environmental Health and others, including the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

“It’s a potential target” for drug development, said Dr. Sam Klein, an obesity researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. He called the work “an amazing study” and “a scientific tour de force.”

Dr. Rudolph Leibel, an obesity expert at Columbia University in New York, used the same term — “tour de force.” Still, some earlier research suggests the FTO gene may influence other aspects of obesity such as behavior and appetite.

“It’s possible there are several mechanisms being affected,” and that fat-burning is not the whole story, he said.

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- Associated Press