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Show your love for Malaysia and take part in the project

In 1996, the Malaysian government launched the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), which is part of the government’s aim to achieve Vision 2020, a plan to achieve self-sufficiency in its economy by 2020.

The Malaysian startup ecosystem, particularly tech-based companies, have grown rapidly since the formation of Vision 2020. In the early 2000s, the ecosystem grew further with the formations of Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bureau (MAVCAP) and Cradle Fund, an agency that provides early stage funding.

Community events and programmes started popping up, with the likes of 500Durians, Startup Malaysia and BarCamps, among others. While Malaysia is slowly starting to establish itself as a global key player, her reputation is on the line, with regard to her political situation.

These days, the country is well-known for all the wrong reasons, particularly the 1MDB scandal. Malaysia as a resource-based country has a long way to go when it comes to turning its population into entrepreneurs and innovators, but with initiatives like Project Merdeka, it’d be a good start for better things to come.

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Despite all the fracas, Malaysian startups are joining forces to celebrate Malaysian entrepreneurship in the spirit of ‘Malaysia Boleh!’ (a famous national motivational slogan, which basically means Malaysia is able to do or achieve anything), in conjunction with Malaysia’s independence day.

Called Project Merdeka (Independence Project), the community initiative by Malaysian startups for any Malaysian startup to showcase deals will take place on 1st August until 16th September. The first in any Southeast Asia country to have anything of such scale driven by the community, Project Merdeka will feature over 120+ deals by local startups that will go live across services, F&B, fashion and general e-commerce.

The initiative is driven by Unicroach, a grassroots movement, amongst Malaysian ecosystem enablers and the top startup entrepreneurs from the country; including core people from 123RF, Lazada, Grab, KFit, HappyFresh, Shopee and many more.

Warren Leow, who runs Unicroach, a community of 256 of the top founders and ecosystem players in Malaysia, is one of the people responsible in bringing the initiative to fruition. “The idea came about within the Whatsapp group to do joint promos together to share traffic. The intention is to celebrate Malaysian entrepreneurship in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh to generate more positivity amidst all the negative news in the media,” he said in an email.

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“Primary drivers are Serene Gan from VLT Labs who built the site with her team, and myself – basically everybody played a role to roll this out,” he added.

According to Leow, startups have full discretion on what they’d like to list. They’re expecting get at least 150 deals live once the product launches.

Interested startups can showcase their Merdeka deals on Project Merdeka’s website. Any Malaysian startup can submit deals to go live as long as there is commitment to also jointly market the initiative to maximise impact. Submission and participation is 100 per cent FREE. The deal will be published on the page once it has been reviewed.

How to get featured on The Merdeka Project?

• Fill in the form with details of your deal. Add in a short description and a photo (600px x 600px)
• Enter a link to your website that explains more about the deal
• To redeem your deals, users must be able to use the promo code MERDEKA

For buyers who are looking for great deals, simply browse the website and use the MERDEKA promo code. The deals offered are available for both Malaysians and non-Malaysians.

The post Malaysia Boleh! Project Merdeka celebrates Malaysian entrepreneurship in conjunction with Malaysia’s 59th Independence Day appeared first on e27.

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