Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards Kicks-Off the ASEAN Startup Awards Circuit
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Winners of the Malaysian Rice Bowl Startup Awards were announced today in full dazzle and display, revealing 12 national contenders that will vie for the Grand Finale of the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2017 (Rice Bowl) in December.
Over 1800 nominations were vetted and put through the Rice Bowl process of evaluation and judging. They were evaluated on three broad areas -- Growth (actual and potential), Scalability and Impact. The nominations are open to all companies established within the past five years in any ASEAN country.
MALAYSIA RICE BOWL
The Startup of the Year was awarded to Zoom, a last mile on-demand delivery specialist based on their impressive growth. Within a span of 12 months, they created an extensive technology platform to support the logistical needs of ecommerce merchants, expanded into neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, and created a unique opportunity for delivery riders to be treated and trained better.
The winners for the Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards are as follows:
Best Social Impact Startup -- MyCash Online; Best Smart City Solution -- ZYQ Engineering; Best e-Commerce/Supply Chain Startup -- Easy Parcel; Best Healthy Lifestyle Tech Startup -- Koyara; Best Lifesciences/ Medtech Startup -- UMCH Technology; Best Fintech Startup -- Jirnexu; and Best Deeptech / AI / Big Data Startup - Glueck Technologies.
Aaron Sarma of Touristly bagged Founder of the Year, while the Best Newcomer award went to BuildEasy.
For the Ecosystem Support categories, the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre's (MaGIC) Global Accelerator Program won Best Accelerator Program, and WORQ won Best Coworking Space.
For the Malaysian leg, two Special Awards were delivered by Lilyana Latiff, Chairman of ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards, also Chief Executive Officer of New Entrepreneurs Foundation (myNEF). TERAJU received the Best Startup Ecosystem Initiative for their Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Startup Scheme (SUPERB); and the Chairman's Choice Award was given to Zepto.
"Rice Bowl in its third year has become quite a familiar name in the startup scene in the region. With the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards being the official Southeast Asia circuit for the Global Startup Awards, the brand 'Rice Bowl' has now become synonymous with being a respected platform for locally-grown startup heroes to be given the opportunity for market access, funding and media exposure," says Lilyana.
"It's a great honour to be a Rice Bowl winner." myNEF is the brand owner and principal organizer of Rice Bowl.
Circuit winners will get the opportunity to participate in cross-regional exchange programs either within ASEAN and globally; get exposure to funding opportunities via Rice Bowl's investor-matching schemes formed with its regional alliance of partners and investors; and leverage on the award's regional media network for publicity and media exposure.
Also present at the event to award Rice Bowl trophies were YM Raja Badrulnizam Raja Kamalzaman, Director of the ASEAN Unit at Matrade; Dato' Ng Wan Peng, Chief Operating Officer of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC); Rashdan Ramlee, president of myNEF; Khalek Awang, member of myNEF's Board of Trustees; Nazrin Hassan, Chief Executive Officer of Cradle; Juliana Jan, Chief Investment Officer of Cradle; Yusnee Rahmat Yusof, Director of ACE MaGIC; Azim Pa'wanchik, Managing Director of Alpha Catalyst Consulting; Melinda Looi, award-winning designer and owner of Mellooi Creations; and Manminder Kaur Dillon, Chief Executive Officer of Supernewsroom.
Supporters of this event include regional strategic partners to the Malaysia Rice Bowl Startup Awards: ASEAN Centre of Entrepreneurship (ACE), MaGIC; and CRADLE; and other strategic partners such as InnovAsian Space (judging platform); Melinda Looi (trophy); Supernewsroom (digital PR) and PRNewswire (official news distribution platform).
NATIONAL CIRCUITS
The Kuala Lumpur awards ceremony kicked off the first of 10 events to be held throughout Southeast Asian countries in October and November. Following the event in Kuala Lumpur, national circuit Rice Bowl winners from each ASEAN country will be announced in Vientiane on 16th, Bangkok on 20th, Jakarta on 23rd, Manila on 25th and Yangon on 27th of October, as well as Singapore on 1st, Bandar Sri Begawan on 3rd, Ho Chi Minh on 4th, and Cambodia on 7th of November.
REGIONAL CIRCUIT
Rice Bowl national circuit winners will then compete at the regional Grand Finale of the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2017 which will be held on 12-13th December in Kuala Lumpur, in conjunction with the Global Entrepreneurship Community (GEC) Summit 2017, organized by the Ministry of Finance, and supported by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and the Ministry of Higher Education.
As a prelude to the Grand Finale, national circuit winners will be given a shot at investment via Rice Bowl investment matching sessions, seats to signature Rice Bowl discourse, as well as exposure to industry and media networking sessions during the two-day GEC Summit 2017.
GLOBAL CIRCUIT
Regional circuit winners from the Grand Finale of the ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2017 will then compete on the global circuit next year, against startups in other regions at the Global Startup Awards 2018, to be held in China.
For Media Enquiries, please contact:
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Ms Hani Abdullah |
+6010-2711248 |
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New Entrepreneurs Foundation |
+603 7731 4410 |
About ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards (Rice Bowl)
The ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards (Rice Bowl) is an exciting series of events throughout Southeast Asia that lauds exemplary talent in the startup community. Organized by New Entrepreneurs Foundation (myNEF), Rice Bowl places the spotlight on rising start-ups in the 10 ASEAN countries, with the aim of increasing the region's visibility as a vibrant startup ecosystem and global hub for innovation.
Now in its third year, Rice Bowl is also the official circuit for the annual Global Startup Awards (GSA), which provides a solid platform for Rice Bowl winners to forge ahead with their enterprise. The award's regional finale will be held in conjunction with the Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit in Kuala Lumpur on 13th December 2017.
www.ricebowlawards.com
About New Entrepreneurs Foundation
New Entrepreneurs Foundation (myNEF) is a non-profit organization established in 2012 that focuses on creating and developing sustainable entrepreneurs via strategic developmental programs. myNEF signature programs include BAHTERA 2015, SUPERBXCEL, COMICXCEL, Online Business Financing (OBF) and ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards. myNEF plays an instrumental role in bridging industry players with the Government and related agencies, both locally and in the Southeast Asian region.
www.mynef.com
About Global Entrepreneurship Community (GEC) Summit 2017
Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit (GECommunity Summit) brings forth ecosystem influencers, startup communities and industry leaders from across the globe to collaborate and find new innovative approaches to solve real problems and chart the way forward for entrepreneurs. The global summit is initiated by the Ministry of Finance, Malaysia (MOF) and organized by Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) to empower entrepreneurs around the world with groundbreaking ideas and collaborations to solve cross-border challenges, uncover new possibilities and develop revolutionary ideas and solutions, catalyzing innovation.
About Global Startup Awards
The Global Startup Awards was established in Denmark in 2012 with two major goals. Firstly, to connect, support, and celebrate key players in national and regional startup ecosystems worldwide. Secondly, to fuse them together on a global entrepreneurial network, creating a matrix of opportunities for international partnerships and commercial exchange.
GSA began as a way of recognising entrepreneurs within the Nordic region. It is now annually celebrated through 26 countries and across 4 regions: Nordic, Central Europe, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Soon to join are Southern Europe, South America and the Baltics. Global Startup Awards has become a vehicle for countries to recognise and showcase their own entrepreneurial talents, powering their local startup ecosystems further.
The ASEAN Rice Bowl Startup Awards (Rice Bowl) is the official Southeast Asia circuit for GSA.
www.globalstartupawards.com
