Borneo744 starting point of entrepreneurs towns - Najib

The Prime Minister said Borneo744, the first entrepreneur town in the country would become a hub of creativity and innovation that brings together industry players under one roof to form a more creative working relationship.

"It will become the perfect place for networking, a place for the young generation to start a business to be more creative and innovative.

"I hope I will be able to see (the existence of this place) during my visit in future. I want to see it for myself. I am confident of the future of the next generation of young entrepreneurs. We must step up the energy and the creativity," he said.

He said this when announcing the establishment of the town during the launch of the Gathering of Rising Entrepreneurs, Act Together (GREAT) 2016 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching here today.

Also present were his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor; Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa; Secretary General of Treasury, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah and Sarawak Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.

Najib pointed out that through Borneo744, stakeholders could collaborate, experiment and commercialise their products of arts and crafts to fashion and design.

The hub is located on a 10-acre site with several abandoned warehouse buildings at present and will comprise craft village, collaboration hub and co-working spaces, studios, theatres, food and beverage retail spaces, agricultural gardens and exhibition spaces upon completion.

He said, as a whole, the Borneo744 was designed as a creative destination for Malaysians and the international community.

On entrepreneurship, the Prime Minister said the young generation needed to change their mindset to be not stereotype but to be more creative and innovative in order to remain relevant and successful.

"Mindset must change. Challenge our minds whether we want to be an employee or an employer and how we can generate success and riches via entrepreneurship.

"Entrepreneurs must use advanced technology and always question ourselves how we can boost our business through the latest technology.

Then only do we think about marketing so the public will know our products.

"And when talking about products, they need not necessarily be new products.

Recently, I met a young entrepreneur who reinnovated a traditional business; satay, in fact, even exporting it to Brunei. This is an example of a successful business," he said.

During the event, the Prime Minister also launched a National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) competition which was opened to all Malaysians.

The NBOS competition invited the entries of ideas for three different tracks, namely, public service, business and social entrepreneurship.

Najib said the government had high hopes the NBOS Competition would draw the participation of quality ideas which could be implemented in line with the NBOS principle, namely, high impact, could be implemented promptly, low cost and sustainable.

GREAT, a platform to connect Sarawak entrepreneurs, startups and investors, is the brainchild of the Finance Ministry via the National Entrepreneurs Development Office (NEDO) being organised by the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and the Sarawak state government.

Meanwhile, Irwan Siregar in his media conference, said Borneo744 would become a 'work, eat and play' hub for the young generation entrepreneurs in Sarawak.

"We will provide spaces for entrepreneurship training, business, eating places, creative industry and we will set up a MaGIC Sarawak branch," he said.

He said the government was negotiating with the owner of the proposed area for Borneo744, namely, Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad (CMS) before renovating the existing space.

"We are negotiating and in the planning stage for designs before approving allocation for Borneo744," he said.