Five Malaysian firms have been selected to pilot projects with the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

MRANTI said in a statement on Tuesday that these five Malaysian firms are SustaiNation Malaysia, EXPLORIA, Mobiva, FixApa by Kemaih and Beebag.

Each of these social innovators receives MRY150,000 ($32,573) to pilot and scale their transformative solutions over the next six months with an aim to reshape the future of Malaysian children with coaching from PROFICEO.

“PROFICEO has coached more than 1000 Startups in Malaysia since its inception in 2008 and we are honoured to partner with MOSTI, MRANTI and UNICEF as the Accelerator Partner for MICA to support Startups that are creating social and environmental impact to grow their businesses,

“We are humbled by the passion and dedication of all the Startups that participated in the Accelerator to support children and look forward to working with the 5 winners to successfully execute their pilot projects with UNICEF,” said Renuka Sena, Chief Executive Officer of PROFICEO.

It is noted that the MRANTI Impact Challenge Accelerator (MICA) connected key stakeholders and advanced the development of Malaysian solutions from prototypes into pilot projects, in collaboration with the UNICEF.

MICA espouses the core values of Malaysia Madani to create positive transformation, linking sustainability, innovation, and compassion.

By directing resources and expertise toward child-centric solutions, it offers a platform for more Malaysian innovations to be showcased, and how these can create positive social and environmental impact.

“MICA aims to align technological progress with the welfare of individuals and the environment, ensuring sustainable growth,

“At MRANTI, we prioritize adherence to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in all our endeavors. Our goal is to foster a stronger culture of research and innovation among Malaysians, leading to the discovery of solutions which address critical challenges in our country,” said Dzuleira Abu Bakar, Chief Executive Officer of MRANTI.

UNICEF Malaysia Deputy Representative Sanja Saranovic said UNICEF recognizes the value of crowdsourcing local innovative solutions and empowering local social enterprises so that more children can learn about climate change, be prepared for disasters, and have the nutrition they need to navigate this changing world.

Through this 12-month program comprising funding, support, guidance and services amounting to MYR 1.2 million ($260,000), more than a dozen Malaysian social innovators were given the opportunity to prototype solutions specifically tailored to benefit children, with a focus on critical areas such as climate change, disaster management, and malnutrition.

These social innovations focussing on effectively making a tangible difference in the lives of children, will have a chance to develop proof-of-concepts with the support of global civil society.

The five Malaysian social innovators have been selected to accelerate their solutions with UNICEF:

● SustaiNation Malaysia: a green school concept offers innovative book series, learning toolkits and locally-made upcycling machineries, to help rural communities especially children, to improve their recycling/upcycling facilities at source.

● EXPLORIA: a comprehensive and systematic approach to educate children on the importance of mangrove protection in mitigating climate change, using a combination of a Hands-on kit, E-learning portal and field trips.

● Mobiva: enables faster emergency response by sharing crowd-sourced data with first responders and rescue agencies, mapping hazards and vulnerabilities. This enables decision-makers with critical information and helps ensure aid is quickly delivered to those who need it most, including children.

● FixApa by Kemaih: a comprehensive digital platform designed to provide a centralized hub for all childcare-related services.

● Beebag: a social enterprise working on addressing plastic pollution by encouraging shoppers to reuse their plastics more often through the use of gamification and modern technology.

MRANTI invites high growth Malaysian startups for global expansion