Proficeo Consultants Sdn Bhd (Proficeo) in partnership with Penjana Kapital Sdn Bhd (Penjana), has on Monday announced the selection of the pioneer group of 18 Founders for the Soonicorn Collective.
Proficeo said in a statement that Soonicorn Collective is a membership driven platform designed to build leadership skills among startup Founders, groom the next Unicorns of Malaysia and foster a strong startup ecosystem in Malaysia via policy proposals and engagement with government leaders.
Coined from the phrase “soon-to-be unicorns”, Soonicorns are startups with the growth potential to become Unicorns.
According to the statement, the selected Founders are all Chief Executive Officers (CEO) or C-Level Founders.
To participate, startups need to have raised at least MYR 2 million ($420,000) in funding or have generated MYR 8 million ($1.7 million) in revenue over the last 12 months.
“Having worked with more than 3,000 startup founders over the last 25 years, I appreciate that being Chief Executive Officer of a company is a tough and sometimes a lonely journey,
“The most successful founders have been those with a strong support system and camaraderie with other founders especially in creating a high growth company,” said Dr. Sivapalan Vivekarajah, Co-Founder of Proficeo and Chairman of the Soonicorn Collective.
According to him, the Soonicorn Collective platform not only offers invaluable leadership skills enhancement but also creates a unique space for the selected Founders to connect and build relationships with each other and with other successful founders who have built unicorns.
“This community of like-minded peers and a shared experience in building successful companies will go a long way in helping them to cope with the challenges of being a CEO and the opportunities of building unicorns,” he added.
In the previous 12 months under the program format of 100Soonicorns, the founders had monthly discussions where they shared their own experience and challenges regarding the myriad of issues that they face as they grow their companies from the early stage to Series A stage and beyond.
The program also enabled them to engage with successful Unicorn Founders like Moses Lo the CEO of Xendit, Steve Melhuish of PropertyGuru, Ronen Mense of Appsflyer and Chu Jenn Weng of Vitrox who shared their journey in fundraising and building unicorns.
The lessons learnt from culture, to managing sales teams to going regional provides the founders with a unique learning experience as they drive the growth of their own companies.
The participants also had the opportunity to engage with local and global venture capitalists from firms like Vertex Ventures, Gobi Partners, Golden Gate Ventures and even Khazanah Dana Impak as well as experts and leaders who taught them leadership skills.
The most recent workshop was with Kenanga Investment Bank where the founders learnt how to initial public offering (IPO) their company as part of their journey from startup to growth to exit. These conversations and discussions offer a unique learning platform between the Founders and experts.
Besides being a platform to learn and engage with the community, the Soonicorn Collective is also dedicated towards contributing to the ecosystem, economy and nation building.
“Speaking on behalf of the founders from the inaugural cohort of the 100Soonicorns, there is a movement sparked by this collective that has developed from a peer-driven network to a nation-building initiative which we are absolutely proud to be a part of.,
“A rising tide lifts all boats. As entrepreneurs for such a time in this nation, we have the opportunity to contribute to the breaking of the ceiling over Malaysia’s unicorn-building potential and witness the lifting of many current and future businesses to be regional and global champions,” said Ramachandran Muniandy, CEO of Asia Mobiliti, a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) and digital city solutions company and Co-Chairman of the Soonicorn Collective.
The participating Pioneer Founders of the Soonicorn Collective are:
1 Ramachandran Muniandy, CEO & Co-Founder, Asia Mobility Technologies Sdn Bhd
2 Nadira Yusof, CEO & Founder, Kiddocare Sdn Bhd
3 Sharma Lachu , CEO & Founder, Accendo Technologies Sdn Bhd
4 Giden Lim, CEO & Co-Founder, BLOOMTHIS Flora Sdn Bhd
5 Keong Chun Chieh, CEO, Ominent Sdn Bhd (IGL Coatings)
6 Sharala Devi Balakrishnan, CEO, Center of Applied Data Science (CADS)
7 Mohamed Tarek El-Fatatry, CEO & Co-Founder, Blue Bee Technologies (ERTH App)
8 Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin, CEO & Founder, Madcash Sdn Bhd
9 Lee William, MD, Easybook (M) Sdn Bhd
10 Parthiven Shanmugan, CEO, TixCarte Sdn Bhd
11 Effon Khoo, CEO & Founder, Kakitangan.com
12 Hui Yik Seong, CEO & Founder, Direct Lending Sdn Bhd
13 Pennie Lim, CEO & Co-Founder, Homa Sdn Bhd
14 Jayson Poon, CEO & Founder, Payex Ventures Sdn Bhd
15 Derek Tan, CEO & Co-Founder, Sonicboom Solutions Sdn Bhd
16 Sandeep Grewal, CEO & Co-Founder, Subhome Management Sdn BHd
17 Gavin Liew, CEO & Co-Founder, The Makeover Guys Sdn Bhd
18 Gokula Krishnan Subramaniam, CEO & Co-Founder, Vircle Sdn Bhd
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