It was great to reconnect with Wan Dazriq, founder and CEO of Purpose Malaysia, recently during Equal Innovation’s education and sustainability summit with National Geographic Learning. Purpose Malaysia is a lead organization in building the social enterprise ecosystem in Malaysia, where the major challenges include climate change, biodiversity, and the cultural diversity of the population. Purpose Malaysia works with social entrepreneurs, government and the corporate sector to promote impact entrepreneurship across the country's diverse cultures and geographies.
The organization has been operating for about five years and has recently shifted its focus to ecosystem building due to a slowdown in investment opportunities. They are seeing the rise of a new generation of impact entrepreneurs, particularly Gen Y, Gen Z, and Alpha, who are leveraging digital technology to drive social impact. This generation is shifting from traditional cottage industries to a focus on impact storytelling, education, and green technology and supply chain improvements in agriculture, fishing and manufacturing.
Dazriq discussed the unique position of Malaysia's economy, suggesting it presents an interesting landscape for entrepreneurs and impact entrepreneurs. He noted that while Malaysia's infrastructure is decent and there are ample economic opportunities, the country's rural and urban divide presents a challenge. Dazriq also highlighted that entrepreneurship in Malaysia has been heavily influenced by the government, with most entrepreneurs starting with public sector support, such as grants and incubators. The private sector typically comes into play later in the entrepreneurial lifecycle, for scaling and sustaining.
The Malaysian government has become more open to foreign direct investments and has launched initiatives to attract not only foreign entrepreneurs but also foreign capital. The government's KL20 manifesto aims to establish Kuala Lumpur as a top 20 city for entrepreneurs, and Dazriq mentioned that Malaysia is also looking at attracting digital nomads to the country.
I’ve had the privilege of working on the Malaysian entrepreneurship ecosystem for a few years now, and the growth of organizations like Purpose Malaysia are a good sign that things are moving beyond government as catalyst to private-sector led opportunities.