CALL FOR ACTION: Deputy Minister of Education II Chong Sin Woon, encourages education institutions to incorporate entrepreneurial traits into their programme offerings.

MOVE FORWARD: UCSI Vice-Chancellor and President Senior Prof Dato’ Dr Khalid Yusoff motivating participants to constantly enhance and improve themselves.

INSPIRING OTHERS: UCSI Group Founder and Chairman Dato’ Peter Ng mesmerising audience with his entrepreneurial experience.

GROUP PHOTO: Deputy Minister of Education II Chong Sin Woon (middle) joined by Group Founder and Chairman Dato’ Peter Ng (right) and Vice-Chancellor and President Senior Prof Dato’ Dr Khalid Yusoff at the SEE Conference Malaysia 2015 opening ceremony.

SHARING SESSION: Founder of Miracle Hair Expert Dato’ Bryan Tay sharing his knowledge on the second day of the conference.

KUALA LUMPUR: Nine entrepreneurs shared their secrets to success with university students at UCSI’s Student Entrepreneurial Experience (SEE) Conference Malaysia 2015. The event was organised by the UCSI University (UCSI) Student Affairs and Alumni division and was supported by the Ministry of Education. 

Held over two days, the conference aimed to provide students with the knowledge needed to become job creators instead of job seekers through entrepreneurship. This supports the push to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset in tertiary education as outlined in the Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint 2015-2025. 

Present at the opening ceremony was Deputy Minister of Education II, Chong Sin Woon, who stressed on the importance of entrepreneurship education. 

“Entrepreneurship is vital for an entire nation to progress. Education institutions must be aware of the role they play in incorporating the traits that every successful entrepreneur needs, into their programme offerings,” he said. 

The conference featured nine sessions from CEOs and founders of successful businesses in Malaysia such as Dato’ Peter Ng, Founder and Chairman of UCSI Group; Dato’ Chevy Beh, CEO and Group Managing Director of Asian Healthcare Group Berhad; Dato’ Bryan Tay, founder and CEO of Miracle Hair Expert and Mr Chan Kee Siak, CEO of Exabytes.MY. 

In his keynote speech, Dato’ Ng shared his own experience setting up UCSI 29 years ago. 

“There are many ways to sum up the UCSI story. Its founding values of audacity, integrity, perseverance and excellence were synergised through one process – entrepreneurship.” 

However, he cautioned that the journey is not an easy one as it requires an inordinate amount of strategy, innovation and execution. 

Nonetheless, the satisfaction far outweigh the difficulty. 

“At the end of the day, entrepreneurship has an amazing propensity to bring people together on an unforgettable journey.” 

The Vice-Chancellor and President of UCSI, Senior Prof Dato’ Dr Khalid Yusoff spoke of the role education institutions have to play in encouraging this. 

Practical experience, close industry partnership and a push towards internationalisation through collaborations with leading universities like Harvard University and the University of Melbourne are some of the initiatives by UCSI to give its students an edge as entrepreneurs. 

“UCSI ranks highly in terms of graduate employability and this is no surprise as we have over 2,500 corporate partners who accept our students as interns or as employees,” he said. 

More than 100 students from various public and private universities in Malaysia benefitted from the Conference.