As an entrepreneur, and a bumiputra one at that, I was particularly concerned about the lack of success among bumiputra entrepreneurs in the IT sector.
The meetings probably served as some form of catharsis for the embattled entrepreneurs.
The NEF should play a policy advisory role rather than be just a platform for downtrodden bumiputra entrepreneurs to complain about their problems.
My arguments prevailed so when the NEF organised a networking function called NetBash, it was open to all. We held NetBash once every quarter and invited people from the private sector as well as the government to attend. It was a smashing success, with each event attended by around 600 people.
After the dotcom bubble burst and things started to slow down, interest in networking dropped. Once we had Derrik Khoo, a former poster boy of the New Economy, to speak about his experiences as an IT entrepreneur. The NEF is a lot quieter now but it’s still around with 27 members and a renewed focus: lobbying the government to provide more opportunities for bumiputra technology companies.
Spoon-feeding would be: “I’ll buy from you at your price and at whatever quality you have.”
Basically, his job was to match entrepreneurs with venture capitalists.
The NEF has its place and is important, but we desperately needed a national organisation as well.
Siva did a lot to raise the profile of TeAM and got the government to take our white papers and recommendations seriously. Chris Chan of The Media Shoppe (TMS) was subsequently elected the president of TeAM while I was elected deputy president.
We both started our companies around the same time.
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