Participants, judges, facilitators, mentors and organisers in a group photo.

KUCHING: Sixty participants recently took part in a three-day Techstars Startup Weekend Sarikei Youth Edition organised by Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) in collaboration with Kuching-based iCube Innovation Sdn Bhd (iCube) from Feb 28 to March 1.

Held at Sarikei Innovaton Centre (SiC), participants mostly students from Sarikei, Bintangor, Betong, Kuching, Bintulu, Julau, Pakan and Sibu got together to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch a startup.

Working in teams, the participants brainstormed and developed ideas, tested the business model, carried out market validations and tweaking it until the final day, mentored by entrepreneurs and startup founders who provided valuable insights into rapidly evolving global startup trends.

On March 1, the teams gave their final presentation and pitched minimal viable products to a panel of judges comprising SMA ecosystem strategist Khairool Adzelan, Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry advisor (Youth Entrepreneur) Dr Renco Yong and Captain Roseley Enterprises Sdn Bhd general manager Emir Roseley.

“Everybody showed great commitment and passion. This also reflected how the mentors guided them throughout the event,” Khairool said.

Deputy director of Centre for Applied Learning and Multimedia in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Chuah Kee Man, a mentor, was impressed with the participants’ enthusiasm.

“Sarikei Youth Edition surprised me particularly the willingness of participants to go through the innovation process although most of them were in the dark at first.

“The facilitators did an excellent job in motivating them to go beyond their comfort zones,” said Chuah.

A Global Certified Techstars Startup Weekend Facilitator, Afiq Mohammed was also very impressed with the support system for entrepreneurship in Sarikei and thought the participants could go far.

Meanwhile, Politeknik Metro Betong tourism management student said it was a great opportunity for her.

“Through this camp I gained new knowledge for my upcoming plans and future, met amazing people and boosted my confidence to another level,” she added.

“I thought it would be easy to be successful but I was wrong. Thanks to the camp, I learnt there are a lot of things I need to do, improve my idea and what I should do,” shared SMK Tinggi Sarikei school leaver Clement Loi who hoped to utilise the knowledge and experience in his pursuit of being an app developer.