Last week in my E-Commerce class, my lecturer, Mr Rozaini Rejab asked a question: “What do you want to do if somebody give you RM50,000 to fund your business?”.  The class remained silent.

On 24th August 2007, I went for an interview at Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd for their Cradle Investment Programme (CIP). I pitched about my idea in front of an Investment Manager to create a Web 2.0 application that will change the world. Codenamed “Job 2.0”, by the mantra of “What is your dream job?”, it revolves around user-generated content (UGC) that let anyone post their dream job and share with others.  Unpredictably, I was selected for the RM50, 000 grant. I was stunned. I didn’t expect that. However, one year later, the “Job 2.0” went bust due to some manpower, technical and project management issues. I went broke when required paying back the amount.

Three years down the road, after all the hassle that I’ve went through, I found it pretty ironic when my lecturer, gave an assignment to blog about “My Dream Job” which carry 10% mark for BEL7084, Information Systems and E-Commerce subject. My heart whispered, “This is like replaying my old VCR!”. Suddenly, it reminisce me the Steve Jobs’ speech on YouTube during  Stanford University Commencement Speech 2005 about “Connecting the Dots”. Look for 0:55 minutes. It really inspiring and connects my “previous” dots.

I’m a System Engineer by profession at one of the public listed IT company.  The pay is satisfactory, I’m blissful with my job, but it’s never enough. Even Cradle made me broke, the entrepreneurship spirit in me never faded away. I want to be a successful entrepreneur, not for the sake of money alone, but also for the self-satisfaction. That’s my dream job. Look at to the above picture, I love to be a boss, managing my own company . I’m good at PR, community-building and crowd-sourcing. Advertisers will pay me if my web application is successful.

Why I want to be an entrepreneur? That’s a tough question. Referring to Big Five personality traits that I’ve studied during Organizational Behaviour subject, I came to know that my personality is Openness to Experience.  I scored high in the personality test. According to study, there is a correlation between Openness to Experience and Entrepreneurship.

Being a successful entrepreneur, I know that I can always give something back to the community.  Rules of the nature, the more we give, the more we get. I aspired to help people. Money is important, but it comes to second. I’m looking for self-satisfaction.

But why I still work as a System Engineer? That’s another tough question. I’m too coward to leave my current job due to family commitments. I have a family to feed. Becoming an entrepreneur doesn’t guarantee a return in a very short period.  I need an excess of cash. Sustainable business is another thing to consider. I am not ready for this due to these financial constraints. Furthermore, I don’t have strong business background. Not even a business foundation. That’s why I pursue MBA.

I’m broke when I was forced to pay back Cradle. If given the opportunity to get another round of grant, I will ensure myself fully prepared. Lesson learnt, I couldn’t be an entrepreneur by doing it part-time. I must be willing to take risk, resign from current job and chase my dream job. High-risk, high-return. Business knowledge and networking are essentials.

Thus, taking an MBA is the best decision I’ve made in my life. I may be good in technical point-of-view, but I’m lacking in business perspective. MBA astonished me with real-life questions, which can only be answered by real-life experiences.

Year 2010 will end real soon now. 2011 is promising. I hope that I will rise and shine again in 2011 to achieve my dream job.

Wish me luck!

Watch this inspirational video. Not specifically talking about the next generation booming ideas. But can be a bit relief.

Have fun.

Funding available for young ICT businessmen

KUALA LUMPUR: Youth below 30 years with businesses that benefit the community using information and communication technologies (ICT) can still apply for funding to expand their business.

The fully web-based Global Young Social Entrepreneurs’ Competition dateline has been extended to Sept 9 and there would be 100 winners selected by an international online jury.

The winners would be sponsored to attend the inaugural Young Social Entrepreneurs’ Forum (YSEF) during the 3rd Global Knowledge (GK3) Conference from Dec 11 to 13 in Kuala Lumpur.

YSEF is the highlight of the GK3 forum, which will be attended by funding organisations, mentors, experts and potential partners in the field of social entrepreneurship.

GKP Secretariat executive director Rinalia Abdul Rahim said, “The quality of applications received to date shows there are many ingenious, innovative young entrepreneurs who contribute towards a better future with new business models and can go far with our support”.

Among the supporting members of GKP are the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Microsoft, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

According to a statement from GKP, over 500 people have applied to date and those interested can apply online at www.globalknowledge.org/ysecompetition07.

There aren’t many people blog about getting a fund in Malaysia. It’s hard though to pass the board decision. Some of them already covered about Cradle and MDeC. It’s a nice and interesting blog entries for those who wants to ventured in this Web 2.0 thingy. There’s a pros and cons you should consider.

Read;

• How to get funded for Malaysian startup entrepreneurs from Web2.0 Entrepreneur
• Meet up with Mavcap and Cradle Venture Capital from Business Webtech
• Get Funding For Your Internet Startup in Malaysia : Part 1 from Webwatch
• Funding options for Malaysian entrepreneurs from Hatchlings
• Cradle investment Programme & MSC TDF National Incubator Network from Edwin Wang

Personal experience?

It was a breeze 24/8/07 Friday. I nearly lost somewhere in the middle of Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur. Parked my car at the basement. Asked a security guard on the location.

Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd,

Suite 4.8.1, Level 4,

PNB Darby Park,

10 Jalan Binjai,

50450 Kuala Lumpur.

Cradle has just moved-in to PNB Darby Park. Previously Cradle was located at Level 5, Bangunan Bank Industri, 1016, Jalan Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur.

Ok, move on.

Took the lift to 4th floor and looked for Cradle’s office. Suprised, it’s a kind of high-tech and nice interior decoration. Probably because of the new office building. You can smell the aroma of new furniture and paintings. Some of the chairs were still with the plastic cover.

Waited for a few minutes with my backpack carrying my IBM Thinkpad.

Instructed to get inside a meeting room and waited for a Cradle panel to come.

It’s more like a teh-tarik session. Very informal and relax with 2 Cradle personnel.

Just introduced myself and they introduced themselves. Talk about life, work, family, technology etc. In general just a brief and fun talk.

Then proceed to the idea session, talk about how’s the fund to be released, what’s lacking in the form and a quick overview of how’s this idea going to get through the fund board.

Pretty hard, though. Especially my idea is in the 50-50 side, in the border line. Chances of getting the fund is very slim.

But I’m happy though, at least getting through an interview session experience. Who knows someday I will be having another experience with venture capital?

: )