KUALA LUMPUR: Serba Dinamik Holdings Berhad (Serba Dinamik), which has grown over the years and established a global presence, has not forgotten its role in supporting entrepreneurs just starting out on their journey.
The company’s group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah said that one of its latest endeavours is a virtual reality (VR) theme park called D-Virtual Park (DVP) in Kota Samarahan.
The project is a collaboration with a start-up platform called Startup Borneo, which has 33 registered entities comprising incubators, accelerators and start-ups.
“The problem faced by such start-up entities is they do not have sufficient funding,” he said during a recent interview at Menara Serba Dinamik here.
“We would like to play this role to support them, as we do feel that the time to contribute back has come and it is our corporate social responsibility to lend our hand to ambitious entrepreneurs such as Startup Borneo,” he said, adding that Serba Dinamik was also originally from Sarawak as well.
Thus, he said Serba Dinamik has funnelled RM5 million to assist Startup Borneo in its endeavour.
Serba Dinamik has also invested RM8 million in the VR park, making a combined total of RM13 million.
Mohd Abdul Karim said that aside from funding, Startup Borneo also had much to gain from Serba Dinamik’s established global network which could provide even more opportunities.
He disclosed that Serba Dinamik had set up an innovation hub in the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, which could provide access to a pool of professionals with strong Information Technology (IT) capabilities there.
In addition, he said that they had positioned themselves in Silicon Valley, California and Shenzhen, China as well.
“When Startup Borneo connects to those networks that is where it can introduce its research and products. There may potentially be those interested to take them up and commercialise them,” he remarked.
Mohd Abdul Karim believed that by providing support and opportunities to startups, the mindset of the younger generation who have just graduated from institutions of higher learning could be improved.
“Looking at the current employment rate in Malaysia with all the latest economic challenges and volatility, we do hear that many graduates are unable to find jobs.
“The mentality has been ‘after I graduate, I will look for a job’. However, we want to change this mindset to ‘when I graduate, I will create jobs’,” he explained.
DVP, which is the first of its kind in Borneo, will be launched next month.
