By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Abd Ra’ai Osman

BANGI, 29 March 2015 – Budding young entrepreneurs have been urged to not only think about profits, but also contribute to society and the nation.

The National University of Malaysia’s (UKM) Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International Affairs) Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Riza Atiq Abdullah O.K Rahmat said there are many ways for successful entrepreneurs to contribute back to the community.

Closing the  National Young Entrepreneurs Summit 2015 (NYES 2015) here today, Prof Ir Riza Atiq reminded them that that it took a network of people to enable their success – their family, teachers, customers, employers, employees, even suppliers.

In return, he said, they should support and give back to that network. At the same time, mentor and help other entrepreneurs who come after them.

Serve as good role models, so that they can inspire even more young people to join them as entrepreneurs.

There is no short-cut to success for ambitious young entrepreneurs, he clarified.

Prof Ir Riza Atiq explained that young entrepreneurs would just have to slog it out in order to make headway in the business world.

However, he advised that the seeds of entrepreneurship be planted early on; start instilling the right mindsets from a young age.

“Most of us realize that there is no silver bullet to groom and produce entrepreneurs. But what we can do is to start encouraging our youngsters early on. We must also do more programmes in university to fire up the spirit of entrepreneurship, and providing opportunities for students to experiment, innovate and build on their ideas, are important steps to aid the success in generating business minded graduates,” he explained.

UKM, He said, wants to help youths pursue their entrepreneurial dreams and set up their own companies.

At the same time enterprise is not just about profits; it is also related to serving a broader purpose. Enterprise is not just an economic good; it is also a social good.

The NYES 2015 is an intellectual programme that aims to bring together young entrepreneurs consisting of students from public and private universities for interaction.

It was organized by the Student Executive Council of the Aminuddin Baki residential college with the cooperation of the Centre of Entrepreneurship and SME Development (CESMED) at UKM.

At present, the majority of young entrepreneurs are students.

Thus, the program NYES 2015 becomes a platform for entrepreneurs to gather and interact so that it can help develop their ideas to further enhance the business scene.

At the summit two successful young owners of small or medium-sized enterprises, Irfan Khairi and Nazril Idrus gave motivational talks about their personel experiences in running their own businesses.