This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on April 17, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Ekuiti Nasional Bhd’s (Ekuinas) chief executive officer (CEO) Syed Yasir Arafat Syed Abd Kadir, together with Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC) CEO Surina Shukri, have been named as new appointees to the Malaysian Venture Capital and Private Equity Development Council (MVCDC).

In a statement yesterday, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) said five new council members were also appointed. Together with Ekuinas and MDEC’s CEOs, they were appointed by the finance minister for a two-year term with the council, starting March 1, 2019.

They are: Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Azhar Yahaya, the secretary-general of the ministry of energy, science, technology, environment and climate change; Suhara Salleh, the deputy director (general services sector) of the National Budget Office in the ministry of finance; Dr V Sivapalan, the president of the Malaysian Business Angels Network; Victor Chua, the president of the Malaysian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association; and Mohd Irwan Ahmad Mustafa, the senior vice-president and head of private investments at Permodalan Nasional Bhd.

The MVCDC was set up in 2005 as an inter-ministerial council with representatives from both the public and private sectors to provide vision and direction, advise the government and facilitate greater coordination of strategies for the overall development of the venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) industry.

The MVCDC is chaired by SC chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Albar. The SC’s deputy chief executive Datuk Zainal Izlan Zainal Abidin is also a member of the council.

The SC’s chairmanship of the MVCDC is in line with its role as the capital market regulator which includes overseeing the development of alternative funding channels such as VC and PE, as well as equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer financing, the statement read.

“Given the importance of VC and PE financing in spurring entrepreneurship and catalysing the government’s efforts to move the country towards a high-income value-add economy, the MVCDC has undertaken various initiatives in close engagement with the government to accelerate the industry’s growth.

“These include measures to enhance tax incentives, attract investments by corporates, encourage entry of foreign industry players, streamline government funding and expand the pool of industry professionals,” the SC said.