KUALA LUMPUR (July 19): Embarking on an entrepreneurial pursuit begins with having an idea and Malaysia is not short of talented and creative individuals with great ideas, said Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd chief digital officer Praveen Rajan.

The challenge, however, lies in taking these ideas further and turning them into possible viable business, he said in a statement today.

Hence Digi kick-started its first Digi Incub8 ideation workshop in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, last weekend, to help budding entrepreneurs start their entrepreneurial journey by addressing the challenges of building a business from an idea, identifying opportunities in the market, and building a suitable business model around it.

"We aim to help them take steps forward to start up, and fuel further involvement in our local startup community with this effort," said Praveen.

The three-day workshop saw the participation of 40 budding entrepreneurs, aged between 17 and 62, learn the meaning of becoming an entrepreneur and cultivating the entrepreneur's mindset, the stark reality of learning to fail, bounce back and try again, building solid ideas, and identifying business opportunities and generating a business model suited to the idea.

They also had the opportunity to learn and get inspired from real-life startup experiences shared by local entrepreneurs.

Digi Incub8 is a partnership with 1337 Ventures and its Alpha Startups programme, a household name within the community for scaling companies from ideas into successful business ventures.

Digi's startup engagement initiatives, which include Digi Incub8, Digi Accelerate and Digi Challenge for Change, are designed to complement and support the development of Malaysia's robust startup ecosystem, and enable more Malaysians to shape the next digital innovations for the country.