ENTREPRENEURS create jobs and are a source of capital — these are two things that a country like Malaysia needs to stay ­resilient in the face of a ­slowing economy.

The problem in nurturing great entrepreneurs, however, lies within the education system which emphasises passing tests and achieving good grades, rather than encouraging ­critical thinking and innovation.

As such, entrepreneurs who are just starting out face difficulties in gaining success or standing out among their peers simply due to lack of good ideas, which again, could be the result of an examination-oriented education system.

Still, there are available options for growth and development, and one example would be entrepreneurship development programmes.

For BFM-Edge Education Sdn Bhd, the Malaysian entrepreneurial landscape is vibrant and fast-growing, and it sees the need to unleash creativity by tapping this scene.

“You can see more and more entrepreneurs breaking into the scene and new groups and communities forming. You have all these support groups but in the end, entrepreneurial success depends on creativity — and it’s something that we lack,” its executive director Noelle Lim says.

Lim tells The Edge the reformation of a textbook-driven education system into one that develops thinking skills is pivotal to entrepreneurship.

However, until that changes, the company — which is a joint initiative between The Edge and BFM Media — provides education aids in the form of seminars and training programmes for those seeking to grow themselves and their business locally and internationally.

First, under its BFM-Edge Business School division, it offers four types of courses: Flagship, Leadership, Innovation and Big Data.

Under Flagship are the BFM General Management Programme, dubbed ­“mini-MBA”, as it covers innovation, strategy, marketing, finance and leadership and BFM Emerging Leaders Programme which aims to train new managers.

Lim says Big data is one of the company’s main focus areas in the long run as it believes that big data will be the primary basis of competition and innovation. In fact, it plans to offer a course on the subject in collaboration with Malaysian big data specialist Fusionex, seen as among IBM's top competitors.

And under its Entrepreneurs Edge division, talks and classes are ­conducted by experts from a broad spectrum of industries and specialisations, focusing on mentorship.

Talks and seminars are normally conducted on a short-term basis, usually for up to five days. However, the more serious programmes, such as the General Management Programme, can run for as long as four months.

“Everything that we do centres on leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship and big data. The main goal is to equip Malaysians with global in-demand skills,” Lim says.

Training is conducted at BFM-Edge Education’s WORQ Coworking Space at Glo Damansara, a business centre shared among various start-ups and entrepreneurial communities, funded by Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd.

The reason for having a coworking space, Lim says, is to encourage networking and idea sharing among individuals from various organisations and job fields with shared and common values — again, this is another way to accelerate innovation and creativity.

Most entrepreneurs and business owners who have registered under BFM-Edge Education’s programmes are in their 30s and 40s and in the ­retail industry, Lim says.

“We do have younger ones coming in but there aren’t many of them. We would like to see the younger generation branching out into entrepreneurship because it’s what creates jobs and brings capital into the country,” she says.

“There will be more challenges for Malaysia, moving forward. Job creation is not strong at the moment and we are seeing degree holders taking up jobs that don’t even require a degree qualification,” she says.

But on a more individual level, Lim points out that attitude and skills are key characteristics (and also a problem faced by most participants) to business success.

“It’s how you find the right staff with the right qualities, and how to get them to take ownership and be self-accountable rather than just wait for instructions. Then you have the ­attitude part, which raises debates and discussions in all workplaces,” she says.

This year is set to keep the company busy as it has lined up various training sessions and in-house programmes towards year-end.

Talks will also be organised with several speakers taking part including Ho Kay Tat (The Edge Media Group group CEO), Malek Ali (BFM founder), Tan Thiam Hock (Alliance Cosmetics founder and CEO), Suridah Jalaluddin (Big Tree Outdoor co-founder), Henry Goh (Macro Kiosk Group co-founder and COO) and Yeoh Chen Chow (KFit.com co-founder).

Additionally, Lim says the ­company is aiming to kick-start its online education initiative in 2017 to reach out to more communities easily. If it materialises, the company would be leveraging BFM’s podcasts and The Edge’s editorial content.

Asked for her outlook on the entrepreneurship industry, moving forward, Lim says until the current education system is recalibrated, it will be difficult to produce entrepreneurs of great calibre who can succeed beyond just Malaysia.

“Then again, we hope that the new breed of entrepreneurs can bring more value-added products and services to the table. They could consider going into science, technology and artificial intelligence, or anything ground-breaking rather than just retail, for example,” she says.

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play.