Tegas to host first Social Impact Accelerator Virtual Demo Day

KUALA LUMPUR: Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Sarawak’s (Tegas) first batch of the Social Impact Accelerator (SIA) programme is about to come to an end.

To conclude the end of the six-month programme, Tegas will be hosting a Virtual Demo Day on February 27 to showcase the social enterprises (SEs) that have participated in the accelerator programme.

The programme - which started back in September 2020 in partnership with Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation Bhd (SDEC) and Youth Trust Foundation (myHarapan) - brought in five social enterprises from Kuching, Bintulu, Miri and Long Nen. They are Jonita Enterprise, Pungu Borneo, SupaReaders, EdaBeran and Timogah.

Over the past six months, these SEs have learned, networked and mentored by seasoned entrepreneurs and industry experts in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. Three out of five SEs were alumni of the previous Tegas Pre-Accelerator programme.

Due to the pandemic, the Demo Day will be held virtually, where the five early-stage social enterprises will be pitching virtually to an audience of diverse stakeholders including potential impact investors, government and funding agencies, policymakers, research, academic and ecosystem partners.

SIA is a six-month programme which aims to accelerate the growth of Sarawak based, early-stage social enterprises in order to effectively deliver good to great impact for Sarawak and beyond.

Tegas chairman Datu Len Talif Salleh and myHarapan chief executive officer (CEO) Nurfarini Daing will also be present for the opening and keynote speeches that day.

“It is my hope that the inaugural SIA programme will help our social entrepreneurs to bring their social businesses to greater heights,” Len Talif said.

“Tegas will continue to support and empower our local entrepreneurs to scale globally, through the soon to be completed Tegas Digital Village - which is expected to be launched by The Right Honourable Chief Minister, middle of this year.

“I also encourage the private sector or corporations to step forward to support our local social enterprises with which they see an alignment of values, whether through procurement or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes.”

Members of the public may tune in for the live streaming on Tegas Digital Innovation Hub’s Facebook page on February 27 at 2.30pm.