Entrepreneurship a noble profession – IIUM President
Entrepreneurship a noble profession – IIUM President
By Aina Mardhia Ismail
GOMBAK, 20 February 2021 – Participants of the two-day IIUM Youth and Alumni Entrepreneurship course which started on Friday (19 February) had the opportunity to listen to impressive remarks shared by IIUM President, Datuk Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar.
As someone who had established more than ten start-up companies, Dr. Mohd Daud mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic had opened up the doors for business owners to leverage their knowledge in managing the business through online platforms.
“Opportunities should be seized and not wasted,” he said.
Being in the field for 15 years, Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar said that entrepreneurs should be able to adapt to the new norm of online business and digital advertisements rather than a face-to-face business interaction in this pandemic era.
“Digital economy as one of the main mediums for business transactions in recent time has flourished the nation’s economy and produced many jobs for the community particularly youth,” Dr. Mohd Daud said.
Challenge wise, Dr. Mohd Daud shared that it is hard to overcome and change one’s own perspective on entrepreneurship particularly one’s mind and attitude in dealing with the business. However, everything is made possible as some say, “if there is a will there is a way”.
“Marketability of a business solely depends on the overall product or service package offered, which would not be a problem to the business owner if a holistic ideation development process has taken place,” Dr. Mohd Daud added.
Instead, he pointed out that the real challenge is how a product is put out to penetrate the target market.
The speakers invited for the Entrepreneurship course.
Indeed, Dr. Mohd Daud believed that the establishment of this Youth and Alumni Entrepreneurship course is timely for young entrepreneurs to adapt to the latest business landscape that had shifted drastically from manual to online transaction through e-commerce platforms.
Encapsulating his speech, Dr. Mohd Daud gave some remarks on entrepreneurship as follows:
- Entrepreneurship is a noble profession of the prophets and apostles
- Self-employment is the best form of work and was praised by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
- Entrepreneurs are job creators for the community
- The entrepreneurship ecosystem creates a holistic value system in terms of idea, product to be launched, human resource development marketing etc.
Other than inculcating the spirit of entrepreneurship among alumni and youth, the Director of Alumni Relation Division IIUM, Asst. Prof. Dr. Azam Othman mentioned that the course seeks to proffer and share inspiration, motivation, innovation ideas and the latest marketing strategies for the development of young entrepreneurs who choose business as a career in the pandemic era.
Dr. Azam asserted that this entrepreneurship course is one of the initiatives by the university under the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Greater Gombak project which benefitted the public community from Gombak and Pahang aside from participation by the university alumni.
Four sessions were arranged for the course presented by IIUM alumni including a chill sharing session with IIUM Alumni cum Motivator, Entrepreneur and Business founder Amin Idris on the first day, and Financial Management, Digital Entrepreneurship and Business Model Canvas by business coach, Mohd Zullutfi bin Abd Razak or Coach Ejul Lutfi alongside Master Trainer eUsahawan, Puan Shahila binti Hakim or Coach Shila.
The two-day entrepreneurship course was organised by IIUM’s Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC), Counselling and Career Services Centre (CCSC) and Alumni Relations Division in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Malaysia) and the Malaysia Youth Council (MYC) through Zoom.***