Malaysia urged to cultivate more value creators among Bumiputera - experts

Ibrahim Sani, CEO of Yayasan Peneraju, said Malaysia’s past investments in human capital had elevated national productivity and strengthened the professional landscape, enabling Bumiputera professionals to develop diverse and transferable skill sets. He reflected on the government’s past efforts to send earlier generations of Bumiputera students abroad through JPA scholarships, with the goal of contributing to Malaysia’s economic development upon their return, although no clear KPIs were set at the time.

“And over the next 30 to 40 years, we saw a proficient and inspirational Bumiputra managers and chief secretaries and to actually lead the professional space of the workforce today, and at M40 or even at the T20, many of those that belong to those categories came from that tradition of JPA scholarships, when Malaysia was making a big bet on that,” said Ibrahim.

Building on the success of the JPA scholarship programme in developing skilled professionals, Ibrahim expressed hope that Yayasan Peneraju’s human capital training and investment initiatives could yield similar results.

He added that he hopes to see more Malaysians, per capita, attain professional certifications ranging from ACCA to engineering or AI-related qualifications.

“With human development capital training, this is the bet that we have to take. A belief in our people to go for the training and invest in them,” said Ibrahim during an interview on Astro AWANI's Consider This.

Meanwhile, Mohd Safuan Mohd Zairi, Chief Ecosystem Officer at the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (MRANTI), explained MRANTI’s role in nurturing impactful creators and turning ideas into market-driven products with real value.

Safuan said Malaysia needs to translate more innovation and R&D into real impact to cultivate more creators.

“So you may have great ideas right now. But unfortunately, that great idea of yours will not benefit all of us because it stays in your mind. So I think this is where our role is to bring those ideas into impact to deliver market value that is adopted and the benefit is then fully realised,” he said during the same session.

He explained that through MRANTI’s National Technology Commercialisation Agency, the organisation helps turn ideas into viable startups and products, while also easing funding and regulatory challenges.

“It is not just a market and technology assessment. It is actually bringing players from the ecosystem, the public sector, the private sector, academia, as well as civil society,” Safuan said.

He also highlighted a “match technology commercialisation platform,” where ideas and challenges are paired to create market-ready solutions through collaboration of stakeholders across the ecosystem.

Both experts agreed that Malaysia’s future competitiveness depends on nurturing more creators that are supported by professional guidance, training, and investment to turn ideas into impactful, market-driven innovations.

They made these comments during an episode of Consider This on Monday.