Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TAR College) holistic education with industry relevant curriculum has certainly help to mould its students to be knowledgeable and innovative with creativity for new business ideas.

Three TAR College teams; Teams Xakao and Lotus Seed, (both teams are from the School of Arts and Science ) and Team TS Piping from the School of Technology were specially selected by Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd for a very informative workshop on funding for their business ideas. In the workshop which was held on 22 May 2010, the teams were guided on the steps to qualify for the Cradle Investment Programme (CIP), Malaysia’s first development and pre-seed funding programme for technology ideas.

CIP is spearheaded by Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, a company (supported by the Ministry of Finance) to fund innovative individuals or researchers and to transform their raw ideas into commercially viable ventures.

The said teams were given a thorough briefing on how to jump-start their ideas with good commercialization potential and become aspiring technopreneurs. The talk also included facilitating the participants with a comprehensive guide for Cradle U-CIP Catalyst Application’s critical areas as well as the requirements for completing the application form.

Ms Jessie Teoh, the Supervisor for Lotus Seed team as well as a Lecturer of the Computer Science Division in the School of Arts and Science, TAR College commented that the students were very excited because they would be able to see the possibility of transforming their final-year project into commercially-viable ventures with CIP funds offer and commercialization support.

“We are a step closer towards commercializing our final-year project. After we have developed the project further, we will work towards obtaining the Cradle funding”, added the optimistic Pan Yong Wei, the leader of Lotus Seed team.

The CIP workshop is useful in helping students to transform their raw ideas into commercially viable business ventures. TAR College commitment in working closely with the industry through training, research, commercialization and other collaborations has paved the pathway for students to learn to become successful entrepreneurs.