G.E.W. is BACK !!

It'll be one hectic but celebratory week for over 10-million individuals in over 100 countries starting Monday, 15 NOV 2010 - Global Entrepreneurship Week.



And Malaysians...? They just want to be ahead, a full week ahead that is! Tens of thousands Malaysians will showcase the world their entrepreneurial spirits starting next Monday, 8 NOV 2010.

Read more at http://gewmalaysia.com and http://unleashingideas.org 

And last year's full report:-

GEW 2009 Global Impact Report on Scribd

Most feastful weekend, like, ever!

Today, hundreds of millions of people around the world especially in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving Day with feasts of turkeys and gatherings of family members. How I miss those gatherings with friends during college years in the States.... ;)

By the same evening, about 1.5 billion Muslims will celebrate a three-day Eid-ul Adha starting from the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah - the 12th or final lunar month of Islamic Heejrah Calendar marking a three nights and three days of feasts, mainly from the halaal sacrifices of livestock animals, eg. goat, sheep, cow or camel, aka, 'qurban' - "The meat from the qurbani is to be equally distributed among the poor, relatives and ones self." (Wikipedia, 2009)

Hence, four days of celebrations for many, for the entire weekend from Thursday until Sunday!


The Hajj or annual pillgrimage to Mecca are also being performed by millions at this time of the year, from Nov 25th until 29th, 2009.

Happy Thanksgiving & Eid Mubarak!

In Malaysia, we say: Selamat Hari Raya Haji & Korban al-Adha... Maaf Zahir & Batin... (forgiveness seeked)

Jangan lupa pi Masjid esok pagi untuk solat Raya!!

What a Week!

It's been a busy month for me since early October, and a packful week just the most recent one (the 1st Global Entrepreneurship Week/Malaysia - 17th until 23rd of November 2008, which I co-hosted especially in Penang, Malaysia) that I could barely write much about anything. But they say "pictures are worth a thousand words each" (or so), so, here are my 300,000+ words (enough?):-



Though, I have always been microblogging on twitter, facebook, topix etc. including for "The Week" itself, so, this blog had never really been dried of feeds.

Plus, I did put up so posts on blogs that I co-produce: ICT Penang and Kelab Usahawan Sosial Balik Pulau (KUSbp)

More past photos (flickr stream):

Kempen Penglobalisasian Keusahawanan (Entrepreneurs: take on the world!)

Sebuah program kempen berskala global untuk keusahawanan akan tiba dalam bulan November dan seluruh rakyat Malaysia juga diajak untuk bersama-sama menjayakannya. Minggu Keusahawanan Global 2008 (“Global Entrepreneurship Week – GEW 2008”) yang sulung ini adalah acara terbesar dunia untuk merayakan dan menggalakkan cetusan inovasi, budaya keusahawanan dan percambahan kreativiti secara global.

GEW yang ditaja diperingkat antarabangsa oleh NYSE Euronext, IBM dan Ernst & Young adalah hasil perkongsian usahasama Yayasan Ewing Marion Kauffman di Amerika Syarikat dan Kempen Make Your Mark di United Kingdom, yang mana kedua-duanya telah menganjurkan acara keusahawanan seminggu di kedua-dua negara terbabit.

Sehingga kini, lebih daripada 70 organisasi dari 60 negara akan terlibat dalam GEW yang dijangkakan akan menarik penyertaan daripada jutaaan belia dan remaja di seluruh dunia.
Pihak penganjur menjangkakan lebih banyak negara akan turut serta tak lama lagi.

“Kita kini hidup dalam detik yang paling dipenuhi dengan keusahawanan.”, kata Carl Schramm, Presiden dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Kauffman Foundation.

“Dengan membantu para usahawan muda untuk meneroka kaedah-kaedah keusahawanan yang baru, melalui media dan teknologi baru yang lebih diterima mereka, meraka akan mampu membina hubungan yang perlu untuk terus meningkatkan kemakmuran dunia. Minggu Keusahawanan Global adalah sebuah langkah besar ke arah ini.”

Warisan Global Sdn Bhd selaku hos di peringkat Malaysia akan mengumpulkan rakan usahasama tempatan dan menyelia acara-acara dan aktiviti-aktiviti keusahawanan sepanjang minggu tersebut (17-23 NOVEMBER 2008).

Tumpuan utama GEW ialah pelbagai acara-acara yang akan diadakan di peringkat antarabangsa, nasional dan kedaerahan yang akan melibatkan para usahawan dan bakal usahawan muda berkenaan dengan pelbagai aspek keusahawanan.

Di Malaysia, rakan usahasama yang telahpun mengesahkan penganjuran acara masing-masing untuk GEW termasuklah Perbadanan Pembangunan Multimedia (MDeC), Persatuan Usahawan ICT Pulau Pinang (ICT Penang), Gabungan Pusat-pusat eKomuniti Pulau Pinang (GPeK), MCA ICT Resource Centre (MiRC), Persatuan Teknousahawan Malaysia (TeAM), Cradle Investment Programme, Ideapreneur.net dan institusi-institusi pengajian tinggi termasuk Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif Warisan Global, Dhaksinamoorty Balakrishnan berkata, “Kami menjemput lebih banyak organisasi khususnya kolej-kolej dan universiti-universiti untuk lebih terlibat dalam menjayakan GEW 2008.”

Untuk organisasi yang berminat untuk menganjurkan acara atau menaja sebarang acara yang telah diaturkan untuk Minggu Keusahawanan Global Malaysia bolehlah menghubungi Warisan Global melalui emel (gew@warisanglobal.com) atau melawat laman sesawang www.gewmalaysia.com (Malaysia) atau www.unleashingideas.org (Global).

Sesawang Dua Titik Sifar Untuk Perniagaan...

Our first major activity in creating awareness on Web 2.0 (for business) and promoting technopreurship here in Penang was a blast. Over 100 people showed up at the Penang Technopreneurship Dialogue & Web 2.0 Sharing Session 2008, held on last Friday, 1st of February at Level 4, Bayview Hotel, Georgetown. Thank you to MDeC for graciously stepping up with the effort of bringing the movers and shakers from the local scenes, flying them all the way from Kuala Lumpur, and sponsoring the entire event venue and food - good breakfast, lunch buffet and afternoon tea. And USM & PDC for hosting and making sure the event went through smoothly, particularly for the registration and making the guests (& speakers) all comfortable.

We were worried earlier that not many people would show up for an event so focussed on a single technological perspective, instead of the all-in-one ones (with sizable marketing budget) like earlier Penang i-Land 2004, Global Technopreneur Forum 2005 and Penang Technopreneur Forum 2007. But in a prior meeting, so convinced and upbeat I was, I bragged to folks from PDC, MDeC and USM how we'll be able to get the crowd quickly - "No worries - run, and they will follow!" Well, it took us much less than a full week, with the online registration opened to public from the Friday earlier, and the final three days of emailing, calling, and blogging about it from Monday to Wednesday to get people to sign up by ~30s per day -- A good exercise on the power of Web 2.0 I suppose... Now imagine if we had marketed it longer and wider, we'd definitely get hundreds of people to come and talk about the buzzy topic! (but then, the concern would be where would we squeeze these people and how to feed them ;)).

Is Malaysia ready? Is Malaysian businesses ready? Are Penangites ready to take advantage of Web 2.0 and positive trends in technopreneurial ventures to crunch in the numbers - the products and new companies? Take a look at the numbers... I started the sharing with my observation and hyping up the crowd. And I just had to showcase the "Bubble 2.0" video to the audience (amid some technical hickups - no ways to synchronize the play in three laptops at once):




Enjoy reviewing the slides:-

| View | Upload your own

Azrul Hasni from Bill Adam (and formerly from Sun Jtrend) then explored the technicals and explained the buzzes surround Web 2.0, plus shared some of his experience on serving a CTO for a Web 2.0/Mobile 2.0-centric company which markets it products in the UK. Then came Kamal Fariz from Malaysian Ruby Brigade evangelizing the fresh platform which he sort of claimedwould take over the world including the local development scenes by storm. Kamal's presentation was a very light walkthrough on programming using Ruby, but still the crowd looks a bit dazed and fearful when codes start to pop up on the screen - codes that produced great looking photo albums. Khailee finally moved the eyes around as he explored his wild ride in technopreneurial ventures from joining a fast-moving startup post university days up to playing with ideas that bear fruits for his future ventures, perhaps independently (own company) as he had hinted. [though, he might actually end up sticking for a while with Mind Valley]

After a good lunch, (and Jumaat prayer for Muslims), we continued with a dialogue session with distinguished panelists - Colin Wong (Prosperati), Ashran Ghazi (New Entrepreneur Forum), Lilyana (Asia Stream Group), Rizal Alwani (Cradle) and Azrul Madisa. Many questions were thrown in, some were serious, some were downright entertaining, and some were the bits for further discussions. In all, the event was a good chance for the locals to network among themselves, as well as to network with folks coming all the way north from Sintok & Kangar, and south from Klang Valley.

I'll let Azrul & Kamal release their own presentation materials should you desire them - Ask them via email etc. For Khailee's stuff, hmm, did somebody videotaped the whole thing? Or just ask him to pop up at your future events, and he'll do the mumbo jumbo stuff all over again... ;)

And here are the snaps:-




Plus me with other speakers and dialog panelists:


And me with Colin:


BTW, if you've been to the event, but have yet to join in the crowdvine, it's never to late to share with us your profile and network with the rest of the crowd. The address for our dedicated crowdvine is: http://penang20-08.crowdvine.com

And use the following link to subscribe to the blog posts:-
http://penang20-08.crowdvine.com/feeds/show?scope=site&type=post

We'll keep you updated on subsequent events, information, materials upload etc. at that site.

p.s. The 1Mbps "broadband" from TM Streamyx is getting me under 300Kbps download today, during Chinese New Year holiday! No wonder, it's taking me ages to complete this single blog post... Big wonder how this "broadband provider" keep winning awards locally and overseas as the best this and that provider/telco....

November Fall in Malaysia

Salaam & Hi again from Nasir Sobri, the pajama guy behind Pajamanation Malaysia. I've been slacking a bit on blogging during the past few weeks due to other commitments on several projects I'm pajamaworking for clients etc. In fact, am writing this from Kuala Lumpur, some four hours away from my home pajama town, Balik Pulau, Penang... Even our global CEO, Dr De Brouwer in Belgium is having some tech hiccups distracting him off blogging at his blogspot. But hey, you can continue getting "pajama feeds" from many more sources out there including from my friend in the United Kingdom, Andy Roberts and in Venezuela, Ricardo Del Rio (in Spanish)...

It's November again, and as the 90s rock band Guns & Roses (GNR) had it the one of its most successful songs, "November Rain", it rains a lot here throughout Malaysia all these weeks since before Eid in October... Suppose if Malaysia is located further up north from the equator, we'd be having snow already instead, but the temperature here constantly feels like it's Fall season in the all-year-long hot & wet tropical climate of Malaysia.

Unfortunately, it'll be short this time as I have to prepare a business pitch connecting a local university researcher with a close friend of mine in media industry later this morning (it's Subuh time of 6am now and I've been up since 4am after an early bedtime)... If this will work, it'll open up a path for our Malaysia-based academia to collaborate with industry on a tech-centric product, and things will be brighter later on for the thousands other technopreneurs out there throughout the country -- MDEC, the main entity behind the Multimedia Super Corridor project for Malaysia's 2020 Vision is supporting our initiative.

A bit of distraction: did you know that there is a song dedicated to my name "Sobri" popularized by a French singer, Leslie Bourgouin (with French, Vietnamese and Polynesian decent, as the first single of her second album)? Well, partially that is -- my dad's name actually, but it's like, my "last name" you know... Enjoy the music:



and the following version with Amine looks Bollywood enough:



(now I'd love to learn French, sooner or later... - As many of you, I'd be a fan of Alizée as well ;-) - not the alcoholic beverage Alize!)

And it's approximate translation in English:

Like a mirage, a dream
Un combat qui s'achève, A fight that ends,
Ils n'y ont jamais cru en cet amour qui sommeil. They have never believed in that love which sleep.
En nous depuis toujours, As we have always,
Sans que notre les entour, mais Without the area that our, but
Il était temps pour nous de fuir ceux qui nous enchaînent. It was time for us to leave those who we pattern.

On s'est promis d'échapper à l'injustice It has promised to avoid injustice
De ne plus vivre à leurs dépends From no longer live at their expense
On a fait tous ce qu'on Pouvait mais en vaint It was all so-Can but vaint
Tant qu'on en est sur, osons tout While we are on, dare all

J'irai ou tu iras , au bout du monde avec toi Or you go I will go, at the end of the world with you
Quitte à tout perdre avec toi. Exits to lose everything with you.
N'ti n'ti wana ..ki rani netmenna...naichou fel h'na N'ti n'ti wana .. ki rani netmenna ... naichou fel h'na
(Traduction : Juste toi toi toi et moi tous ce que je souhaite c'est qu'on vive (Translation: Just yourself you and me all that I want is that deep
dans la tranquilité) In tranquility)

N'ti houbi lawwel..waalik ma nesbor N'ti houbi lawwel .. waalik my nesbor
We bla bik netdwedder nebghik ya omri hdaya.. We bla bik netdwedder nebghik are omri hdaya ..
N'ti ghaliya andi N'ti ghaliya andi
Nebghik liya wahdi .. Nebghik liya wahdi ..
Omri wine ma toughdi n'rouh maak wine ma kane Omri wine my toughdi n'rouh maak my wine kane
Matkhalliniche ya omri matkhalliniche Matkhalliniche are omri matkhalliniche

Non jamais sans toi Never without you
Nti houbbi naatik galbi Nti houbbi naatik galbi
Tu l'as fais pour moi Hast do for me

Gaa yahadrou nti matensey Gaa yahadrou nti matensey
Adyani mayebgouniche ... Adyani mayebgouniche ...

J'Irai ou tu iras , au bout du monde avec toi J'Irai or you will go, at the end of the world with you
Quitte à tout perdre avec toi. Exits to lose everything with you.
N'ti n'ti wana ..ki rani netmenna...naichou fel h'na N'ti n'ti wana .. ki rani netmenna ... naichou fel h'na

Let's see if I'll be blogging from Japan some two weeks from today... See ya!

Live Earth 7-Point Pledge on 7/7/07

THE LIGHTS GO OUT ON LIVE EARTH LONDON BUT THE BEAT GOES ON IN RIO DE JANEIRO AND NEW YORK

Live Earth Global Concerts Have Reached More Than 10 Million Visitors Online at MSN – Most Simultaneous Viewers of Any Online Concert Ever

London (July 7, 2007) – The London leg of 24-hour, 7-continent Live Earth concert series closed in emphatic fashion tonight with a rousing speech from actor, Terence Stamp and a stirring closing set from pop icon, Madonna that included “Hey You” – the song she created for Live Earth – “Ray of Light,” “La Isla Bonita” and “Hung Up”.

The crowd of 65,000 people at Wembley Stadium – and the millions watching worldwide – were treated to an all-star line-up that also included Razorlight, Snow Patrol, Black Eyed Peas, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Beastie Boys, Pussycat Dolls, James Blunt, Genesis, Damien Rice, David Gray, Kasabian, Paolo Nutini, John Legend, Duran Duran, Bloc Party, Corinne Bailey Rae, Terra Naomi, Keane, Foo Fighters and Spinal Tap.

At the last count, the Live Earth global concerts had reached more than 10 million visitors online – the most simultaneous viewers of any online concert — and inspired change in viewers worldwide.

“The climate crisis requires a global solution. Live Earth is using an unprecedented media architecture to reach a global audience,” said Kevin Wall, Founder and Executive Producer of Live Earth.

Live Earth London was presented by numerous special guests, including Chris Moyles, Eddie Izzard, Alan Carr, Ricky Gervais, Miranda Richardson, Thandie Newton, Chris Rock, Russell Brand, Rob Reiner, Neve Campbell, June Sarpong, David Tennant and Geri Halliwell.

Special broadcasts were beamed in from former U.S. Vice President Al Gore at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, and also from the British Antarctic Research Station in Antarctica where Nunatak, the band of the British Scientific Team, performed their self-written song “Would You Do It All Again”.

And for those late night revelers, the party is still going on across the pond. A huge beach party is seeing the sun set on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, while The Police, Kanye West and John Mayer are closing Live Earth with “Message in a Bottle” at Giants Stadium in the New York area.
The 24-hour, 7-continent series of concert events on 7.7.07 have brought together more than 100 artists and 2 billion people to inspire a global movement to ‘Answer the Call’ and help solve the climate crisis.

In addition to providing over 100 simple actions people can take in their daily lives, which will have a tremendous positive impact when carried out on a mass scale, Live Earth is asking people to support a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 and a comprehensive international treaty on global warming by 2009.

“Nations all over the world are making progress in tackling the climate crisis. But too many proposals fall short of the strong, decisive action that’s needed. Individual nations alone cannot solve this crisis. The nations of the world must join together as one if we are to succeed,” said Al Gore, Live Earth Partner and the chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection.

The Live Earth Pledge

I Pledge:

• To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth;
  
  
• To take personal action to help solve the climate crisis by reducing my own CO2 pollution as much as I can and offsetting the rest to become “carbon neutral;”
  
  
• To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the CO2;
  
  
• To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of transportation;
  
  
• To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal;
  
  
• To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests; and,
  
  
• To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crisis and building a sustainable, just, and prosperous world for the 21st century.

Additionally, Live Earth is asking people to commit to making changes at home, at work, while getting around, while shopping, in their communities and to urge changes by their governments. People can make their commitments and find solutions against the climate crisis at www.liveearth.org, www.LiveEarth.MSN.com, or by sending a text message of “SOS” to 82004.

The names of people making commitments and signing the pledge through their computers or mobile phones on July 7th were shown on the Live Earth web site, on the screens at the concerts around the world, and on the global TV broadcasts.

In the UK, people will be able to find out how they can make personal and political changes to combat climate change by visiting one of Live Earth’s two legacy partners, ‘We’re in this Together’ www.together.com or ‘I Count’ www.icount.org.uk.

ABOUT LIVE EARTH

Live Earth is a monumental music event that will bring together more than 2 billion people on July 7, 2007 to combat the climate crisis. Live Earth will stage concerts in New York , London , Sydney , Tokyo , Shanghai , Rio de Janeiro , Johannesburg and Hamburg , and will feature more than 150 of the world’s best music acts – a mix of both legendary music acts like The Police, Genesis, Bon Jovi and Madonna with the latest headliners like Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson.

Live Earth’s 24 hours of music across 7 continents will deliver a worldwide call to action and the solutions necessary to answer that call. Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign to drive individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve the climate crisis. Live Earth is partnering with the Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Group, Stop Climate Chaos and other international organizations in this ongoing effort. Live Earth was founded by Kevin Wall, CEO of Control Room, the company producing the concerts globally. Former Vice President of the United States Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection and a Partner of Live Earth.

Exclusive online media partner MSN is helping Live Earth reach people in every corner of the globe. Live Earth London will be streamed live at http://liveearth.uk.msn.com. MSN’s 39 localized web portals worldwide attract 465 million monthly users.

smart is the world’s only automaker serving as an Official Partner. Unlike any other vehicle, the new smart fortwo combines a modern, individual lifestyle with environmental protection by setting the standard in urban mobility and offering the lowest CO2 emission of any vehicle on the market. smart responds to environmental demands with innovative, technologically sound solutions and as a result produces positive and credible answers to the question of ecological driving.

Philips, as the world’s leading lighting supplier, joins Live Earth as an Official Partner. Philips was the first to introduce the energy saving light bulb in 1980 and has put environmental product improvement at the heart of its business with its EcoDesign program since 1994, increasing its green product range year by year.

Live Earth is partnering with companies on a local level who share the commitment to helping people live a more energy efficient lifestyle. PepsiCo, an Official Partner of Live Earth, is committed to making a difference with eco-friendlier packaging, energy and water conservation and waste reduction. It’s all part of PepsiCo’s commitment to Performance with Purpose — to do better by doing better. Esurance, the direct-to-consumer personal auto insurance company, joins Live Earth as an Official Sponsor and is the latest extension of Esurance’s efforts to conserve energy and preserve the planet’s precious resources. For more than seven years, Esurance policyholders have helped save thousands of trees by buying their auto insurance online and using electronic documents. An official partner of Live Earth, The Absolut Spirits Company, Inc., a subsidiary of V&S Group, produces and markets ABSOLUT® VODKA, Level ™ Vodka, FRÏS® Vodka , Plymouth™ Gin and Cruzan® Rum. The Absolut Spirits Company focuses on reducing the impact on climate change, sustainable agriculture and optimizing use of natural resources as mandated by V&S Group. To view details on the company’s efforts to combat global warming, visit www.vsgroup.com and click on “Corporate Responsibility/Environment.” Intelsat, the leading provider of fixed satellite services worldwide, is the official satellite capacity sponsor to Live Earth, providing the global high definition infrastructure for an unforgettable viewer experience. Intelsat connects the planet to Live Earth through its network of 52 satellites and global terrestrial facilities.

For more information, visit http://liveearth.org or http://liveearth.msn.com.

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Visit the Offshore Location or do an Actual Project?

Emmy Gengler: "Often I hear from people that they will never work with someone before they have an opportunity to meet with them in person. Some people have always worked this way; they like to build a relationship before working together. If it is possible to do this great; but in the offshore world, meeting face to face is not always possible nor is it always necessary - especially at the beginning."

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