The Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre or MaGIC is an innovation and creativity centre located at
Cyberjaya,
Selangor,
Malaysia.
The centre which is under the
Ministry of Finance was officially opened on 27 April 2014, by former
Malaysian Prime Minister,
Najib Tun Razak and his counterpart
US President,
Barack Obama in conjunction of his visit to the country from 26 to 28 April 2014.
Cheryl Yeoh
Cheryl Sew Hoy ( Yeoh; born 31 May 1983) is an entrepreneur, speaker and angel investor, best known for being the founding CEO of the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), a government-funded agency to support entrepreneurshi ...
was appointed as the first and founding CEO of MaGIC on 15 April 2014 and ended her contract on 14 January 2016.
History
In April 2014, Cheryl Yeoh was headhunted by the government of Malaysia and appointed as the first
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of MaGIC, leaving her career in Silicon Valley.
MaGIC was given an initial grant of US$21.4 million and was launched by
former President Barack Obama and Malaysian's former Prime Minister
Najib Razak
Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak ( ms, محمد نجيب بن عبد الرزاق, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 6th prime minister of Malaysi ...
on 27 April 2014.
In 2015, MaGIC started out by running accelerator programs for startup companies in Malaysia, led by a team handpicked by Yeoh. The first intake brought in 77 startups, making MaGIC's accelerator program the largest in
Southeast Asia.
Yeoh stepped down on 14 January 2016 after her contract period ended. Her CEO position was replaced by
Ashran Ghazi shortly after.
In November 2018, Ashran Ghazi announced his resignation to join consumer intelligence firm,
Dattel. His position was replaced by former
venture capitalist from
Cradle Seed Ventures
Cradle may refer to:
* Cradle (bed)
* Bassinet, a small bed, often on rockers, in which babies and small children sleep
Mechanical devices
* Cradle (circus act), or aerial cradle or casting cradle used in an aerial circus act
* Cradling (painting ...
,
Dzuleira Abu Bakar, in April 2019.
In September 2020, MaGIC kicked off the fourth cohort of their
Global Accelerator Program (GAP) with 40 participating startup teams.
Building
The Obama Oval at the building compound was named after
US President Barack Obama.
Employees
Key MaGIC employees have gone on to start startups such as Amazing Fables and GoCar.
References
External links
Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) website
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Federal ministries, departments and agencies of Malaysia
Ministry of Finance (Malaysia)
Organizations established in 2014
2014 establishments in Malaysia