There seems to be a sudden wave of entrepreneurship events popping up in Malaysia around this time of year. Another one to leap on the bandwagon is the 1st National Youth Entrepreneur Convention, organized by YouthMalaysia, to be held on January 19 2008.

The event is essentially a series of speakers from different aspects of youth entrepreneurship in Malaysia. Among the more interesting speakers are cult-hit blogger Kenny Sia, co-founder of theCICAK Ng Khai Lee, and Raj Ridvan Singh, founder of SOLS 24/7, a boarding school and education center for at-risk children in South-East Asia. (I actually watched part of his presentation at GK3 and it was AWESOME.)

There are also opportunities to present your proposals before the Convention and to get your ideas sponsored by the Malaysian Independent Business Ownership Program, which is actually really interesting. I wish there was more information on both ventures as it seems like a great way to promote and make use of the convention. The main draw of the YSEI forum at GK3 was the possibility of funding and mentoring, and quite a few attendees managed to get some sort of assistance.

Registrations are open - it’s RM100 per person but you can get a discounted rate of RM50 per person if you can get into a group of 3 or more (anyone want to join me?). It’s cheap for a conference/convention, but I’m not sure if it’s worth all that much considering it seems to be just a bunch of back-to-back talks and not enough interaction, sharing, or action (just like how the UN Conference in August turned out!). The idea to back and assist with entrepreneurial ventures would be great, and people like Khai Lee and Raj are worth talking to if you ever get the opportunity.

Take a look, and if you have an entrepreneurial dream or spirit, give it a go! And let me know if you are interested in the discount; I could make an EducateDeviate group.