NEWS: Microsoft lights another Spark

KUALA LUMPUR: Software giant Microsoft Corp has introduced yet another programme to spark the entrepreneurial spirit in young website designers.

The latest addition to the Microsoft Spark technopreneur start-up programme in Malaysia is the Microsoft WebsiteSpark, which aims to help website professionals and developers turn their dream job into a thriving business.

The WebSpark programme will equip smaller website developers, which have 10 employees or less, with Microsoft’s best tools including Silverlight that is touted as the alternative to the popular webpage building component, Flash, without any upfront cost.

The WebsiteSpark programme is part of a RM3.5bil investment from Microsoft Malaysia to give technopreneurs here a boost.

Peter Tam, director of local software innovations, Microsoft Malaysia said the programme is one of the steps the company is taking to encourage entrepreneurship among talented Malaysians.

“One of the most critical components for a knowledge-based economy is a vibrant entrepreneurial community but many smaller operations find it hard to afford the proper building blocks to design a good website,” he said at start of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) last week.

Tam added that although it seems natural for businesses to have a website in the 21st century economy, there are about one million local businesses that do not have their own website.

“We see this as an opportunity for web pros and developers to seize and the programme can help them along the way,” Tam said.

Tam also hopes that the programme will help smaller website developers improve on their design skills and create better sites than what they have developed in the past.

“Due to either budget or resource constraints, smaller developers tend to come up with static and unappealing websites that people find hard to trust,” he said adding that the tools offered in the WebsiteSpark programme may add a dash of professionalism into their designs.

To add more clout in its drive to encourage entrepreneurship among youths, Microsoft Malaysia has also joined forces with Warisan Global Sdn Bhd, the country host of the GEW in the FastTrac programme.

The FastTrac programme was developed by the Ewing Kauffman Foundation, a US-based organisation that is focused on entrepreneurial success tohelping entrepreneurs achieve success.

Malaysia is the first country outside the United States to offer this programme and the Microsoft WebsiteSpark programme will be offered to participants of the FastTrac Tech Venture programme.

“With this partnership, we are expecting to create and benefit 200 new companies and technopreneurs over the next two years with all of the Spark programmes,” Tam said.