DISCOVER UBD08partners and stakeholders play a crucial role for the application of knowledge and experience even before prototype design and development takes place. A solid business plan should then follow up and help to market it to the target audience. “Welcome other people into your realm,” she advised in order to achieve greater things. As a team with members who share the same vision is necessary, she pointed out that it is important to choose wisely from across the faculties, ministries and even stakeholders. This, however, brings upon leadership and management challenges. She called for innovators to aim to be good mentors and be flexible when leading. “You have to be courageous enough to be vulnerable and learn from students; humble enough to learn from young minds; ensure credibility, professionalism, respect and trust,” she added. “But most importantly, maintain a positive mindset.”UBD instills the entrepreneurial mindset through its modules, programmes and even during Discovery Year where students have the option to undergo Incubation in their third year. While part of the training readies them to start and run their own businesses eventually, some have realised that the valuable skills and experiences gained during this time has applications beyond entrepreneurship which include leadership, decision-making, time management and public speaking confidence among others.The university has taken great strides towards entrepreneurship education through relevant modules, programmes and infrastructure that is aimed at producing innovative graduates who will fit into a new diversified economy.Programmes such as the Entrepreneurship major recently introduced as part of the Bachelor of Business degree under the UBD School of Business and Economics (UBDSBE) equips students with the key skills in entrepreneurship, innovation management, entrepreneurial finance, starting up new ventures, venture growth strategies, and the key skills needed to be self-employed or for taking up employment as entrepreneurial or innovation managers within larger private or public sector organisations. This will improve the career prospects of the students as innovative entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial managers, acquiring skills that will enable them to move from the idea generation stage to fully creating businesses and innovation projects based on strong understanding of starting, financing, marketing, managing and operating successful businesses.The university's emphasis on developing an entrepreneurial mindset allows students to expand into other businesses, utilising the skills and knowledge gained from the multidisciplinary GenNEXT platform to develop new ideas based on industry feedback and stakeholders. The goal is not to specifically produce business owners but rather on entrepreneurship education and inculcating the entrepreneurial mindset, including social entrepreneurship, which will promote greater independence and improve employability. The multidisciplinary approach allows students from other faculties to also benefit from the skills and knowledge available through entrepreneurship modules.“Following the success of Simply Click, which was a start-up in UBD while going for Incubation during Discover Year, the opportunities to reinvest my profits allowed me to upgrade my photography and videography services to a bigger scale. From a niche market targeting university students who need professionally done videos for assignments, Ambient Production now employs additional staff to cater to a growing demand. Competition is stiff as there are also other companies that provide similar services but it’s important to have a certain style that is unique and yet appeals to the public. Instead of seeing if there is a demand, we then create it.”Muhammad Ammar Muazzam Haji Matusof 22, Ambient ProductionBachelor of Business (Economics)
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