Alliance taps young entrepreneurs with BizSmart Academy

Alliance taps young entrepreneurs with BizSmart Academy
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Fatin Rasyiqah Mustaza of theedgemalaysia.com
Wednesday, 21 August 2013 10:38

KUALA LUMPUR: Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd introduced yesterday a first-of-its-kind business school — the Alliance Bank Biz-Smart Academy that aims to inspire and nurture a new generation of young business owners in the country.

The Alliance Bank BizSmart Academy is designed to be the "go-to" resource for young business owners, communicating with them in the medium which they are familiar with.

"Generation X and Y entrepreneurs embrace more sophisticated and holistic business practices, they leverage on new technologies in their businesses from the beginning… and offer service solutions that are flexible and available 24/7," said Alliance's executive vice-president and head of group business banking, Steve Miller.

Coinciding with the introduction of Alliance Bank BizSmart Academy, the bank also launched its inaugural annual Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Innovation Challenge 2013.

The bank will select 12 high-potential young SMEs to undergo structure business coaching and training in Blue Ocean Strategy to enable them to bring their business to the next level.

These 12 SMEs will receive guidance from top business leaders from the likes of Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, CEO and president of
S P Setia Bhd.

"With this challenge, we hope to unearth many promising new businesses which can be groomed to become strong SMEs and therefore global champions," said Liew during the launch.



This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on August 21, 2013.