Entrepreneur who has also led many national initiatives

MaGIC confident he will fulfil the agency’s mandate

THE Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) has finally confirmed the appointment of Ashran Ghazi (pic) as its new chief executive officer (CEO), more than three weeks after Digital News Asia (DNA) first broke the news.



He will assume this position effective May 1, MaGIC said in a statement.



He replaces founding CEO Cheryl Yeoh, who abruptly left the Ministry of Finance agency last December.



In a statement to DNA, Ashran said, “I’m truly excited to be given the opportunity to lead the team at MaGIC and continue the great work that has been done to grow the entrepreneurship ecosystem.



“Being an entrepreneur myself, I understand the key areas that we will need to focus on to ensure Malaysian entrepreneurs have the right opportunities and support to grow and succeed.



“I will be working with the team at MaGIC to chart the strategic direction for the next six to 12 months, and will speak more about this in the coming months,” he said.

Ashran graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the United States with a Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance & CIS), and started his career in the oil and gas sector with Petronas Mitco, MaGIC said in its statement.



In 2011, he cofounded Joot Ventures whose social content networking site Joota managed to garner private investments of US$2.1 million, with patent and distribution partners in the United States.



His more recent initiatives include creating an accelerator for the creative sector via comics (ComicXcel) and a new Asean regional award for startups, the Rice Bowl Startup Awards.



Ashran is also the chairman of the New Entrepreneurs Foundation (myNEF) and myHarapan; president of the Malaysian Association of Bumiputera ICT Industry & Entrepreneurs (NEF); and deputy chairman of the Global Innovation & Entrepreneurship Foundation.



In addition, he has served as an advisory board member to the Malaysian SME Development Academy as well as a board member for SME Corp.



Ashran is also an inaugural Digital News Asia Digerati50.



Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, Secretary General of Treasury at MoF and also MaGIC chairman, said he believes Ashran would lead the agency to greater heights and fulfil its mandate to boost the entrepreneurship ecosystem and create opportunities for local entrepreneurs within the region and globally.



Related Stories:



MaGIC set to name Ashran Ghazi as CEO



Cheryl Yeoh leaves, MaGIC on quest for new CEO



New MaGIC CEO to be named next month



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