SME Business Advisory
Dato’ Dr. Abu Talib Bin Bachik
Dato’ Dr. Abu Talib Bachik holds a Diploma in Agriculture (1971), B SC (Agronomy, 1975, LSU – USA), M SC (Soil Science, 1976, LSU – USA) and a Doctor in Agric. Science from the University of Gent, Belgium (1981).
Dato’ Dr. Abu Talib last appointment was the Senior Vice-President, Technopreneur Development Division, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), heading the Division that is responsible to promote the creation of a pool of ICT entrepreneurs and enterprises that will grow to become sustainable MSC Status Companies. He retired from MDeC at the end of January 2008.
He joined MDeC in 1999 as the Vice-President of Corporate Affairs when he was responsible for the Publicity, Promotions and Corporate Communications of the Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in its early years of implementation. In the same year he initiated the MSC Asia-Pacific ICT Awards Programme (APICTA) and in 2000 managed to invite 6 other countries in the Asia-Pacific Region (Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Brunei and Australia) to form the Regional APICTA Network which has grown to 16 member countries. In 2002 he was the Vice-President (Deputy Head) of the Client Services Department where a year later he was promoted to head the Department as the Senior Vice-President. In a restructure exercise in late 2003, Dato’ Dr. Abu Talib was made the Senior Vice-President of Marketing And Branding Division due to his experience in customer/client relations, corporate communications and promotional activities. He was assigned as Head of Technopreneur Development Division in 2006 when the activity of promoting technopreneurship and early start-up companies was intensified. He was also instrumental in starting the Pre-Seed Fund Programme in MDeC to support the fund requirement of “early start-ups” to bring ICT ideas into prototypes.
Before joining MDeC he was a Research Scientist in the then Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) – now part of the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB). He has authored about 50 technical, scientific and research papers. He was also active in professional and scientific associations such as the Malaysian Society of Soil Science, the Agriculture Institute of Malaysia, the Malaysian Scientific Association and the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry. In the RRIM, he was in various administrative and management positions – Head of Publications, Library and Corporate Communications and also Head of Soils and Crop Management Division.
He was appointed to the post of Secretary, the Malaysian Rubber Research and Development Board (MRRDB) in 1991, before the merger with RRIM and the Malaysian Rubber Licensing Board in 1997 that formed the current Malaysian Rubber Board. During the merger he was appointed as the Deputy Director General (Development) until he joined MDeC in 1999.
Dato’ Dr Abu Talib has wide experiences in R & D, Operational and Management aspects in a broad spectrum of subject matters – in both “Arts and Sciences”, including Marketing, Business Development, Communications and Public Relations. Throughout his career he has participated, gave lectures and made presentations in numerous local and International Forums and represented Malaysia in several International Platforms such as the International Board of Soil Research and Management (IBSRAM), the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA), the World Summit Award (WSA), the International Network of E-Community (INEC) etc. He has also served as a Panel Member in the University Sains Malaysia (USM) “Industry Advisory Panel” and the University Utara Malaysia (UUM) “Jawatankuasa Pengajian Program Ijazah Sarjana Inovasi Multimedia”.
Currently, Dato’ Dr Abu serves as the SME Business Advisor for the SME Technopreneur Centre at Cyberview Sdn Bhd. His scope and services are as follows :
- To do all things necessary to provide support for marketing and promotions initiated by Cyberview which shall include but not limited to business advise on the marketing and promotion of SMEs development programme initiated by Cyberview;
- To provide business advise relating to Product Development, Market Development, Business Development and Skill Development in Cyberjaya for the SMEs located at the premises;
- To address issues linked to the development of business and entrepreneur support, business development, training, marketing strategies, business information and funding access facilitation which include the harmonization of approaches to nurture the company’s growth;
- To share and exchange information and experiences, as well as to provide support on the design of new initiatives and programmes;
- To identify and/or explore the possibilities for improvement of SMEs in Cyberjaya and acts as development promoter and network connector for growth of the SMEs; and
- To design structured programmes for start-up businesses or small businesses aiming at achieving a higher business growth.