Monday, April 29, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR: To date Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap) had invested up to RM509mil from funds worth RM1bil managed by the agency that was attributed to 87 companies in Malaysia.

Mavcap vice-president investment Renee Marcia Ramesh said: "Our typical investment size is RM5mil to RM15mil, but we had done RM20mil investment on a company before," she said.

She was speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Regional Convention on "Access to Trade and Growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Apec Developing Economies" last week.

The one-day forum was hosted by National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia and The Asian Foundation.

"The thing about Mavcap is that we do not take collateral on assets from the money that we invested. We only take equity position in the company (buy stakes in potential companies)," Renee said.

A previous report said that Mavcap usually disposed of it stakes to recoup its investments after 10 years.

Mavcap had previously invested RM7.5mil in iGene Sdn Bhd for a 15% stake in the research and development stage on digital autopsy system.

Renee said the companies that Mavcap had selected must be in expansionary stake.

"They have the product, they had identified the market and they are already in the market but not in a big scale. Thus, they need working capital to further grow their company and this is where Mavcap comes in," she said.

However, Renee said only 5% of the companies Mavcap had invested were from women entrepreneurs.

"Five out of 87 companies that we had invested were women entrepreneurs, translating into RM42mil worth of investment," she said.

Asked if Mavcap has a specific target to increase the number of women entrepreneurs under the agency’s radar, Renee said: "We do not have specific targets, the fund is open for all."

On promoting more women entrepreneurs in the country, Renee noted that education plays an important role.

"We need to educate women from young so that they are capable and don’t need to depend on anyone else. Parents should step out from the norm like would she be self-sufficient’ and let them build themselves," she said.

Renee said that for this year, Mavcap targeted to invest between 6 and 8 companies, worth RM30mil-RM120mil in investment.

Mavcap was established in 2001 as a venture capital agency set up under the Finance Ministry to support Malaysian-based information and communication technology sector and high-growth industries including renewable energy and oil and gas.

By INTAN FARHANA ZAINUL