Singapore – MediaCorp announced the appointment of Dr Francis Yeoh to spearhead the next phase of the Mediapreneur, its incubator programme.
The Mediapreneur enters its second year with the key objective of providing a conducive, operational platform for media start-ups to be systematically nurtured and developed into full-fledged tech companies. Start-ups in the programme will have access to funding, networking opportunities and considerable intellectual property and content, to enable them to work alongside media and domain specialists and gain valuable insights into the media business.
Dr Yeoh will assume the role of Executive Director of the Mediapreneur programme. He is well-known in the Singapore entrepreneurial community, and has played many different roles in his career. He was a research institute director, venture investor, internet start-up CEO, government policy maker and is now Professorial Fellow for Entrepreneurship at the National University of Singapore.
Guillaume Sachet, MediaCorp’s Head of Strategic Planning said, “We are delighted to have Francis onboard to drive our next phase of The Mediapreneur programme. Our goal is to provide paths for local entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams in the media space, and Francis is the ideal person to get us to that goal. In addition to Francis, the successful incubatees will be mentored by experienced technopreneurs and investors such as Dr Pete Kellock, William Toh and Tan Kit Jong, as well as guided by a larger mentor network comprising well-known entrepreneur-investors such as Eddie Chau and Leslie Loh. They will also have special access to domain experts within MediaCorp, which is one of the distinct benefits The Mediapreneur offers.
Added Sachet, “Under this one-year programme, we target to work with about 10 startup companies and be their strategic partners in the longer term”.
Dr Yeoh said, “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to be part of this exciting effort. The world of media is undergoing seismic shifts as online and interactive technologies displace or augment traditional channels – new opportunities are appearing by the day! And yet the core remains unchanged: entertaining and informing people is still the name of the game, and MediaCorp has deep experience of how to do that. The Mediapreneur Incubator is about giving hungry young entrepreneurs a decisive advantage by leveraging that experience.”
Applications for The Mediapreneur programme are now open till Sunday, 22 February 2015.