Business

Tuesday August 18, 2009

MdeC fund to help creat more jobs

By Vanmala Subramaniam


KUALA LUMPUR: The establishment of a Co-Production Fund by Multimedia Development Corp (MdeC) to support local creative content is expected to contribute significantly to the creation of job opportunities in the multimedia and creative industries.

As a government fund, it would ultimately generate more employment opportunities for those in the creative multimedia industry, as well as others associated with it, said chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali at the MSC Malaysia IP Creator’s Challenge Series awards ceremony yesterday.

“This capability in financing will allow more than say, three projects to be produced simultaneously. More projects will obviously mean more work to be done, and more jobs for everyone.”

Part of the government’s second stimulus package that focuses on generating economic growth and bridging the digital divide, the Co-Production Fund seeks to accelerate the competency and capability of MSC status companies in the area of talent and technology by working on quality projects with capable foreign partners.

According to Ghazali, RM75mil has been set aside for the fund, which will focus primarily on sponsoring children’s content, such as animation and games.

The fund will target about 15 projects over the next two years with the potential of employing over 600 creative workers in various capacities throughout the project duration.

Unlike other technology transfer programmes in the manufacturing sector that have often failed at achieving their respective goals, Ghazali said this fund would emphasise on knowledge-transfer through the initiation of “master classes” for local talents.

He did however say that the und would not solve the overall funding issue for the creative content industry.

But the Co-Production fund was not the only recent collaboration between Malaysia’s creative and corporate sectors.

The 15 MALAYSIA project, a collection of 15 local short films by 15 independent filmmakers including the late Yasmin Ahmad, was also launched yesterday.

Sponsored exclusively by Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd (P1), Malaysia’s first WiMAX telecommunications company, the project was in line with P1’s support for the underdog brand spirit as well as its desire to create compelling and relevant local content available exclusively online.

“We were happy sponsoring this project. It is part of our goal in making access to the Internet available to all Malaysians. We might even do this annually as we believe that good local content will thrive,” said P1 CEO Michael Lai.

He added that sponsorship akin to P1’s funding of the 15 MALAYSIA project would help stimulate the growth of Malaysia’s creative industry by providing a solid platform for local talent to be seen, heard and recognised both locally and internationally.

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