Idea, meet money – Start a local Dragons’ Den?

March 12, 2008

It was brought to my attention yesterday that the BBC has an ongoing reality show called the Dragons’ Den. It’s a series where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to secure investment finance from the Dragons — five elite business experts who are ready to pitch-in with their own money.

How about the Malaysian government, via the Ministry of Entrepreneurial and Cooperative Development (MeCD), start a television program with the same idea? To gather a larger crowd, some of the segments can be recorded in front of a live audience, to build up an initial critical mass of viewers. It’s not the same financial league as other game shows, but I would suggest that the number of successful ideas turned into SMIs is more important than having a smaller amount of winners with larger investments in each.

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Posted by Wata

Aramco Recruitment Drive – 13th March, 2008.

March 6, 2008

Those of you who are thinking of finding out your worth in the Middle East may probably want to make your way to the Ritz Carlton between the 13th to 16th March, 2008. A little bird said to bring updated resumes and relevant certificates.

This announcement used to be on Aramco’s job opportunities webpage, but is no longer listed. I don’t know whether the event has been cancelled.

A call to the Ritz-Carlton reveals that Aramco has been having walk-in sessions every Wednesday and Friday, so I don’t know the significance of the 13th.

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Posted by Wata

Professional Engineer – Competancy Exam Requirement

March 5, 2008

Engineers keeping up with the news would know that in addition to the Professional Assessment Examination (PAE), from January 1st, 2008 engineers would be required to pass a Competency Exam before being registered as a professional engineer in Malaysia.

Lo and behold, the date has slipped. Engineers who apply to take the CAE after April 1, 2008 would have to pass the CE.

The CE is intended to test the engineer’s knowledge with respect to laws applicable to their engineering speciality.

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Posted by Wata

Kelantan: New Budget?

March 2, 2008

Malaysia will undergo its 12th election this March 8, 2008. The state of Kelantan is the only state whose administration is led by a non-member party of Barisan National, the ruling coalition.

To quote an article from today’s Sunday Star, ‘Kelantan … (currently) gets an annual allocation of RM400mil (from the Federal government).’

Continuing the article, ‘state Barisan chairman … said the Prime Minister had already promised Kelantan a special allocation and an expanded budget of RM1bil annually.’ I’ll assume that this means that the state will get an expanded budget if Barisan National wins a majority in the state elections.

Would that mean that Kelantan has been under-budgeted all this time?

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Posted by Wata

Update: Divers missing in Miri

March 2, 2008

As reported in Malaysia’s Sunday Star, two professional divers have been missing since Friday. The divers went missing 5 nautical miles offshore Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia while attempting to repair crude oil tanker Bunga Kelana 6.

The Malaysian International Shipping Corporation (MISC) ship suffered contact damage in a collision with a Chinese-registered vessel, Tai Po, on December 30, 2007.

1 Comment | diving, oil and gas | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Wata

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