Wood-based Entrepreneurship Program

The Wood -Based Entrepreneurship Program is a program led by Dr Andi Hermawan under the High Impact Entrepreneurship Grant, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. The program, which was held in series, aims to expose the students to the entrepreneurship of wood -based products, especially wood crafts. The first series of the program was a seminar conducted in hybrid (face -to -face and online) on 19 November 2021 with the theme of 'Opportunities and Challenges in Wood-based Business'. The invited panels were from Nik Lah Sdn. Bhd. as a representative from the industry, a panel from Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) as a representative from government agencies, and Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) itself as the academic representative for the seminar. The three panels had a great discussion on the opportunities and challenges in wood-based products business.

The second series of the program was held on 26 November 2021 by inviting panels from industry and academic to discuss the topic on the management systems in wood-based micro-enterprise and marketing strategies. In addition, the third series was held on 27 to 29 November 2021 by inviting three panels from UMK to discuss on modern CNC technology and machining concepts. The three-days program was aimed to guide the students on technical aspects related to wood-based product manufacturing technology. The students were also exposed to CAD/CAM technology, including designing and producing wood crafts using CNC machines. More interestingly, the next series to be held in December 2021 will be accompanied by a visit to the Wood Industry Skills Development Center (WISDEC).

By participating in this program, the students were expected to obtain a holistic exposure on wood -based businesses, especially wood crafts and to become highly knowledgeable and strategic wood -based product entrepreneurs in the future.

Dr Andi Hermawan