Creating Opportunities Through Education & Innovation

23 Jun 2020 | Gamuda Berhad

At Yayasan Gamuda, we believe education and innovation are deeply intertwined and acts as a crucial key that empowers communities, improves the performance and growth of businesses, and economies. Malaysia is a country, proud of its many resources and is progressively rising on the international platform. By supporting the nation’s progress through innovation and education, we believe we can continuously improve economically and socially.

Realising Industry 4.0 Through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education
Industry 4.0 consists of physical cyber, Internet of things (IoT), knowledge, innovation and talent. These are the factors that are essential in the workforce, especially for a developing nation like Malaysia. STEM is an ever-evolving and expanding field which requires new talents that can adopt new technical skillset over time. Our Gamuda Scholarship programme complements the country’s needs by providing educational aid for people between ages 19 and 23 from a household income of below RM10,000 per month since 1996.

The Social Return on Investment (SROI) study has indicated that every amount invested in the scholars delivers a qualitative social value and impact for greater liveability in narrowing the poverty gap, and improving innovation in STEM.

We have invested over RM41.6 million and awarded 410 scholarships to outstanding Malaysian students since 1996.

Neurodiversity as a Competitive Advantage
As an organisation, we believe in building an inclusive society, where people with autism can reach their full potential. The Enabling Academy offers an Employment Transition Programme to help provide working opportunities for young adults with high-functioning autism in corporates that embrace neurodiversity at work, like DRB-Hicom Bhd, HSBC, SalesCandy International Sdn Bhd and more. We are advocates of neurodiversity in the workplace as we believe it gives companies of any sector a competitive edge as they can tackle problems with more innovative solutions from different perspectives.

The social accounting on the benefits of Enabling Academy delivers a quantifiable social return on investment. Enabling Academy participants showed significant improvement in mental wellbeing: stress relief, self-esteem, confidence and socialisation; ensuring lifelong societal and economic benefits.

We aim to replicate more Employment Transition Programmes so that differently-abled people from all categories are supported to achieve sustainable employment.

Effective Partnerships that Drive Innovation
By collaborating with other organisations, we can drive productivity gains for all parties, including less privileged communities. Yayasan Gamuda’s 5-years partnership with The Star Media Group provides a platform for innovative creators through the Star Golden Hearts Award. These innovators pivot and adapt to the current of change and implement transformative and sustainable solutions that are crucial to giving underprivileged communities more control over their lives.

Sujana Mohd Rejab is Gamuda Inspiration Award 2019 recipient. He is recognised for enabling physically impaired individuals to benefit, have equal privileges and access to a quality of life with dignity through the provision of prosthetic limbs.

At Yayasan Gamuda, we leverage on our nation builder’s expertise and collaborative efforts from all angles to provide various communities with tools and strategies that they can use in their capacity to increase their mobilisation in our rapidly changing world. Only through developing people, providing them access to quality education and supporting continuous innovative sustainable solutions, can we future-proof a growing high-tech economy and transformative society.