Startup Programmes Favour the Privileged, Leaving Rural, Underrepresented Founders Behind
*Simpler access, tailored support & patient capital can turn programmes into engines of inclusive growth*
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On Malaysia Day, a CEO who leads a state agency focused on entrepreneurship development and I finally aligned our schedules for teh tarik at a mamak in downtown Kuala Lumpur. It was a rare pause from the usual rush. I had just returned from a conference in Hong Kong, and he was in town visiting his daughter. It felt like the perfect moment to trade updates on the startup ecosystem and where it might be heading.
Then, as the last pieces of roti canai disappeared, he leaned in and asked a question that caught me off guard: *How can startup programmes shift from an option for the privileged to a genuine mechanism of inclusion?*
It was simple but weighty. Not a conference soundbite, but a real challenge — from someone shaping policy to someone who works daily with founders.
Who truly gets to join and thrive in these programmes today? Who has the networks, capital, and safety nets to take risks, and who, despite talent and ideas, remains shut out?
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### The Privilege Gap
Startup programmes are often celebrated as gateways to innovation. Bootcamps, accelerators, mentorship networks, and funding pipelines promise opportunity, yet too many are built around assumptions that favour those already advantaged.
Globally, founders who access the best programmes tend to come from families able to absorb risk. They have good education, influential networks, and the financial runway to participate fully. Failure is survivable for them.
For many others — first-generation graduates, rural innovators, and underrepresented groups — risk is unaffordable. Entry barriers include complex applications, English-heavy pitch materials, unpaid time away from income-generating work, and a lack of mentors who understand their realities.
This is not about lacking ambition or resilience; it is about programmes unintentionally designed for people who already know the game.
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### A Global Shift Begins
Some programmes are breaking this pattern. Governments, investors, and ecosystem builders are redesigning support to be more inclusive.
In the US, funds such as Backstage Capital, Harlem Capital, and Fearless Fund deliberately back overlooked founders. In the UK, Ada Ventures has made inclusion its core thesis, while Impact X in Europe is opening doors for underrepresented entrepreneurs.
Alternative financing such as crowdfunding, revenue-based funding, and blended capital is making growth possible for founders without collateral. Networks like AVPN, Impact Hub, and Village Capital show how peer learning and local mentorship can lift entrepreneurs beyond elite circles.
It is not yet perfect, but it proves a crucial point: startup programmes can be intentionally designed to welcome those long shut out.
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### Malaysia’s Moment of Reckoning
Malaysia’s startup scene has grown vibrant. Agencies such as MDEC, Cradle, and MRANTI have invested heavily in grants, mentorship, and early-stage support. Corporates have launched accelerators and pitch competitions. Yet the benefits still flow mostly to the urban, English-speaking, degree-holding few. Now is the time to change that.
The digital economy is projected to contribute over a quarter of national GDP by 2025, with growth set to continue well into the next decade.
Through the Malaysia MADANI vision of raising both the floor and the ceiling, and the 13th Malaysia Plan (RMK13), the government is pushing for more inclusive economic and social development. The conditions are ripe to make startup programmes a true pathway to opportunity—not just an option for the already privileged.
Imagine an agritech founder in Mukah, Sarawak, modernising smallholder farming with patient capital and tailored mentoring. Picture a young woman in Pensiangan, Sabah, scaling a craft business through e-commerce while staying rooted in her community. Envision innovators in Baling, Kedah, and Pasir Mas, Kelantan, tackling local energy challenges and tapping ASEAN markets.
These are not charity stories. They are engines of inclusive economic growth.
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### Measuring What Really Matters
One barrier to unlocking this future is how we measure impact. Too often, entrepreneurship programmes highlight vanity metrics such as the number of participants trained or grants disbursed, while sidestepping deeper questions:
– Did incomes rise?
– Did businesses survive?
– Did communities gain access to better jobs and supply chains?
Entrepreneurship support organisations need to shift towards outcome-based measurement and lean, founder-centred data with quick but meaningful check-ins on revenue, market access, and job creation.
They must pair this with storytelling that humanises impact. A rural founder pioneering smart farming or a first-generation entrepreneur creating jobs at home speaks louder than charts alone.
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### What Needs to Change
For startup programmes to move beyond privilege and become true engines of inclusion, they need to rethink how opportunity is created, distributed, and sustained.
– **Barriers to entry must come down.** Applications should be simpler, outreach should reach underrepresented communities, and participation should be financially possible through stipends or small grants.
– **Content must be contextual.** It should move beyond one-size-fits-all Silicon Valley playbooks, with practical mentoring that reflects local realities such as informal markets, supply chains, and regulatory hurdles.
– **Support must continue beyond bootcamps.** Clear pathways should connect early founders to patient capital, blended finance, and real customers so they can move from idea to growth.
– **Impact must be measured differently.** Beyond headcounts, programmes should track income growth, business survival, and access to new markets, while telling the human stories that inspire partners and funders to stay invested.
– **Public-private partnerships must evolve.** They should move from sponsorship or investment to co-design and empowerment, sharing both risk and reward so that startup programmes become true platforms for opportunity rather than privileges for the few.
Change will face resistance. Some will say inclusion costs too much, takes too long, or lowers success rates. But the real risk is staying in a closed loop. By expanding who gets a fair shot, we grow the talent pipeline, uncover new markets, and build an ecosystem resilient enough for an unpredictable future.
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### A Turning Point for Malaysia
That Malaysia Day afternoon, the question lingered long after the last sip of tea: *How can startup programmes shift from an option for the privileged to a genuine mechanism of inclusion?*
The answer is not simple, but it is urgent.
For each of us who work in this space—whether designing programmes, investing capital, or setting policy—inclusion is an opportunity to create better outcomes for our own work. An inclusive pipeline of founders brings richer deal flow, stronger innovation, and more resilient returns.
For the ecosystem we are part of, inclusion builds a more balanced and future-ready entrepreneurial economy. When rural innovators, first-generation graduates, and women founders gain the same quality of support as well-connected peers, we unlock new industries, create better jobs, and spread growth beyond city centres.
For the world looking at us, inclusive startup programmes signal that Southeast Asia is not only fast-growing but also fair and forward-thinking. It positions our region as a source of ideas and companies shaped by a wider, more diverse set of founders.
True inclusion will not come from short pilots or vanity projects. It requires patient platforms, shared risk, and long-term commitment so founders can move beyond the first pitch into sustainable growth. Without this, we risk recycling the same small, privileged pool while leaving new voices unheard.
Building inclusive programmes can feel like planting seeds in the desert: slow at first, but with conviction the rain will come and transform the landscape.
Malaysia now stands at a crossroads. We can keep startup programmes an exclusive club, or we can redesign them as ladders for those long left out.
If we want an innovative, resilient economy, the choice is clear—and the time to act is now.
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*Ahmad Azuar Zainuddin is CEO of Satu Creative, a consulting firm that works with Malaysian startups and social enterprises.*
https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/startups/beyond-privilege-building-inclusive-startup-programmes