Technology is in a rapid motion. As it seeks to expand world industries and communities' potential, entrepreneurs are often required to sprint to accelerate change. Relishing the change of pace, Mohd Imran Mohd Isa, 24, is the co-founder of a start-up called P-Invent. A serial tech entrepreneur, partly, Imran's start-up emergence coincides with the increasing demand for electronics and computer engineering solutions throughout the country.

An innovator in the complex fields of IoT, programming and training, Imran applies transformative approaches to empower people and businesses to better understand their own innovation and inventions.

In short, Imran's mission entails giving his clients the tools to create a vast possibility of applications from readily accessible platforms such as IoT and coding.

A computer engineering student at UTP, the pace of change led by emerging technologies have inspired Imran to switch gears and get into entrepreneurship.

He says, “What's really transforming our world today is technology. Technology is driving a lot of innovation and what's happening in everyday lives. With the support we provide, I hope other creative people can undertake their ventures. I want to be a part of it too."

According to Imran, currently, the bulk of the companies' activities are training. “We do programming for Arduino micro-controller, Raspberry Pi and single board computers. On top of that, we also conduct website coding and basic electronic classes," explains Imran.

Imran who recently won third place at the Maxis IoT Challenge for an agricultural IoT project says, “This was something that I was totally fascinated by. I saw opportunities to disrupt this space by innovating around a core technology."

Also, P-Invent is a technology consulting company. Imran says, “We currently provide consulting services in many IT and electronic areas for our clients. Apart from this, we are also teaching basic electronic classes at a school in Ipoh."

Saliently, according to Imran, previously there was an unmet demand for consulting services. 

“Last month, a group of vocational students from Terengganu approached us to look at their project. The electrical students' project was about AI and they sought our service to suggest improvements for the project. Being able to provide our services remotely, we can basically cater to any client nation-wide, regardless of size," explains Imran.

The second shift in Imran's start-up venture came roughly last year after UTP's Technopreneurship Office provided P-Invent a rent-free office space to operate his business inside UTP.

Next, the company is eyeing the opportunity to develop its own IoT platform. “For this, we need a lot of funds to procure physical assets. Nonetheless, at the moment, we are taking small steps towards the end goal. Soon, we will be a local supplier for Arduino boards."

In addition, the company is also looking into the viability of coming up with its own micro board controller. “We want to come up with our own product, probably a starter kit where students and entrepreneurs can use to develop their own technology applications."

“It's really an uncharted territory. In Perak along, we have UTP and UiTM. The market is really big and is still largely untapped," adds Imran.

Going forward, Imran and his team seek to venture into the AI industry. In light of this, he says, “Moving forward, we will divide the company into two arms—R&D and consulting and training."

Ultimately, the dream is to try to create a technological platform that would make it much more accessible for the public who are interested in innovation.

He says, “We're the people who provide the technological support, but not the applications. It's developers and researchers who innovate around the technologies platforms and breathe life into them."

Imran is another prime example of UTP's profound career connected learning and industry collaboration. From the work we do, we foster long-term relationships with our global social-impact partners to prepare our students, people and researchers as global citizens.

As a leading university in engineering, science and technology, our graduates are driven to exceed their professional objectives and contribute towards overcoming capability deficit across all sectors and industries.​

Published on 8 December 2020​