In local news, we would not only like to congratulate Nuffnang for staying well clear of the awkward news that was sprung upon TechCrunch recently, but would also like to congratulate them for making their mark on Business Week by being (Tim specifically) Featured as Asia’s Young Entrepreneurs:

Good Times for Asian Entrepreneurs

Thanks to an improved business climate and a wave of funding from American venture capitalists, the region’s entrepreneurs are finding success right here at home!

by Bruce Einhorn

Time was, the goal of an ambitious young Asian entrepreneur was to make it big—in the U.S. When Bo Shao got an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1999 and then returned to China to launch EachNet, an eBay-style consumer auction site, he was the exception to the rule. In the years since, the situation has reversed. With top Silicon Valley venture capital firms on the prowl in China, India, and other parts of Asia, all of them eager to fund the entrepreneurial dreams of young Asians.

One lure was the success of Shao himself: After launching EachNet in 1999, he sold the company to eBay (EBAY), which bought a minority stake for $30 million in 2002 and then paid $150 million for the rest of the company in 2003.

That’s the kind of payoff many young entrepreneurs in Asia have in mind. This year, BW’s annual report on Asian entrepreneurship features 25 finalists for the title of Best Young Entrepreneur in Asia. We narrowed down our list to 25 people whom we feel best represent the creativity and energy that’s now increasingly common among startups across the region.

Readers can see profiles and vote for their favorite HERE.

Timothy is patiently waiting for our own advertising campaign to launch, which will are still working-on (where a sneak-peek can be seen over on TheBlogCom’s website) and hope to launch real soon. In the meantime, read-up all about his adventures in business over at Business Week:

Timothy Tiah Ewe Tiam

Age: 23

Company: Nuffnang.com is a blog advertising community run in Singapore and Malaysia.

Education: BS in economics, University College London

Work experience: Internships at JPMorgan & Deutsche Bank

On being an entrepreneur: “The most important thing I learned was that business is not about getting all your moves right. It’s about learning all the wrong moves you made so that you’ll never make them again. The one thing that differentiates blog advertising with advertising on other online mediums is that if you use blogs correctly and with enough planning, you can create hype and, most importantly, measure the hype at the end of a campaign. In the past we have planned and executed campaigns for Nike, Honda, Unilever, and our latest one with HUGO, all which have created tremendous hype in the blogging community.”

In other local news, there were three police reports lodges against blogger Jeff Ooi this week for allegedly defaming the country, government and police force, where NST reports the following:

The reports were lodged by the Malaysian Islamic Consumers Association, Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress and Pertubuhan Seni Silat Ikatan Kalam Malaysia against a statement issued by Ooi to an Al Jazeera reporter.

The statement was allegedly broadcast on YouTube following an illegal gathering on Nov 10 organised by a coalition of opposition parties and non-governmental organisations calling itself Bersih.

It’s very frightening when you need to worry about informing people about how you feel.., but on a more up-lifting note, TechCentral reports on plans from MDeC to build a training facility: in CyberJaya:

Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) is building a training facility in Cyberjaya, which will equip fresh graduates in the country to work in the information technology industry. Cyberjaya developer Cyberview Sdn Bhd has been tasked with building the facility, named the Knowledge Development Institute, which will be funded by the Government.  

MDeC declined to say how much the facility would cost and how large it would be. “We have earmarked the site for it and the building is expected to be completed at the end of next year,” said chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.