Initiated in Semester 2 2019/2020, Leader-preneurship UTM XCITE (LDP UTMXCITE) is another new initiative by UTM Centre for Student Innovation & Technology Entrepreneurship (UTM XCITE), to catalyse innovation and accelerate learning among the students through workshops, mentorship and experience sharing from either UTM students or Alumni. It is completely ran by a group of students from UTMXCITE who seek to further cultivate leadership traits and develop business acumen especially among UTM students by building up an ecosystem, gathering a group of like-minded people who are hungry and eager to learn. The 4 key elements or pillars that shape up LDP UTM XCITE are leadership, mentorship, entrepreneurship and self-enrichment programs.

One major, noteworthy program by LDP UTMXCITE throughout Semester 2 2019/2020 was their online webinar segments named ‘Coffee Espresso’, which brought speakers of reputable backgrounds in a formal setting to give their takes on topics that matters in our daily life. Hitherto, six sessions had been conducted online. The first session was on ‘How to Stay Productive as Students during MCO’, held on 26th of April 2020, by Tim Wong FKM (2nd year Leader of Kiosk Dept of NescafeUTM), Muhammad Izwan (Finalist of ATS 2019, President of IEM UTM) and, Azwad Abid (Alumni of FKE UTM, Former President of UTM English Debater). Some highlights of the first webinar were on the importance of micro-management system, necessity of taking leisure and finding something that can trigger us to keep being motivated. The second ‘Coffee Espresso’ session revolved around the topic of ‘Student leader: Journey to become Tokoh Siswa’, held on 3^rd of May 2020, shared by Oscar Ling (Finalist of Anugerah Tokoh Siswa (ATS) 2019), Umar Alfaruq (Finalist of ATS 2019) and Adib Athir (Finalist of ATS 2017). The speakers noted that empowering teammates, time management, attitude, mind-set, being yourself and creating leaders through leadership are the key values and basis in winning the ATS.

‘Challenges to expect when starting a business as university students’ was the topic for the third ‘Coffee Espresso’, discussed on 10^th May 2020 by Chin Chia Yuan (MBA student in UTM, Director of Nescafe UTM), Dr.Umar Haiyat Abdul Kohar (Deputy Director of UTMXCITE) and Jaslin Johari (3rd year Marketing student in UTM, Founder of The Ghrack). Having great perseverance, right strategies, participation in entrepreneurial programmes and learning through proper channels, were highlighted as the proper course of action, in overcoming those challenges. The fourth session was titled; ‘Winning Hackathons: A Sharing Experience’. It took place on 17^th of May 2020 and the speakers; Dr. Yeong Che Fai (Co-Founder, Director of DF Automation and Robotics Sdn), Abu Hassan (System Engineer at Dyson) and Alvin (Robocon UTM), shared on the crucial titbits for winning hackathons, which included the importance of NABC (Need, Approach, Benefit and Competition) tool, creating a diversely talented and committed team, as well as striking a balance between content and pitch deck design.

Then on 31^st May 2020, the fifth ‘Coffee Espresso’ was held with the title; Strategies to Build High Performing Student Organisation, with speakers compromised of Zach Ng (Former Director of TedxUTM), Jia Ying (President of Aiesec Johor Bahru) and Faez Mohamad (President of Koperasi UTM), in which they touched on topics pertaining to sustaining team culture, maximizing team potential, taking risks and the responsibility of leaders, especially during times of crisis. The sixth and final ‘Coffee Espresso’ session for Semester 2 2019/2020 was on ‘Personal Financial Advice to Students’. It was held on 7^th June 2020 with speakers; Tony Lim (Founder of WCT Worldwide Training), Abang Abu (The Money Mechanic), Tan Wan Ting (Founder of GFO UTM) and Lim Jian Liang (Co-founder of GFO UTM). Some highlighted takeaways on the webinar were on wealth intelligence and management, insisting protection, saving, investment, creation, accumulation, distribution and financial freedom.

Based on feedback from viewers, they found all of the ‘Coffee Espresso’ sharing sessions to be insightful, motivational and exciting. Although this program is just a few months old, each session had garnered a substantial amount of viewers, the highest being 1400 viewers for Coffee Espresso 5. There are many more ‘Coffee Espresso’ sessions and other initiatives planned by LDP UTM XCITE for the future, with the objective of expanding at much larger scale, reaching more people, particularly students by allowing, involving and collaborating with other higher institutions in Malaysia and around the globe.