Remembering a life well lived with friend, colleague, father and brother
The late Nazrin Hassan always used to say, “The universe conspires...” At times, we feel that the universe failed us for our dear friend and brother had left us too soon.
For those of us who had the privilege of knowing Nazrin Hassan, the last few weeks have been trying times in light of recent events that have transpired. While it is with a certain sadness that we mourn his passing, we know, with absolute certainty that he would want us to remember the good times, the great times and also the wonderful legacy and memories that he has left with us all.
Some among us had the privilege of calling him an esteemed colleague. Many more among us knew him personally and were honoured to call him a dear friend and brother. He was also a beloved husband, a loving father, a wonderful brother and a filial son. It is hard to truly encapsulate all of who Nazrin was.
It has been four months since his passing and we continue to miss him so dearly every single day and will do so for the rest of our lives. He was many things to many people but in his own special way, he selflessly brought light, wisdom, hope
and love into all the lives he touched and the paths that he crossed.
As the founding CEO of Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, he was a tireless champion and a trailblazer who walked the walk and talked the talk.
He wasn’t afraid to be in the trenches and to spend as much time as needed with everyone who needed his help, guidance or insight be it captains of industry to the humblest start-up entrepreneurs, some of which have become giants of industry today like Grab (then MyTeksi), that received their first rounds of funding from Cradle.
We were truly fortunate to be one of them, to have received invaluable gems of wisdom from him that injected maturity in our perspective of career and positively impacted not just our work but our personal lives in a meaningful way that continues to this very day.
He humbly, enthusiastically and passionately gave his all to nurture Malaysian entrepreneurs and established the foundations of the start-up ecosystem that is now beginning to thrive and come into its own. He never was shy about speaking his mind, but he did so with a sincere and honest heart. His candid honesty got him in trouble sometimes but earned respect from his peers for fighting for what is right and good and what we all believed in - a self- sustaining successful start-up ecosystem.
He was an excellent strategist and foresaw the need for the ecosystem to move with the times. He formulated policies for funding the ecosystem, including grants, which led to the formation of Cradle in 2004, Angel and Corporate Tax Incentives and determinedly presented these policies to the authorities until they were approved.
Hundreds of companies will now benefit from his policy ideas, yet many will not know to whom they owe this debt because he was a simple person that did not seek the limelight for all the great things he did. He did all of this for his beloved ecosystem and gained nothing from it but the pleasure of seeing the ecosystem grow and mature.
The ecosystem has indeed lost a great policy expert.
Those who knew Nazrin as a friend knew him as someone that they could count on when the
chips were down. He possessed a brilliant mind and to everyone who had the privilege of
being counted as a friend, Nazrin was a byword for both honesty, integrity and charity, who conducted himself with both humility and a dignified nobility that earned the respect of everyone he met.
At times, we often wondered how Nazrin managed to find the time to lead a government
agency, mentor the many entrepreneurs under his wing, be a loving father to his children, a husband to his beautiful wife, watch Arsenal play, enjoy Indonesian and local Malay movies and even spent time discovering the arts!
But what we miss the most was his wonderful sense of humour that could brighten up any room and make a glum gaggle of friends or entrepreneurs roar with laughter and smile with tears of mirth in their eyes.
Nazrin’s passing is felt the keenest by those he knew as family. He was a pillar of strength who loved unconditionally, giving as much of himself to those he loved as he did to the second passion of his life, after his beloved wife - the Cradle fund.
Nazrin was also remembered for his staunch passion for another thing - the beautiful game.
His support and love for Arsenal will remain the stuff of legend and his passing means that Arsenal has lost their greatest supporter ever though it is with certainty that he is cheering them on from the side-lines up above.
Not many is aware that Nazrin is a 'Nestlé' spokesperson for Milo and Instant Noodles. Of
course, this was just a joke among his Kg Tunku childhood friends. Nazrin drank Milo ice like how we breathe air. There was an incident when he had a bad flu and we swear we saw Milo snorted out from his nose.
When he was in high school, Nazrin had a unique hair style that quite resembled a dry instant noodle. No matter how many times he tried to change his hair it remained like a dry Maggi waiting to be cooked. We were mean to his hair, but a Maggi is a Maggi and the nick name stuck to him for quite some time. We miss our internal jokes and giggling together.
Nazrin had his blood family, but we honestly believe his devoted family were truly his close friends which he makes the effort to meet up regularly. He was very particular with meeting up every month to catch up and invested in precious time in listening, helping and sharing the joys and sadness.
Our session would last hours and sometimes to the wee hours of the morning. It seems these sessions were essential fuel to his life. His genuine attention and sincere interest in our lives mattered to him dearly. To be honest he was a family to many.
Nazrin was never without kindness and sincerity. He’s all that and much more. Visionary,
leader, hero, friend, brother, father, husband. He was all this and more.
Nazrin was gone too soon but he will be remembered as a shining example of humanity that any man would be proud to know. We now reach out to the mentees that have grown to be entrepreneurs as well as our peers who have become friends and urge all to continue the spirit of advocating entrepreneurship and living the life Nazrin had wished for us.
May we all continue to support the ones he loved most especially his wife and children during these trying times. We encourage you to always share your memories and stories of Nazrin with all you know. In this way, we will keep Nazrin’s life, his memories and his work alive.
We miss you Nazrin. The universe conspires for us to find you in our dreams and prayers.
Sleep well.