LAST year saw 200,000 sellers register RM945 million of sales on the Shop Malaysia Online programme amid a pandemic, said Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) chief executive officer Surina Shukri.

She said the e-commerce programme attracted more than eight million customers and generated a return of investment of 21 times for the government.

The programme from August to September 2020 was an initiative to stimulate consumption to spur economic recovery.

Surina told The Malaysian Insight of “amazing results” for initiatives to support local businesses hard hit hit by the pandemic and movement restrictions.

A total of 7,683 grants were given out under the SME Business Digitalisation Grant (SBDG), while 93,000 micro-SMEs benefited from the Penjana Micro and SME e-commerce campaign which generated RM929 million in sales.

The number of companies using e-commerce for exports grew from 1,800 to 27,000, with RM1.5 billion of investments in regional e-fulfillment hubs.

Meanwhile, 489,000 SMEs had adopted e-commerce, 378,000 SMEs were trained to utilise the e-commerce platform.

Other successful programmes rolled out by MDEC in 2020 include Pedas, eusahawan, GLOW and eRezeki.

GLOW, which lets Malaysians join the global online workforce, saw more than 54,000 participants earn a total of RM232 million.

eRezeki, which enables the low-income group to earn extra money doing digital assignments, saw 339,000 sign-ups, who made RM1.1 billion.

“As the world recovers economically from the pandemic, digitalisation will be a key growth driver that will result in the proliferation of jobs requiring digital skills,” she said.

Surina said Malaysians must be equipped with digital literacy so that they did not merely survive but thrived in a digital environment.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MYDigital) launched by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in February was a long-term plan to transition to the digital economy so that it made up 22.6% of the GDP.

This was expected to create 500,000 jobs by 2025.

MDEC, the agency tasked with organising and leading the nation’s digital economy agenda, is also aiming for digital inclusivity.

“MDEC is acutely aware of the existing digitalisation gap especially among vulnerable groups such as B40 families, non-income groups, senior citizens and even the youth,” Surina said.

“As stewards of the nation’s digital economy agenda, it is our mandate to ensure that individuals in these groups also have the opportunity and are exposed to digital technologies which would aid them in their future in a more digitalised world.”

Urban-rural divide

#SayaDigital was launched in August to create digital inclusivity.

In small towns, MDEC is also conducting training programmes at community and Internet centres to enable individuals and businesses to learn, understand, and embrace the concept of living in a digital era.

Virtual skills development sessions are also held via Facebook Live and Zoom to encourage as many people as possible to participate, Surina added. Sessions so far has attracted up to 100 participants at a time.

The #SayaDigital programme is also targeted towards such communities.

MDEC is also working with the relevant stakeholders and government agencies to improve infrastructure, to improve Internet connectivity in rural areas.

A total of RM15 billion has been allocated under MyDigital for the rollout of the 5G technology.

“The recently announced MyDigital blueprint, 12th Malaysia plan and within it, The National Digital Networking Project Jendela, aims to strengthen and upgrade connectivity as well as coverage.

“People will be able to enjoy better, faster, and cheaper Internet with 5G technology, which will be rolled out  in stages at the end of 2021,” she said.

The high-speed Internet bandwidth will drive investments in innovation; facilitate technology transfer; create more highly skilled digital jobs; and turn Malaysia into one of the most competitive data catalyst markets in the world, she added.

“The 5G rollout will benefit all Malaysians and businesses as it will enable the use of mobile wallets, e-commerce, and data-driven and Cloud functions to be more pervasive and prevalent.

“In fact, it is the catalyst that will drive forward the digital and tech ecosystems for Malaysia and will spur new innovations,” she said.

Other goals for the 5G rollout is to boost productivity across all sectors by 30% in 2030 and for all households to have Internet access. – May 28, 2021.