MDEC gets cracking on MSME E-Commerce Campaign under PENJANA Recovery Plan
By Digital News Asia July 1, 2020
- Co-funded by Malaysian government, campaign is set to benefit over 145,000 MSMEs
- MDEC to join forces with ten e-commerce partners to encourage e-commerce adoption
The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) yesterday announced the roll out of the Micro and SMEs (MSMEs) E-Commerce Campaign, an initiative that is under the Malaysian government’s PENJANA Recovery Plan (specifically the 2nd trust, which is “Propel Businesses”).
The campaign, which kicked-off on 30 June and will run until the end of September 2020, will see MDEC joining forces with ten e-commerce partners to encourage e-commerce adoption among MSMEs.
The initial ten e-commerce partners participating in the MSME E-commerce Campaign are Boost, FashionValet, FAVE, Foodpanda, Grab, Lazada, Maybank, Shopee, Touch ‘n Go eWallet and Zalora.
MDEC is working closely with the government to finalise additional e-commerce partners to take part in this campaign. Further announcement on the added participating e-commerce partners will be made in due course.
Co-funded by the Government and e-commerce partners, over 145,000 MSMEs are expected to benefit from e-commerce onboarding training, seller subsidy and sales support.
As part of efforts to revitalise the Malaysian economy following the Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent movement control order (MCO), the government allocated US$16.4 million (RM70 million) under PENJANA to implement the MSME E-commerce Campaign.
The initiative is to facilitate local businesses to sustain operations and gradually enhance productivity to spur short economic recovery.
The MSME E-commerce Campaign aims to encourage adoption of e-commerce by local businesses focusing on MSMEs to help widen their market reach. MDEC has been tasked to implement this initiative under PENJANA.
MDEC’s chief executive officer Surina Shukri highlights that the digital shift to e-commerce will help future-proof the economy in the “New Normal” that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about, where an increasing number of consumers opt for online shopping instead of visiting physical stores.
With the uptake in online retail sales, the Southeast Asian e-commerce market is looking to be worth about US$153 billion by 2025, providing the opportunity to future-proof the Malaysian economy in these challenging times.
“Shifting to e-commerce will help MSMEs reduce operation costs, improve agility and be more responsive to new opportunities, allowing them to reach new customers within existing markets and expand to new markets. MDEC together with e-commerce partners are facilitating MSMEs’ shift to e-commerce and helping them to navigate in this new business environment,” she says.
“By transitioning to the online marketplace and embracing e-commerce, MSMEs are better positioned to strengthen their agility and build resilience against future aftershocks. While the intended key beneficiaries of this campaign are the local businesses and individuals with and without businesses registrations, the spill over effect will also benefit other local e-commerce players in the ecosystem such as digital marketing, delivery and e-payment services. Through the campaign the MSMEs’ transition to e-commerce will support a growing and sustainable MSME ecosystem, in line with our national digital transformation agenda,” she adds.
Aside from the MSME E-commerce campaign, the Malaysian government has also allocated another RM70 million to implement the Shop Malaysia Online initiative, the second e-commerce initiative under PENJANA that will run for two months from August this year.
The Shop Malaysia Online initiative is designed to spur economic recovery by stimulating online consumption through digital vouchers for the consumers.
MSMEs and local businesses who are interested to participate in the MSME E-commerce Campaign may register at www.go-ecommerce.my/PENJANA. Small businesses and individuals with and without business registrations are also eligible to participate in this campaign.