KUCHING, Aug 19: Medac asserts that although there is an increase in digitisation among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there is still room for more involvement especially for SMEs in rural areas and entrepreneurs affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar revealed that from 2016 to 31 May 2020, a total of 322,834 SMEs participated in e-commerce platforms while a total of 171,776 SMEs attended training through various programmes from strategic e-commerce partners, associations and government agencies.
“The ICT sector contributed RM267.7 billion or 18.5 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP) component for 2018. Based on a survey conducted by SME Corp Malaysia on the adaptation of ICT among SMEs, there is an increase in terms of SME involvement in online business from 26 per cent in 2016 to 37 per cent in 2018.
“For 2019, SME participation in online business is 35.3 per cent. As of 31 January 2020, a total of 276,176 entities have registered as online businesses through registration at the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM),” Wan Junaidi highlighted in a press statement.
Based on the Malaysian SME Digital 2018 survey conducted by SME Corp Malaysia and Huawei Technologies Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the majority of SMEs use computers and the Internet as a medium of business operations.
The survey also found that SMEs still face problems to improve business operations from computing to digitisation. This is because SMEs face issues in terms of cost, technology, infrastructure and digital usage skills in the company’s operations.
“Medac (Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry) has provided various courses and programmes on business digitisation to assist entrepreneurs who are interested in growing their business or converting their business concept to the e-Commerce platform,” revealed Wan Junaidi who is also the Santubong MP.
Agencies such as INSKEN, SME Corp and Institut Koperasi Malaysia (IKM) have provided various programmes and courses to help SME and micro entrepreneurs, especially for entrepreneurs affected adversely by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“These courses are conducted online and entrepreneurs do not need to attend or spend the night to attend eDagang courses provided by agencies under Medac.
“In the meantime, I have asked the ministry and all agencies under Medac to conduct research on new initiatives and implement additional programmes to help and further increase the number of e-commerce entrepreneurs.
“To adapt to the digital economy as a whole, SMEs must do business re-engineering by ensuring that their business strategies, processes and infrastructure are aligned and integrated to support digital transformation,” he added.
Wan Junaidi expressed belief that ICT has a huge role to play in doubling the growth of SMEs not only through improvements in efficiency and productivity, but also in expanding the market reach for local entrepreneurs. — DayakDaily
