KUCHING: The adoption of technology- by small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in
their process and procedures will help foster their growth, said Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. The Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister said SMEs would not only attain improvements in terms of efficiency and productivity, but also in expanding market reach. "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."
The Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry (Medac) has provided various courses and programmes on business digitalisation to assist entrepreneurs who are interested in adopting the e-Commerce platform," he said yesterday.Wan Junaidi said agencies such as National Entrepreneurship Institute, SME Corp and National Cooperatives Institute had provided various programmes, 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."Wan Junaidi said Medac, through SME Corp, was tapped to lead an initiative under the National E-Commerce Strategic Direction Plan to accelerate the implementation of e-Commerce among entrepreneurs. "From 2016 to May 31 2020, a total of 322,834 SMEs participated in the e-Commerce platform while a total of 171,776 SMEs attended training through various programmes from e- Commerce strategic partners, associations and government agencies.
"The Santubong MP said while a survey by SME Corp and Huawei Technologies Malaysia found that majority of SMEs use computers and the Internet as a medium of business operations, some still faced problems in making the transition."This is because SMEs face issues in terms of cost, technology, infrastructure and digital usage skills in the company's operations."
