KUALA LUMPUR: The government provides various incentives, including tax exemptions for a period of 5 + 5 years to help start-up companies expand their business, including making international forays, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government through Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has also implemented the Global Acceleration and Innovation Network (GAIN) programme to provide advisory services and expertise to potential local technology companies.
“A total of 149 high-tech local companies have benefited from such programmes," he said when responding to a question from Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN-Lenggong) during the Ministers’ Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat today.
To the original question from Shamsul Anuar on the opportunities in the digital economy and its impact to community development, Najib said the digital economy development programmes undertaken by MDEC had benefitted more than 194,000 entrepreneurs from January last year until September this year.
He said among the programmes carried out were “eUsahawan” which had provided training to 92,926 young and rural entrepreneurs through courses conducted at selected educational, and technical and vocational training centres (TVET) centers throughout the country.
"Of them, 27,170 or 29 per cent of the participants have recorded additional total sales of more than RM112 million," he said, adding that 59 per cent of the participants were women.
Najib said another programme undertaken by MDEC, eRezeki, which promoted the use of digital technology by empowering people to grab economic opportunities through the crowdsourcing platform, has trained 101,693 individuals through eRezeki centres and representatives across the country.
"Of them, 57,572 or 57 per cent have generated revenues of over RM81 million," he added. -- BERNAMA