KUALA LUMPUR: Penjana e-commerce initiatives implemented by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) have generated sales of over RM1.2 billion.
The government had allocated RM140 million to implement the Penjana micro, small and medium companies (MSMEs) e-commerce campaign and Penjana Shop Malaysia Online initiative via MDEC as the lead agency to implement the initiatives.
MDEC said in a statement today the initiatives were executed using a public-private partnership co-funded together with 22 participating e-commerce partners, both initiatives were rolled out in June and August.
"The Penjana MSMEs) e-commerce campaign has seen over 115,000 new and existing MSMEs boarded onto e-commerce.
"Total e-commerce sales generated from the campaign currently sits at over RM332 million," it said.
According to MDEC, the campaign was to facilitate local businesses to sustain their operations and gradually enhance productivity to spur short-term economic recovery.
The campaign has benefited new and existing MSMEs through onboarding training, seller subsidy and sales support via 20 participating e-commerce platforms.
"I'm glad that the Penjana MSMEs e-commerce initiatives have achieved such encouraging results within a short period of time. This bodes well for our economic recovery efforts in the short and medium-term.
"The government will continue to facilitate local MSMEs and entrepreneurs in shifting their businesses online as not only helps them expand their customer reach, but also ensure that they are future-ready and competitive," said Finance Minister Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz in the statement.
Complementing the campaign is the Penjana Shop Malaysia Online, an initiative designed to encourage online consumption of products from local retailers through digital vouchers.
MDEC said Penjana Shop Malaysia Online was undoubtedly a success as it generated over RM896 million in e-commerce sales, benefitting over 7.8 million consumers and over 210,000 Malaysian sellers nationwide.
"The Penjana MSMEs E-commerce campaign and Penjana Shop Malaysia Online initiative are real proof that Malaysian businesses and consumers are ready to go digital and thrive to make Malaysia as the heart of digital Asean.
"Today, we reached a milestone in the growth of the total Penjana e-commerce sales with total number of e-commerce sales amounting RM1.2 billion being generated within four months and we would like to thank our partners for making both of the Penjana e-commerce initiatives a success," said MDEC chief executive officer Surina Shukri.
Surina said the agency would continue to accelerate digital transformation and encourage e-commerce adoption amongst local MSMEs through its eUsahawan and Go-eCommerce programmes.
"Both of which are designed to cultivate digitally-skilled Malaysians and digitally-powered businesses," she added.