WHEN it comes to digital technology, female entrepreneurs are still left behind. However, one non-governmental organisation has been diligently helping them to adopt technology in their businesses and careers.
Led by Julia Koh, the organisation is called Gorgeous Geeks (GG).
Koh believes many female entrepreneurs still do not know how to incorporate technology in their businesses.
"Nowadays, we cannot escape technology as the key point of connectivity, and digitalisation is crucial in everybody's life.
"Unfortunately, if we look at the statistics, women still represent one of the minority figures in access to digital technology. So there is a digital gender gap here, and a lot of research is showing that women are trailing in digital technology," she said.
GG was set up in 2008 to identify these women and give them the support they need to digitise their businesses.
"We aim to create an open and safe environment to promote learning, sharing and mentoring on digital skills and platforms for Malaysian women. We help women make the most of technology to build skills, get inspired and connect with each other to grow and succeed," she said.
Koh believes that empowering women through technology will have a positive social and economic impact on family, community and society.
HELPING HAND
One of the signature programmes that GG runs is called Women Netpreneur.
"The programme has been running since 2012 and each year we either hold conferences or workshops that focus on tech topics," said Koh.
"We want to expose more female entrepreneurs to new trends and key technologies, such as big data, analytics and fintech. We also want to expose them to e-commerce, marketplaces and the digital tools that can help them succeed."
In the past couple of years, GG has been working with Meta, Google, Shopee, Lazada, Pos Malaysia and also local marketplaces, such as Lelong and Big Pay, to get women involved in online entrepreneurship.
"We are also fortunate to have long-standing partners such as SME Corp, which has been assisting us throughout the years," said Koh.
Besides getting the women's businesses on board e-commerce and digital marketplaces, GG also teaches them how to take good pictures of their products and use digital tools to market them.
"We also teach them how to use marketplace enablers and put their products online. There's a lot of 'hand-holding' and talking on how they can incorporate big data, so that they can reach their target markets effectively," she said.
"In the last two years, the netpreneur programme had been running online through webinars, and we were able to get more participation from women nationwide.
"Surprisingly, we manage to get more people to join the training, and what is
more heartening is that there is large participation by those outside the cities," said Koh.
"GG's aim is to highlight more women in business and careers. We let them tell their success stories as well as failures so that more women can be inspired to learn about technology and digitisation.
"It's about being able to take that first step, and having a platform to learn and ask questions from the providers and enablers, especially if they come from outside the city centres," she said.
SUCCESS STORIES
One of the successful entrepreneurs under GG is Cecelia Lagak from Kapit, Sarawak, who participated in last year's Women Netpreneur programme. She has her own beauty line called CC Beauty that she founded in 2018, and now has thousands of stockists around the country.
The netpreneur programme exposed her to the ease of doing business on e-commerce and marketplaces.
Cecelia also learnt to utilise digital ads to gain more awareness and visibility of her business.
"Through the netpreneur programme, we guided her on how to get on board e-commerce and marketplaces, as well as do digital marketing on her own. The training has helped her to grow her already strong network of ground resellers and retailers, and strengthened her online commerce prospects," said Koh.
"During the Covid-19 pandemic, I joined GG, through a friend, as a student. I had zero knowledge of e-commerce and followed its programmes via Zoom.
"With the training, I managed to learn about e-commerce and sell my products on Shopee and other e-commerce sites since I had to close down my shops," said Cecelia, adding that by going online, her business has grown by leaps and bounds, with orders coming from China, Australia, Indonesia and Brunei.
Her beauty products are based on rice extract padi huma, which has unique benefits.
By expanding her business, Cecelia also created job opportunities for housewives, single mothers and people with disabilities by appointing them as her agents and dropshippers.
Another businesswoman, Nabilah Mohd Aziz, said she joined GG when the pandemic began.
"A lot of industries and businesses had to close down, including mine which I just started," said the owner of a zipline or flying-fox outdoor park in Shah Alam, Selangor.
"It (GG) talks about technology for businesses every week, so that caught my interest as I needed to strategise so that when the pandemic ends, my business will be ready for the market," she said, adding that as everything is now available online, from shopping to eating; technology should be part of businesses to move ahead.
"In the field of adventure tourism and sports like mine, the challenge is big as I have to introduce it to potential clients," she said.
Nabilah tried to promote and sell tickets to her outdoor park online.
"I used TikTok and Instagram videos, and my stories are viralled by users," said Nabilah, the owner of Zipline Shah Alam.
To date, GG has trained about 2,600 female entrepreneurs all over the country.
Those interested to join the GG Women Netpreneur programme can visit www.gorgeousgeeks.net to find out about the various types of training it offers.