The unifi Business Club (uBC) hosted a sharing session with MDEC’s Head of Digital and Data Workforce Maria Khor, DMC Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Charles Gregory, and unifi Head of SME Segment Azmi Abdullah.
The discussion focused on the importance of upskilling and reskilling for startups and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to future-proof their businesses.
Maria addressed the three main initiatives by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to drive mass awareness of reskilling and upskilling. The initiatives were the digital campaign for Coursera which gathered 20,000 applicants, the digital jobs aggregator with 2,000 job vacancies, and the Digital Skills Training Directory, a catalogue of courses that address in-demand digital skills.
She further pointed out the Digital Xccelerator (DX) which allows business owners to identify their digital understanding based on an assessment on their website and cater them with matching solutions.
Charles mentioned that Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the world five years ahead in terms of digitalisation. “People don’t communicate how they used to, now everything is more inclined towards online,” he said.
He also emphasised that it is always about customers and business owners should move towards where the customers are.
Adding on, Azmi explained that digitalisation is the key, “BurgerLab for example, addressed that walk-in customers are not sufficient and there is a need for delivery and take away.” Azmi expressed that digitalisation has allowed retailers to explore e-commerce, not just the F&B industry.
The panelists further discussed the upskilling courses which are offered for free, especially for those who have been retrenched during this pandemic. Charles highlighted the initiatives by the DMC training hub which offers courses that work for SMEs.
Additionally, Azmi highlighted the two TM Points in Pandan Indah and Taipan which will allow SME owners to have a physical experience in identifying their digital maturity, from December this year.
