WITH the recent tabling of Budget 2022, multiple changes and improvements spanning multiple sectors were announced by the Government to navigate 2022. Tech providers Quinton Group Sdn Bhd, Wilstech Sdn Bhd, and InsightzClub have provided FocusM with their respective sentiments and opinions towards the latest announcement.
Quinton Group, a company established in 2018 to bring a value-added digital ecosystem to the rural SMEs in Malaysia, believes that the Malaysian Government is on the right path to jumpstart the nation’s economy with substantial recovery efforts.
“Under the Semarak Niaga initiative, the Government announced a RM40 bil worth of financial package for entrepreneurs’ businesses. The financial schemes would provide support to our e-commerce businesses in a tremendous way with its direct loan, financial guarantees and equity injections.” Quinton group CEO Datuk Alvin Ooi told FocusM.
The group commended the Government’s efforts to allocate matching grants for both the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund and Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd (BPMB) to support crowdfunding and peer-to-peer financing.
“However, SMEs, especially home-grown enterprises, should also be given equal opportunities to collaborate with government initiatives and campaigns,” reckoned Ooi.
Sharing similar sentiments, Wilstech, a business digital transformation solutions provider, is positive that the Government plans to introduce a matching grant by further increasing its focus on infrastructure and the Bumiputera community.
However, the company’s CEO and co-founder Wilson Low believes that the allocation of infrastructure in schools and industrial areas – especially in the rural regions – is definitely one of the main areas to look into as the country heads into the 5G era.
“We believe that education on 5G, big data, and AI (artificial intelligence) should be a point of focus in schools and universities,” he opined.
“Local talent development programmes should be considered for the growth of local technology and innovation. Providing education or skill improvement grants and scholarships would be a good step towards achieving this goal.”
With the digital commerce sector rapidly rising, the newly allocated funds and government grants are sure to fast-track the sector’s growth, according to InsightzClub co-founder and CEO Mritunjay Kumar.
“We should learn from the lessons of the past, especially the last two years where we have witnessed huge digital commerce growth across various sectors, especially the retail industry,” he pointed out.
“This push from the Government to build and support the entire digital ecosystem by providing additional aids for skill development, is set to open doors of opportunities and the creation of new jobs across different levels.”
However, Mritunjay also believes that the Government could have done better in revising the tax relief for SMEs and start-ups to help them better manage their current cash flow situation. “This in turn would have helped the SMEs survive longer and revive their poor cash flow due to the MCO (movement control order),” he added.
Founded in 2017, InsightzClub is a marketing start-up that offers a platform as a service to help various businesses uncover valuable insights from data to realize smarter decision-making, smarter marketing, and improved results. – Nov 7, 2021
