SME Malaysia, Pikom, Huawei collaborate to train 10K SME members

• Cover areas of industry guidance, talent development, skill improvements
• Plans to train and future-ready more than 10,000 members of SMEs, tech community

THE SME Association of Malaysia (SME Malaysia), National Tech Association of Malaysia (Pikom), and Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, through its Huawei Asean Academy, have joined hands to train and future-ready more than 10,000 members of the small and medium enterprises (SME) and tech community over a period of a year.

The collaboration, which was launched today, will cover areas of industry guidance, ecosystem talent enablement and skills improvements of the SME and tech community via a training programme, Huawei said in a statement.

The collaborators hope to raise and develop quality talent models for digital transformation of Malaysia’s SMEs, as more SMEs are realising the urgent need to adopt technology in order to survive.

The collaboration comes in line with the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint, or MyDigital, which was launched by prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin on February 19.  

“This collaboration is a significant step towards the digitisation of our economy and SMEs in particular and to provide entrepreneurial and employment opportunities as we grapple with the ever-changing market conditions,” said Michael Kang, president of SME Malaysia.

Sean Seah, Pikom deputy chairman, said: “We are very excited to be part of this journey. This is another milestone for Pikom Academy to further expand our programmes and producing tech talents.

“With more than 1,000 corporate members in the tech association that constantly seek trainings, upskilling and reskilling for new and current staff, we look forward to be working alongside Huawei and SME Malaysia.”

Choh Yau Meng, Huawei Malaysia vice-president of human resources, said for many SMEs, technology is itself a barrier, yet is also a key to thrive and survive.

“Therefore, as a global technology leader, Huawei believes that it is our duty to use our expertise and resources such as 5G, cloud and artificial intelligence (AI), to help these SMEs as well as tech associations incorporate digital solutions,” he said.

The Huawei Asean Academy was established in May 2020 as an initiative to train and promote talent for Malaysia’s digital economy to drive digital advancements and position the country as a digital hub for the region.

As of March 2021, Huawei claimed to have trained more than 8,800 Malaysians. It intends to further train 50,000 ICT talents over the next five years.