MDEC's business mission a success, brings in qualified opportunities

• Claimed to garner over US$22.7mil in qualified digital opportunities
• Past missions have brought total opportunity value of US$84 mil

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, through its recent business mission to Indonesia, claimed to have garnered over US$22.7 million (RM100 million) in qualified digital opportunities. 

In a statement, the agency said this is its first business mission to Indonesia since borders were reopened in March 2022.  

Held from May 16 to May 20 in Jakarta, the business mission is an extension of MDEC’s GAIN Programme (Gateway, Amplify, Investor, Nurture), which serves to accelerate local technology companies to the global stage, it said.

Mahadhir Aziz (pic), chief executive officer of MDEC, said that the business mission has allowed MDEC, Malaysian tech companies and other agencies to follow up on opportunities that were first established before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

“Indonesia has been one of Malaysia’s most strategic technology partners, thanks to their fast-growing and innovative digital ecosystem. With this Business Mission, we can explore potential joint projects that will benefit both our countries as well as Asean as a whole.

“Through the GAIN prorgramme, we have been able to deepen collaboration opportunities and bring business opportunities, mindshare, and awareness among our nations’ governments and agencies, as well as to allow startups in both Malaysia and Indonesia to expand their reach, experience, and connections,” said Mahadhir.

Since 2018, MDEC has run seven business missions (three as part of Digital Export Acceleration Missions, and four under the GAIN Connex Programme), which have connected more than 40 Malaysian tech companies to Indonesian partners, with a total opportunity value of more than US$84 million (RM370 million) in digital exports.

With travel restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these programmes for 2020 till 2021 have been shifted online, MDEC said. 

It added that the business mission serves to revisit and reactivate the on-the-ground Business Support Ecosystem in Jakarta.

A total of 18 meetings were held in the business mission between government and private stakeholders.

This included discussions between the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation Jakarta and Indonesia’s ministry of communication and information technology, as well as talks with Indonesian entrepreneurship ecosystem enabler, KUMPUL.

These discussions include topics on potential joint projects in fintech, agritech, cybersecurity, and e-government sectors, specifically with Indonesia’s plans to move the administrative capital to the city of Nusantara in East Kalimantan.

According to MDEC, the business mission also facilitated meetings between two VC funders, AC Ventures and Kejora.