Selangor boosts digital economy efforts for citizens through Sitec

• 300 SMEs now have with mobile e-store apps via the Sitec Apps 100 programme
• Blend physical learning, e-learning via Sitec Academy, a free e-commerce learning platform

THE Selangor Information Technology & E-Commerce Council (Sitec) commemorated its fourth year of bringing continuous value to citizens of Selangor through the official Opening Ceremony of their second e-commerce class for 2018.

Held on Jan 23 at the Selangor Digital Creative Centre, (SDCC) in i-City, Shah Alam, the ceremony was graced by Teng Chang Khim (pic, above), senior executive councillor (chairman of Standing Committees for Investment, Industry & Commerce, Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) and Transportation), of the State Government of Selangor; Invest Selangor CEO Hasan Azhari Idris, and Sitec chief executive Yong Kai Ping.

The event marked the fourth year that the Selangor State Government, through the efforts of Sitec, has committed to nurturing SMEs in Selangor to improve their digital economy literacy and competence by spurring e-commerce uptake, and facilitating and supporting digitalisation and e-commerce education efforts.

Teng and delegations from Invest Selangor and Sitec have recently returned from China, with the belief that the Selangor SME and Malaysian digital economy scene can further benefit from the progress of new retail and smart manufacturing in China.

“The Selangor delegation visited Hainan, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong during the one week visit and have been in talks with departments of Commerce and e-Commerce Promotion of the provinces of Hangzhou and Guangzhou. The talks between these economic powerhouses of China and Selangor aim to facilitate business matching opportunities between them,” said Teng.

Hangzhou is where the world’s largest e-commerce player Alibaba Group is headquartered, whereas Guangzhou is where most of the trade with SEA begins.

The Selangor delegation also had the opportunity to visit several incubators and science parks run by TusStar, one of the largest venture capitalists and technology investors in China. TusStar is the investment arm of the famed Tsing Hua University in Beijing.  

“Sitec will be cooperating with the Zhejiang and Guangdong Commerce Departments to organise an e-Commerce Business Summit to facilitate better trade opportunities with Selangor.

“I foresee more Selangor and China startup teams on incubator exchanges and pitching together during the Selangor Digital Economy Conference set to be held in later in September this year.

“Sitec has taken steps to bolster our relationship with our Chinese tech, internet and e-commerce counterparts through their various networking efforts. This affords us an advantageous position in our aim to develop Selangor into a regional trading hub,” he added.

From June 2015 to December 2017, Sitec has facilitated the generation of RM7.3 million in total sales via 51,000 orders through its 300 onboarded merchants on the Sitec Online 100 programme, providing these merchants with mobile e-store apps via the Sitec Apps 100 programme.

Additionally, they have provided years of free e-commerce classes - with the 60th class held after the ceremony. They have also blended physical learning with e-learning through Sitec Academy, a free e-commerce online learning platform.

“This combination of forward-looking initiatives has allowed Sitec to reach over 80,000 individuals in the local and overseas e-commerce, startup and tech sectors via their extensive suite of initiatives, programmes and events,” Teng added.

“We constantly work to digitalise and improve ourselves with knowledge gained through our networking efforts with our East Asian counterparts, in order to help our SMEs stay competitive and ahead of the game.

“Moving forward, Sitec envisions itself as an education enabler for the public, and will continue bridging consumers and players in the payment, logistics and e-commerce industry to foster closer connections”, said Yong.