‘Digital economy growth benefiting many’

MORE than 20,000 entrepreneurs, mainly women, have benefited from the nation’s growing digital economy, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said the e-Usahawan programme was among the initiatives taken by the Government to promote social media and digital platforms as a means for the rakyat to generate income.

“Between January 2016 and September this year, 92,926 youths and rural entrepreneurs participated in the e-Usahawan training programme.

“Of this, 27,170 or 29% reported increased sales totalling RM112mil. A total of 95% of them were women entrepreneurs,” he told Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN-Lenggong).

On the e-Rezeki programme, Najib said that 101,693 individuals had undergone training on crowd-sourcing and digital services.

“A total of 57,572 people or 57% succeeded in generating income totalling RM81mil,” he added.

Najib said the e-Usahawan and e-Rezeki programmes were implemented by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to help guide youths, small businesses, rural folks, single mothers and housewives to benefit from e-commerce.

To further promote the growth of the nation’s digital economy, he said the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) was set up to encourage small and medium enterprises to market their products globally.

Najib said the DFTZ is expected to create some 60,000 jobs by 2025 and generate exports worth RM160.6mil.

Last year, Najib said the digital economy contributed 18.2% to the nation’s GDP and this is expected to rise to 20% by 2020.