By Sherilyn Pang
KUALA LUMPUR – Invest Selangor Bhd (Invest Selangor) has launched another digitalisation initiative, the Selangor Business Hub (SBH), which allows international and local businesses to engage and network with regional stakeholders.
A total of 3,000 businesses have been targeted to sign up within a year.
Selangor state executive councillor Dato’ Teng Chang Khim said that the digital channel of communication for businesses has so far signed up 300 businesses to use and benefit from Invest Selangor’s various business options and offerings.
“So far, we have managed to sign up 300 virtual businesses for the SBH. The work is still ongoing. I have the target for us to hit 3,000, and I believe within a year, we may be able to achieve the target,” Teng told reporters during the press conference after officiating the SBH here.
“However, that depends on the whole situation as the pandemic is unpredictable. Our recovery movement control order has been extended to December 31 this year and we don’t know whether it will be further extended or not, so we can’t be certain when the international borders will be reopened. However, we have very clear missions and visions that have been set up in our Action Plan for the state of Selangor,” he said.
Teng said the SBH will focus on industries identified by the Selangor Industrial Masterplan which was launched in 2017, which focuses on the potentials of five different core industrial clusters in the state of six million residents. They are: electrical and electronics, life sciences, food and beverage manufacturing, transport equipment. and machinery and equipment.
He said among the top industries in-focus for SBH are the Halal and the aerospace industries.
“Our team is still working hard to put this up. Corporations from various departments of the state government are going to make sure these initiatives are going to materialise,” Teng emphasised.
Meanwhile, Invest Selangor chief executive officer Dato’ Hasan Azhari Idris said that SBH could expedite the migration of activities that are normally undertaken physically into a virtual format.
He said investors interested to enter Selangor to do business can log into the system by self-registering and be opened up to all the options that are made available to them by the Hub.
“We have three main components on SBH at this moment. First is the Selangor trade investment promotional activities containing webinar and conference series; second is the Selangor International Business Summit which features our international and regional expos; and third is the IT programmes developed by the Selangor Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (Sitec),” Hasan explained.
He said, so far, various investors comprising 98 per cent local and international SMEs who have shown interest to invest in the state are already in the process of getting their approval procedures fulfilled with both the state and Federal governments.
Additionally, the newly-updated website of the state investment agency has thus far recorded 3.3 million visitors since it began operating five years ago.
“For the Belanjawan Selangor 2021 (2021 Selangor Budget), we hope that the announcement will centre around the encouragement for more companies to have their base in Selangor. This way, it will benefit all the industry players and so on,” Hasan added.
