By Nasuha Badrul Huzaini
SHAH ALAM, July 1 — The state government has approved RM1.2 million matching grants for almost 300 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the Selangor SME Digitalisation Matching Grant.
Selangor executive councillor for industry and trade Dato’ Teng Chang Khim said the grant’s special evaluation committee approved 280 out of 492 applications for the first batch of applications.
“The first batch of applications between April to mid-June received positive response from the business community despite restrictions under the movement control order (MCO) 3.0. We are on track to achieve our target of benefitting 1,000 SMEs by the end of the year.
“Selangor is the only state government that puts in extra effort to speed up the digital transformation among SMEs and we have raised the bar of efficiency by disbursing the grant in such a short amount of time to the SMEs who are in dire need to digitalise due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said in a statement today.
Teng also said that SMEs can start applying for the second batch of applications on August 1, while digital service providers (DSPs) are invited to apply as authorised solution providers for the second batch of the grant starting today (July 1)
The deadline of application for DSPs is 16 July 2021 (Friday), 12 noon. DSPs can apply via
Solution providers that are interested to apply as DSPs for the second batch of the initiative should be:
1. Registered under the relevant laws of Malaysia
2. At least 51 per cent owned by Malaysians
3. Registered in Selangor or have a business address in Selangor
4. Paid-up capital of at least RM100,000
5. In operation for more than 3 years or successfully deployed the digital solutions to at least 100 enterprises
The matching grant worth RM5 million that aims to benefit at least 1,000 businesses, was launched by Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari on April 12. The initiative is also part of the effort to help SMEs in the state to go digital.
Meanwhile, Teng said the grant has struck multiple targets with one stone by not only speeding up the digital transformation of SMEs, but also in helping to grow local startups and software as a service (SaaS) companies, as well as increasing the cloud computing adoption rate.
“Based on the applications we received, most SMEs opted for digital marketing at 31.8 per cent, followed by applications for cloud accounting at 25.4 per cent, while 16.6 per cent applied to digitalise their HR and payroll system,” he said.
Teng also welcomed the RM300 million allocation announced by Putrajaya for digital empowerment of small and micro-entrepreneurs under the new Pemulih package which includes the RM200 million to continue the Shop Malaysia Online campaign and extra allocation of RM100 million for the SME Digitalisation Grant.
“We welcome the Shop Malaysia Online campaign which is similar to our very own Selangor E-Bazar Campaign and the SME Digitalisation Grant which is similar to our own initiative.
“As Selangor has one of the highest concentrations of SMEs in Malaysia, we appreciate the additional assistance,” he said.
