By Siti Rohaizah Zainal
SHAH ALAM, Sept 4 — Improvements are being made by the Selangor government to ensure better aid and programmes to assist young entrepreneurs in building their businesses.
State executive councillor for entrepreneurship Najwan Halimi said this is particularly crucial considering many youths today are venturing into business following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We want to help interested and focused young entrepreneurs by providing them a platform (to do business) and offering them guidance,” he said during the Platform Selangor (PLATS) entrepreneur development training programme (U-PLATS) briefing session at Hotel Mardhiyyah in Section 14, here today.
U-PLATS is a new initiative rolled out by the Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporated), or MBI, that aims to assist entrepreneurs in managing their businesses digitally.
A total of 360 entrepreneurs are set to benefit from the programme, which will be jointly managed by the 12 local authorities in the state.
Najwan urged local entrepreneurs to seize this opportunity to learn more about the digital economy and to leverage it to improve their businesses.
“Although PLATS has been in existence since 2020, we are now expanding our effort to help businesses via U-PLATS. Through this programme, entrepreneurs will be given training and input on how to adapt to the digital economy.
“Businesses need to diversify their approach from conventional to digital, which means they can operate without a physical premise and only need to be registered with the local councils to be able to do business,” he said.
MBI chief operating officer Saipolyazan M Yusof said U-PLATS was introduced to provide better exposure and increase knowledge on business management via digital platforms.
He said entrepreneurs who have signed up for the initiative will sit through three training modules over three months. The programme officially rolls out this month and will carry on until March next year.
“The modules that will be taught are an introduction to entrepreneurship, social media and e-commerce, as well as digital content creation.
“Will be monitoring for a year the aspects of online sales, digital presence and digital connections,” he said, adding that five entrepreneurs will have the chance to win business grants.
Those interested to take part in the programme can obtain more information via https://platselangor.com/.
Meanwhile, Saipolyazan said more than 20,000 small-time traders have already enrolled under PLATS, as they bid to expand their businesses, with about 90 per cent of them being from the food and beverages sector. The remaining are from the clothing and beauty sectors.
PLATS is a promotional platform and digital directory developed by the state government to help revitalise businesses’ economy following the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
