PETALING JAYA: United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd (UOB Malaysia) aims to assist local SMEs and startups implement digital solutions to transform their businesses with the launch of a regional digital platform The FinLab Online through its collaboration with FinLab.
It explained that the platform will incorporate the Jom Transform Programme, a Malaysian business transformation programme to help SMEs digitalise their operations for productivity and revenue growth.
Under the programme, participants will go through a one-month curriculum on The FinLab Online, where they will be able to tap the expertise of industry mentors from UOB and its regional ecosystem partners through online workshops, video tutorials and webinars.
For the programme, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) will serve as a strategic partner to provide advisory in digitalisation.
UOB Malaysia said the Jom Transform Programme aims to help at least 100 Malaysian SME to embrace digitalisation to achieve one of the following outcomes: increase in revenue, reduction in business cost, improvement of process time cycle, reduction in man hours or creation of new sources of growth.
Last year, SMEs that have completed the programme had expected to raise productivity by up to 30% through digitalisation.
For this year, the bank reveals the programme includes support from MDEC through its smart automation grant, which will be offered to participating businesses that successfully pitch their digitalisation plans and demonstrate tangible outcomes.
MDEC elaborated that the support is part of its effort to accelerate the growth of Malaysia’s digital economy and the support is to ensure that SMEs stay relevant and competitive in the industrial revolution 4.0 era.
The bank explained that The FinLab is UOB’s innovation accelerator that was first established in 2015 and has since received interest from more than 2,000 businesses in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand on their digitalisation journey.
By bringing the innovation programmes online via the digital platform, it is creating opportunity for more business owners and entrepreneurs to access its business transformation programmes.
