Malaysian tech companies and other agencies to follow up on opportunities.
Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), through its recent Business Mission to Indonesia, has garnered over RM100 million in qualified digital opportunities. This is MDEC’s first Business Mission to Indonesia since borders were reopened in March 2022.
Held from 16 to 20 May 2022 in Jakarta, the Business Mission is an extension of MDEC’s GAIN Programme (Gateway, Amplify, Investor, Nurture), which serves to accelerate local technology companies to the global stage.
Mahadhir Aziz, CEO of MDEC, said that the Business Mission has allowed MDEC, Malaysian tech companies and other agencies to follow up on opportunities that were first established before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
“Indonesia has been one of Malaysia’s most strategic technology partners, thanks to their fast-growing and innovative digital ecosystem. With this Business Mission, we can explore potential joint projects that will benefit both our countries as well as ASEAN.
“Through the GAIN prorgramme, we have been able to deepen collaboration opportunities and bring business opportunities, mindshare, and awareness among our nations’ governments and agencies, as well as to allow startups in both Malaysia and Indonesia to expand their reach, experience, and connections,” said Mahadhir.
Since 2018, MDEC have ran seven Business Missions (three as part of Digital Export Acceleration Missions, and four under the GAIN Connex Programme) which connected more than 40 Malaysian tech companies to Indonesian partners, with a total opportunity value of more than RM370 million in digital exports.
With travel restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these programmes for 2020 till 2021 have been shifted online. This Business Mission serves to revisit and reactivate the on-the-ground Business Support Ecosystem in Jakarta.
A total of 18 meetings were held in the Business Mission between government and private stakeholders. This included discussions between the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) Jakarta and Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (KOMINFO), as well as talks with Indonesian entrepreneurship ecosystem enabler KUMPUL.
These discussions include topics on potential joint projects in Fintech, Agritech, Cybersecurity, and e-government sectors, specifically with Indonesia’s plans to move the administrative capital to the city of Nusantara in East Kalimantan.
The Business Mission also facilitated meetings between two VC funders, AC Ventures and KEJORA, on the latest funding programmes available and on value creation for both Malaysian and Indonesian companies for capacity building and market expansion.
MDEC will continue to identify opportunities to promote Malaysian portfolio companies for their Direct Intervention exports and ecosystem support in Indonesia and across ASEAN.
