Selangor Journal: Selangor introduce matching grants worth RM5 mln to SMEs for going digital

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SHAH ALAM, April 12 — The Selangor government has today launched the Selangor SME Digitalisation Matching Grant worth RM5 million, which aims to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the state to digitalise their businesses.

Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said the initiative, which aims to benefit at least 1,000 businesses, was introduced to aid the digitalisation of the SMEs that are facing challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said a 50 per cent matching grant or a maximum of RM5,000 has been allocated to each SME to subscribe to the chosen digital service providers.

“SMEs that lack resources to digitalise their businesses are invited to apply for this grant to strengthen the digital reach of their businesses.

“The state government has always been committed to the digitalisation agenda to help the SMEs in going digital. We want to assure that merchants and consumers in the state would benefit from the various initiatives and grants provided,” he said in his speech during the launch of the Selangor SME Digitalisation Matching Grant here today.

Also present were state executive councillor for industry and trade Dato’ Teng Chang Khim, Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec) chief executive officer Yong Kai Ping and Special Evaluation Committee for the Selangor SME Digitalisation Matching Grant chairman Dato’ Ng Wan Peng.

When asked whether there would be an evaluation process, Amirudin said a panel will be set up to justify and analyse the businesses that would be selected to receive the matching grant.

“We will not be just taking any ‘Tom, Dick, and Harry’ but it will be based on their performance and the presentation (presented) to us,” he added.

The application for the grant will open beginning April 15 at 12pm until May 15 at 12 pm.

To date, a total of 100 digital service providers have been approved to provide their digital solutions.

Five digitalisation areas are offered under the initiative, which includes e-commerce, HR and payroll system, cloud accounting, digital marketing, electronic point of sales (ePos) system, and payment gateway.

Those who wish to participate should be registered under the Malaysian laws, must be at least 51 per cent Malaysia-owned, business or operation address registered in Selangor, at least one-year operation, and a minimum annual sales turnover of RM300,000 and not exceeding RM1 million.

Each application is limited to one company only but the SMEs may apply to up to three digital services with one or more service providers that are endorsed by Sidec.

For further information, visit www.sidec.com.my/selangorgrant2021.

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