PUSHING the main narrative of an inclusive digital economy, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has further showcased that Malaysia has a fast-growing Islamic digital economy.
Through MDEC, the Malaysian government is also making significant efforts to embed the Islamic digital economy in the design of the digital economy in the country.
The MTW19 was held alongside MyFintechWeek 2019, which was organised by Bank Negara Malaysia.
Over 2,000 participants, which included the cream of Malaysian corporations, ecosystem partners, tech startups, international investors, regulators and government officers congregated in Kuala Lumpur to share experiences, explore investment opportunities and discuss new modalities of Public Private Partnerships.
The Malaysian government has a dedicated agenda and budget for the digital economy as it plays a key role in building the nation’s GDP.
With the growing demand of the Islamic market, MDEC has introduced the Islamic Digital Economy Guide (Mi’yar), a reference for startups, venture capitals and supporting ecosystem players who wish to explore and understand its various components of Islamic Digital Economy such as Islamic Venture Capital, Business Operation and Product & Services in Shariah compliant or Halal perspective.
This isn’t new for Malaysia as the country is known throughout the Islamic world with the Jakim Halal Certification being rated as one of the best halal certification standards in the world.
Malaysia is also ranked No. 1 by the Islamic Finance Country Index, developed by Edbiz Consulting in 2017 for Islamic banking and finance.
Dynamic ecosystem for both Islamic and digital economy
The week attracted almost RM30 million investment inflows, demonstrating strong confidence from established venture and investments funds that Malaysia is firmly on track to becoming the preferred global hub of the Digital Economy.
Some highlights include:
Islamic Digital Economy
- Ficus Venture Capital announced an US$6 million (RM25 million) allocation to Islamic tech startups in Asean, with Malaysia serving as the distribution hub for the fund dispersal. This includes US$2.5 million (RM10 million) funnelled to startups during MTW19.
- China-based VC fund Gobi Partners announced a US$1 million (RM4.13 million) award to IslamicMarkets.com, a platform that helps unlocks Islamic investment and business opportunities.
- The Islamic Track included a speed dating business matching session, which attracted 23 participants; a role-play session with a Syariah advisor in which 40 participants received mentorship on Syariah regulatory advisors. Meanwhile, the TaqwaTech’ vertical “Pitch-Pit event saw 10 innovative startups serving Muslim consumers, businesses and communities. Modest Forever and Alami emerging second and third respectively at the event bagged US%10,000 (RM41,300) in the form of Digital Ocean cloud credits.
Minister of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia Gobind Singh Deo (pic) said, “Over the past two decades, Malaysia has dedicated its efforts to transform digitally, to create a vibrant and world-class digital economy.”
Malaysia has gone #SeriouslyDigital with the MSC’s Cumulative Total Investment reaching US$79 billion (RM330 billion), with export sales worth US$39.74 billion (RM166 billion), creating a total of over 180,000 jobs.
Over 4,000 companies have been awarded with MSC Malaysia status – seventy-four percent of these companies are Malaysian-owned, while 26% of them are foreign-owned, including 180 MNCs.
Malaysia Tech Week 2019 was held to kick start MDEC’s “Seriously Digital” month-long celebration.
The upcoming event called ‘Beyond Paradigm’ will take place on July 17 to 18 at Mitec and is expected to attract more than 30 local and international companies to share insights on how to further the best use of innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Malaysia’s future economic success.
Source: digitalnews
