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Workshop on Future of Cooperative Business in the Digital World, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

 

The Workshop on the Future of Cooperative Business in the Digital World was held from December 9 to 11, 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the Sunway Resort and Spa. The Workshop was attended by 32 participants ;from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal,  the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The Workshop was organised by the All- China Federation of Supply and Marketing Coops (ACFSMC) and ANGKASA, Malaysia.

 

A group photo of the Delegates of the Workshop.

 

The Workshop began with an opening address delivered by Mr. Balasubramanian Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP; who also gave a presentation about the benefits for co-operatives who embrace the digital world. Ms. Puan Norahana Salimin, Head of Cyber Security Proactive Services Division, presented on the topic of Cyber Security Malaysia. The main highlights of her presentation were the need for co-operatives looking to make their foray into e-commerce to focus on data protection and cyber security and ways to protect themselves and their customers against cyber crimes.

 

Mr. Tuan Raja Danir Ikram spoke about the Collaborative Agreement between ANGKASA’s Innovation and Technology arm and Mr. Ikram’s Consulting Firm to develop the ‘Wawasan Retail Platform and Loyalty programme’ for the co-operative communities in Malaysia. ANGKASA hopes to extend this platform to other ASEAN countries through the ASEAN Cooperative Organization.  Ms. Liu Lei, from the Zhejiang Institute of Economic and Trade, China, presented on the ‘Rural E-commerce Development in China's Supply & Marketing co-operatives’.Ms. Carol Fung, Head of Seller Adoption for the eCommerce & Digital Free Trade Zone Division, spoke about the National Strategic E-commerce Roadmap and the government initiatives on Digital Free Trade Zone.

 

Country reports about initiatives on co-operative e-commerce practices were presented by speakers from the Philippines, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. The participants were divided into three groups to discuss ICT Infrastructure and eco-system, customer demographic & economic trends, and government interventions and incentives. The incentives proposed by the discussants included:

 

  • Public awareness and online culture development and encouragement
  • Awareness programmes on e-commerce value chain
  • Training and education for e-commerce value chain
  • Funding, Grants and subsidies for e-commerce start-ups
  • Infrastructure, connectivity and cyber security investment and development

 

In terms of the roadmap for future action, the following suggestions were made:

 

  • Subject matter expert from government and industry to be involved in drawing the Roadmap
  • Draw and propose e-commerce strategy and implementation plan
  • Select anchoring co-op to lead in each initiative
  • Standardization of implementation and comprehensive plans
  • Prioritise the intervention and incentives (Short term, Midterm and Long term) along with measure of success

 

The Workshop concluded with a study visit to the AmaxMall in Kuala Lumpur. The Mall is the first successful local e-commerce company to provide marketing platforms for both digital and physical markets. It currently showcases 8 brands and 15 SKUs of ANGKASA products.