Alexander Moiseev, Chief Business Officer at Kaspersky

Small businesses are some of the most represented in many countries, employing millions of workers and making a huge contribution to the global economy. In fact, they represent around 90% of the business population and more than 50% of employment worldwide. In recognition of the sector, the General Assembly of United Nations declared June 27 a Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day to “raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development”. Such initiatives become even more relevant today, when many small companies face challenging times due to the pandemic. With small businesses looking to get going again, now is the time to take on board lessons learned and improvements that can help organizations move forward. 

Kuala Lumpur, June 24, 2020 – Bloomberg Tradebook Singapore Pte Ltd has obtained approval from Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) to offer its foreign exchange electronic trade negotiation platform (FXGO) in Malaysia, under BNM’s new Framework for Electronic Trading Platforms. 

FXGO is an electronic trade platform for negotiating trades in spot, outright, swap, NDF, deposit, and FX option transactions. As a multi-bank FX trade platform, FXGO users can request prices from preferred banks, negotiate trades and seamlessly integrate trade negotiation details into order management, risk management and back office systems. 

By Rob Stummer | CEO Asia Pacific | SYSPRO

Industrial production in Malaysia dropped by 4.9 percent year-on-year in March 2020. This was the first decline in industrial output since December 2015, and the steepest since May 2011, as the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic took a huge toll on the sector, with manufacturing output tumbling (-4.2 percent vs 6.2 percent in February), mainly due to non-metallic mineral products, basic metal & fabricated metal products (-9.8 percent), electrical and electronic products (-5 percent), transport equipment & other manufactures (- 10.2 percent), and food, beverages & tobacco (-9.9 percent). 

However, after hitting a record low in April 2020, a strong rise has been evident in the country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for May, indicating that the economic downturn may have bottomed out. In its 1 June 2020 report, IHS Markit said Malaysia’s manufacturing sector showed signs of approaching stabilisation midway through the second quarter, with rates of reduction in output, new orders and employment all easing considerably. 

Subang Jaya, 23 June 2020 – Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) today announced altHR, to help Malaysian companies digitalise HR processes and drive better employee empowerment and engagement.

altHR is a digital workforce management solution. Built with features fit for the new normal such as digital sales Kits, contactless time tracking, paperless leave and expense management, it aims to address the problem of digitalisation of company processes that is prevalent in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The launch of altHR is also in line with Digi’s aim to help more Malaysian companies go digital and to cope better with the unforeseen challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.