KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (Bernama) -- AmBank is pleased to announce the selection of the Top 30 SMEs for Digitalisation and Halal Quest. The 30 companies for each track were chosen from a total of 2000 over registrations when the third season of the competition was launched in July 2020.
 
The first session for Digitalisation featured AmBank BizRACE’s partners – Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Microsoft Malaysia and Maxis – all of whom provided an introductory course on digitalisation, including grant application guidelines. The top 30 SMEs have also attended digitalisation clinics with subject matter experts and are also now working closely with Technology Solution Providers to explore the best digital solutions to consider for deployment.
 
“We would like to congratulate the top 30 businesses in the Digitalisation track for successfully making it to this stage of the competition. The competition is getting tougher now as we continue in our quest to look for a line-up of strong businesses for the next stage of the race,” said Christopher Yap, Managing Director, Business Banking, AmBank Group.
 
30 SMEs have also been selected for the AmBank BizRACE Halal Quest track. The Top 30 for the Halal Quest track are now undergoing training sessions with Halal Development Corporation and will then pitch their respective business ideas to the panel of judges, from which 10 SMEs will be selected to progress to the next round of their Halal Certification journey.

The AmBank BizRACE season 3 was launched with a series of webinar sessions covering topics on Industrial Revolution 4.0, Digitalisation and the Halal Sector. The initiative aims to provide SMEs with guidance on applying for various grant incentives offered by the government in the areas of Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Digitalisation. The competition also includes the Halal Quest track which focuses on guiding participating SMEs to obtain Halal certification.
 
This initiative is also part of the bank’s efforts to help SMEs revive their business during the COVID-19 pandemic, by providing a timely programme for SMEs to maximise the help they can receive.
 
This year’s AmBank BizRACE official government partners include the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), Halal Development Corporation (HDC), Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM). Official corporate partners include Microsoft Malaysia, Maxis and Bosch Rexroth. AmBank has also engaged with PwC Malaysia to work with them on the evaluation process of the competition.
 
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