Kuala Lumpur, 4 November 2020 – Axiata Group Bhd’s president and group chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said governments must work closely with the private sector on coordinated digital initiatives, according to a report.
“It can’t just be one party. Everyone benefiting from digitisation, the telecoms industry, IT companies and OTT players must contribute both financially and non-financially,” the report by Mobile World Live quoted Jamaludin as saying.
According to him, the key to speeding up the shift to digital services for small businesses is to move to cashless payments in order to lower the barriers to entry.
He also stressed that micro, small and medium enterprises especially need to be prioritised, with the easing of payments one way to support the digitisation process.
He called upon banks, IT companies, operators and governments to back these measures, saying: “We must develop a cashless society, and it cannot be done naturally. We must push to the level where everything will be cashless.”
According to him, the transition to digital commerce and payments can start small, with some entrepreneurs doing e-commerce using SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.
“This is a good start. Of course, eventually they will need a more ubiquitous e-commerce engine to be able to sell their products more widely and buy products from suppliers,” he said.
At the time of writing, shares in Axiata had risen six sen or 2.05% to RM2.99, valuing the group at RM27.42 billion.
-The Edge Markets
