Kevin Fitzgerald, Managing Director of Xero, Asia

The last 19 months have been defined by the ongoing global health crisis and its consequent lockdowns, shutdowns and disruptions, resulting in a seismic shift in the way people live and work. In Malaysia, where most have been confined to their homes for over a year with extended Movement Control Orders (MCO), more people are going online for their goods and services. According to the e-Conomy 2020 Malaysia report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, more than one in three Malaysians used digital services for the first time over this period.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 5 November 2021 – Two North Carolina companies, analytics leader SAS and venture investment firm Pappas Capital, are joining forces to help advance the state as a global leader in agricultural technology. The state’s AgTech sector is ripe for continued growth and innovation, and technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics are driving innovation in digital agriculture. The collaboration between SAS and Pappas will allow select NC agriculture and food startups to gain guidance and executive leadership from Pappas and access to industry-leading analytics software, data science expertise and cloud services from SAS.

“North Carolina has an unrivalled combination of leading technology companies, a thriving entrepreneurial community, major research universities and international agriculture corporations committed to AgTech innovation,” said Paula Henderson, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer for the Americas at SAS. “SAS and Pappas hope to harness this ecosystem to put the state at the forefront of solving the grand challenges of global hunger and food scarcity.” 

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 5 NOVEMBER 2021 – Taiwan’s largest warehousing infrastructure developer, ALP (Ally Logistic Property, Co., Ltd.) is set to invest USD1 billion in Malaysia to develop smart warehousing solutions to boost the nation’s logistics industry. ALP’s plans in Malaysia are already underway with the development of its USD180 million 27-acre logistics park with smart warehousing facility called OMega, in Bukit Raja, Selangor, the first of its kind in the country.  

OMega is a multi-storey, technology integrated warehousing platform with hyperautomation built in. It is designed to help not only Malaysian but also multinational brands and retailers achieve improvements in efficiency and greater accuracy in decision-making in response to the high volatility of e-commerce and vigorous development of digitalisation. ALP Bukit Raja OMega will generate an estimated 500 job opportunities.