22 June, Kuala Lumpur – Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec) has stood by its community from the beginning to improve and grow their digital ecosystem, while also serving as a platform for local Startups and SMEs to prosper. Moving towards Selangor's vision of becoming a liveable "Smart State" in ASEAN by 2025, Sidec is committed to building a digital economy and ecosystem by nurturing and digitalising local SMEs.
Following the success of the Malaysia Top E-Commerce Merchant (Top ECM) Awards for the past six years, Sidec announced its latest edition of Top ECM Awards 2022 with the support of Affin Bank Berhad (AFFIN BANK) as the main sponsor and SUBPLACE as the official e-commerce marketplace, alongside its first-ever Selangor Fashion Accelerator 2022.
Embracing the world of e-commerce
The prestigious Top ECM Awards seeks to reward the most successful, creative and innovative homegrown e-commerce merchants. At the same time, merchants who take part can benefit from increased recognition and opportunities to further increase their brand’s presence among industry players.
In line with Sidec’s plan of action to further uplift and strengthen the country’s e-commerce ecosystem, they have set an even higher target to promote the awards and are looking to assist and encourage more e-commerce merchants to be part of 2022’s Top ECM Awards.
“When we first launched in 2016, only 60 e-commerce merchants participated while in 2021, the numbers increased to 181 merchants and generated RM47 million in sales. The improvement shows that the e-commerce industry continues to grow, and Sidec is here to crown the best e-commerce merchants this year. After recording a total sales of RM123 million over the past six years, we target to receive 250 submissions and hit a total sale of RM20 million,” said Yong Kai Ping, CEO of Sidec.
The 3-month competition offers RM60,000 worth of cash prizes and other attractive prizes in-kind. All the shortlisted merchants will be judged based on three criteria that have been set by the organiser, namely Online Sales Contest (50%), Livestream Contest (25%) and Business Potential (25%).
This year, Top ECM Awards is also adding a new element of Livestream Festival in which participating merchants at the 7th Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention (SDEC) will have a chance to promote their products or services in livestream studios within the exhibition area. The livestream will be broadcasted through social media platforms throughout 6th until 9th October 2022 live from SDEC 2022 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Participants are required to have an e-commerce store operated before March 2022 that sells products to end-users only (B2C), achieved at least minimum of RM25,000 in sales or minimum of 100 orders in any single month between June 2021 to June 2022, supporting documents and is registered under Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).
This year, the event features three categories of awards - Malaysia Top E-Commerce Merchant Awards, Selangor Onboarding Programme Awards and AFFIN BANK Special Awards (Rising Star and AFFINGEM Women Trailblazer Awards). The Rising Star Awards is a special award category where three winners are chosen based on the company's business potential, must be operating less than three years and must be shortlisted in the top 40 of the main category to be selected for this award. The AFFINGEM Women Trailblazer Awards is a new subcategory introduced to support and foster female entrepreneurship, and recognise strong women entrepreneurs who have succeeded in the industry.
Additionally, Sidec is also pleased to receive support from Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) in which they will be providing additional export facilitation to the top five winners of the Top ECM Awards for their international market expansion.
Bringing the fashion scene to greater heights with digitalisation
Sidec is also stepping forward to help emerging fashion enterprises flourish in terms of sales and investment potential. The 2-month programme will take 16 fashion entrepreneurs to an investment and expansion-ready level by providing great coaching from experienced mentors and through comprehensive workshops.
This initiative aims to assist Malaysian startups and SMEs in developing a sustainable ecosystem for talents in the modest fashion sector by providing engaging experiences that will increase brand recognition in the market and industry.
In a world where fashion fads come and go, modest apparel has evolved into a wardrobe staple over time and is no longer considered a trend. It will never go out of style, and it has most likely been in your collection for many years. Evolving from hijabs and long-sleeves to including a modern twist that is less revealing and loose-fitting, modest fashion has gained wide acceptance, whether for religious reasons or personal desire.
“Adapting to these changes, we have finalised the theme to be “Modest Fashion”, which will focus on ready-to-wear (RTW) modest attire with a twist of modern and minimalistic elements. We’re here to provide exposure and recognise our local fashion entrepreneurs for their contribution and hard work throughout the years,” added Yong.
Believing in the great potential of this programme, Sidec gained major support from judges of different backgrounds and expertise. This includes Malaysian national music icon and businesswoman, Dato' Sri Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin. Dato’ Siti has had a liking for fashion and design, having founded the ready-to-wear clothing line Creacion by Siti Nurhaliza in 2016 and launched her own hijab label Afiya last year.
The programme will include specially curated workshops and mentoring sessions led by renowned fashion industry professionals. Conducted via a hybrid class style (online and offline), the programme covers modules such as pitching fundamental skills, product market-fit, brand management and digital marketing, supplier and manufacturer sourcing and brand identity or brand DNA.
Applicants must also be a Malaysian fashion startup or SME with a minimum sales turnover of RM100,000 in 2020 or 2021, have been in business for less than five years, and produce ready-to-wear (RTW) products classified as modest fashion. Furthermore, they benefit with no fee and no equity, an introduction to industry experts, brands, retailers, and manufacturers, business consulting and growth mentoring, plus access to Sidec's investor network and potential funding.
All 16 candidates will receive training from 1st August to 23rd September, and only six will be chosen to pitch to investors and industry partners on the Demo Day, which will take place on 8th October 2022 at Pitch@Selangor 6, in conjunction with the 7th Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention (SDEC). Best of all, victors will receive potential investment opportunities from The Hive Southeast Asia and Permodalan Negeri Selangor Berhad (PNSB).
"We're here to provide digital solutions to help local entrepreneurs and SMEs build their enterprises. The pandemic has caused a significant setback, and we now need to give them a little push to leverage and lead them to digitalisation," concluded Yong.
This programme is made particularly for you if you're creative, humble, and willing to learn or share with others, able to participate in physical workshops, anxious to interact with fashion industry players, and you own the brand and design itself. Registration is now open until 15th July 2022.
For further information, please visit www.sidec.com.my.
