Desamall programme records accumulated sales of more than RM5 million

KUALA TERENGGANU - The Desamall programme, an initiative by the government to help the economy of rural entrepreneurs recorded accumulated sales of RM5.7 million and 38,294 stock-keeping units (SKU) until June 30.

Secretary of the Strategic Planning Division, Rural and Regional Development Ministry (KKDW), Abdul Kahar Abdullah, said 4,559 rural entrepreneurs participated in the programme which focused on the marketing of various products on the e-commerce platform.

He said the ministry was in the process of improving the programme to enable entrepreneurs to increase their productivity, sales capacity and income.

"Desamall is a strategy under Core 2 of the Rural Development Policy (DPLB) which is entrepreneurship as a driver of economic development through developing products and expanding markets including online business (e-commerce).

"This programme will be improved to help more entrepreneurs market their goods online, thus increasing their total income between 10 and 30 per cent in a year,” he said at the opening of the Rural Entrepreneur Digitalisation Programme Series 3/2023 here, today.

Also present were the ministry’s Economic Development Division secretary Mohd Sabri Ramli Pentadbir Desamall administrator Ahmad Shah Wahid.

According to Abdul Kahar, there are seven Desamall outlets nationwide, namely Desamall Ipoh, Perak; Desamall@Perda, Penang; Desamall@Lipis, Pahang; Desamall@Mersing, Johor; Desamall@KKDW, Putrajaya; Desamall@KIMAR, Kuala Lumpur and Desamall@KelanaJaya, Selangor.

He also said that a total of 1,260 village entrepreneurs have switched from traditional business to more systematic, modern and efficient digitalisation methods.

This is made possible through KKDW's persistent and continuous efforts, as well as the support of strategic partners, including the Village Entrepreneur Digitalisation programme that was introduced last year, he added.

He said that last year a total of 706 entrepreneurs had benefited from the programme and the number would increase to 1,000 this year.

"The government has allocated RM1.7 million to organise six series of the Entrepreneur Digitalisation programmes this year,” he said, adding that the previous series was held in Putrajaya and Kuching with the third one here today.

He said the remaining three programmes would be organised in Shah Alam, Johor Bahru and Alor Setar.

Abdul Kahar said there were now more than 60,000 entrepreneurs under KKDW and continuous efforts would be made to expose them to the digitalisation agenda.

"Recently the Prime Minister approved an additional digitalisation matching grant of RM100 million to help micro, small and medium enterprises (PKMS) accelerate the transition of their business model to a more digital one.

"Although the allocation is not channelled to KKDW directly, it shows that the government is very serious about the digitalization agenda, " he added. - BERNAMA