The 2nd Malaysia-China Young Entrepreneurs Conference
(MCEC & MCYEC 2021)
The annual event, organised by the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC), held its 11th installment this year at the KL Convention Centre. Due to pandemic restrictions, a hybrid event was introduced with corporate members from trade, manufacturing, finance, agriculture, real estate, tourism, education, consultation, services and other industries, dialing in virtually from their respective locations. The event attracted more than 200,000 participants, physically and virtually.
While opening for the second half of the event, Mr. Bryan Chong, Organising Chairman of MCYEC 2021 shared that according to a study by World Bank, only about one in three businesses in Malaysia have implemented digital transformation strategies, while less than one in four businesses have a dedicated digital strategy team. From this number, the digital adoption among SMEs are much lower compared to larger companies.
He emphasised the importance of reacting quickly and developing digitisation strategy so that SMEs can catch up and innovate in order to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution. Chong also encouraged SME businesses to utilise MCYEC as a platform to raise awareness and learn about digital transformation together.
With regards to entrepreneurship, Chong reminded young entrepreneurs that government agencies in Malaysia like MAGIC, Cradle Fund and venture capitalist like Vynn Capital and Kejora Capital are a good place to seek funds for their startups. According to Chong, the Internet celebrity economy is currently very popular in China, and this trend will also spread to the international market.
“Key opinion leaders (KOLs), are an integral part of a phenomenon that’s transformed Chinese social media and marketing. As Chinese social media professionals, KOLs are true experts in standing out from the crowd, promoting and selling products.” said Chong.
Live streaming by internet personalities to sell goods is a relatively new sales method that has emerged in the past one to two years, shared guest speaker, Su Qin, renowned Chinese KOL and writer. Su opines that this trend will go on for at least another 3 to 5 years and may even become a way of life for people as live hosts are deeply loved by audiences due to the sharing of personal experiences.
“This is a kind of sharing, as if I am your friend, is lacking in traditional sales methods.” said Su.
Proceed Wisely – Navigating Internet Celebrity Economy
While businesses should definitely tap into the selling power of internet celebrities, Su Qin, reminded entrepreneurs that higher social media traffic is not necessarily better.
Su explained that social media traffic can be broken down into effective and ineffective traffic. Ineffective traffic is like a passer by; he might look at your posts but he will not buy your products. Instead, what companies should target for are beneficial followers that will stay.
Su Qin currently has 52mil Followers on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform, often compared to Twitter.
Su’s view are echoed by Edison Hong, one half of the famed Malaysian Tiktok duo, My Malaysia Cousin. He shared that many businesses do not understand that the number of followers on social media are not a firm indication of active traffic expected. He feels that this method of selecting KOLs can lead to spending of unneccesary money.
The Conference was opened by YAB Dato’ Seri Amirudin Bin Shari, Chief Minister of Selangor. Other guests present include H.E. Ouyang Yujing, China Ambassador to Malaysia, YB Dato’ Sri Mustapa bin Mohamed, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy), HAN Shengjian, Director General of Hainan Provincial Bureau of International Economic Development (IEDB), YB Dr Ong Kian Ming, Former Deputy Minister of International Trade & Industry (MITI) and Dato’ Lokman Hakim Ali, Secretary General of Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), among others.
Su Qin reminded entrepreneurs that higher social media traffic is not necessarily better.
Chong encouraged SME businesses to utilise MCYEC as a platform to raise awareness and learn about digital transformation together.
