Matrade: eTrade financial incentive for companies to accelerate exports

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KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) is providing a financial incentive of RM 5,000 under its eTrade programme to accelerate exports through e-commerce by Malaysian companies participating in leading international online marketplaces.

Under the eTrade programme, Matrade Sabah director A Rashid Mohd Zain said approved companies would receive financial incentive of RM5,000 in the form of e-voucher or reimbursement.

He said the companies would also receive advisory services related to the eTrade e-marketplaces as well as training and online assistance.

Rashid said the companies under the eTrade programme would benefit from the reduced cost of onboarding e-marketplace through the financial incentives, as well as enhance their knowledge on online marketing and cross-border e-commerce by participating in relevant seminars and workshops.

In addition, he said the programme connects the companies with third party e-commerce enablers.

With the various assistance provided, Rashid said companies would therefore gain access to more export markets and buyers.

Rashid said this at a briefing entitled ‘Opportunity to Expand Your Market through E-Commerce: Alibaba.com’ co-organized by Kota Kinabalu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KKCCCI) and Matrade Sabah regional office here yesterday.

He said the eTrade programme is open to companies that are exporting Malaysian products, services or brands with at least 60 per cent Malaysian equity.

The companies must be incorporated under the Companies Act 1965, Companies Act 2016, Registration of Business 1956, Registration of Limited Liability Partnership 2012 or Cooperative Act 1993. He added that the companies must also be Malaysian SMEs to be eligible for the eTrade financial incentive and preferably exporting currently.

For Alibaba.com, Rashid said Matrade is offering an incentive of RM5,000 for approved companies that will be listing on this e-commerce platform. The net price for listing will be RM1,138 after deducting the RM5,000 incentive from the package price of RM6,138, inclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Earlier, Rashid said the Malaysian Government has recently established the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) to provide more opportunities for Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to expand their market overseas through e-commerce.

He said the DFTZ is the world’s first special trade zone that helps SME’s to export their products to the global market simpler, faster and more cost-effective.

“DFTZ aims to double the exports of SME’s to USD38 billion by 2025, create 60,000 jobs by 2025 and facilitate USD65 billion of merchandise movement by 2025.”

He said the government engaged Alibaba as a strategic partner as the e-commerce giant has a total gross merchandise value (GMV) of USD547 billion across its platforms last year, which is bigger than Amazon (USD250 billion) and eBay (USD84 billion) combined.

In 2015, Rashid said Alibaba’s platforms shipped 30 million packages per day while Amazon only shipped 3 million packages per day.