Aireen says the programme will assist SMEs to get started, build and grow their online presence, as well as enhance their ability to maintain sustainable business expansion and growth.
KUCHING: RedBeat Academy, one of the pillars for AirAsia Digital, hopes to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to get started, build and grow their online presence via its BINA Digital Programme.
The academy is a collaboration between AirAsia Digital (RedBeat Ventures) and Google, with the aim to future-proof the next generation by providing a one-stop service in tech, leadership and innovation that will be a key catalyst for the digital economy in Malaysia and Asean.
According to AirAsia Group’s president (Digital) Aireen Omar, the tech academy is built for coaching tech issues solvers for specific challenges and for the future. The academy was first opened to its own AirAsia Allstars to enable everyone to reskill and upskill themselves with tech knowledge, as well as to embrace the digital economy and stay relevant.
Subsequently, RedBeat Academy introduced a program called BINA Digital Programme, available to external participants such as SMEs learn and develop both their business and digital skill sets to meet the ever-changing economic environment.
“The pandemic changed the way we live, we see that a new normal is taking precedence where digital transformation has accelerated overnight,” she said.
“The new normal has created new opportunities or issues of the future that we’ve never faced before.”
Aireen highlighted that the programme will assist SMEs to get started, build and grow their online presence, as well as enhance their ability to maintain sustainable business expansion and growth.
“We realise that a lot of the small businesses are the hardest hit hard due to the pandemic. We wanted to do our part in helping as many local businesses as possible in this time of need.
“We have the right platform and infrastructure, and in this travel down-time, what better way to put our resources to good use than by lending a helping hand to those who need it.”
To note, the programme is composed of three categories: Free Webinar for SMEs which happen bi-weekly on Wednesday at 10am via the RedBeat Academy YouTube channel, The BINA Basic Programme for a small admin fee of RM20 and the BINA Advanced Programme at RM100 per participant.
Anyone that is interested in learning new digital skill sets can register for the programme.
All participants will also get certified with formal accreditation for all completed courses, as well as gain real-life e-commerce experiences by becoming a seller on ourshop.com through the OURSHOP Special.
Participants also have access to the BINA Community for networking opportunities.
“We are registered with the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) and SMEs who have an employer account with HRDF can get financial assistance to attend the program.”
In early April, AirAsia launched the ‘Save our Shops’ campaign to help SMEs local businesses. The campaign works by allowing merchants to market their products on OURSHOP with deliveries fulfilled by Teleport, the logistics arm of AirAsia.
“We are happy to share close to 1,600 SMEs are currently selling their products on our e-commerce platform, OURSHOP. Through the OURSHOP platform, we have over 100,000 monthly active users and 1.5 million monthly page views.
“Following up on the success from Save Our Shops campaign, we recently launched the OURSHOP East Malaysia Campaign which specifically supports more East Malaysian merchants to market their food items online on OURSHOP, AirAsia’s e-commerce platform in September.”
“Through this campaign, selected merchants who register with Teleport will be supported and equipped with the necessary skills to market their products online as well as auto-enrolled into the BINA Digital Programme which will help to enhance their skills and to prepare them to start selling their products to customers in other parts of Malaysia and regionally.”
To date, the academy has completed six BINA Basic classes with over 300 SMEs participating from various industries, the top three industries are from health and fitness, food and beverage and management.
“We also received enquiries from banks and corporations and the numbers continue to grow.Hopefully after this interview, there will be more SMEs joining the BINA programme courses.
“Through the recent “Shop Sama Kamek” campaign by Ourshop, we target to receive over 100 participants from Sarawak and Sabah for the programme.”
Overall, Aireen hopes SMEs will take this opportunity to join the OURSHOP East Malaysia campaign and reskill or upskill themselves and continue to excel in their businesses.
“We hope that SMEs will have an open mind, which is really important. With an open mind, there are so many other opportunities that you can pursue to be better in what you do.
“When you have an open mind, there will be doors open for you immediately. You need to try something new, work hard and never give up.
“We hope SME will take this opportunity to join the OURSHOP East Malaysia campaign and reskill or upskill themselves and continue to excel in their businesses.
“Also, we are opening the tech upskilling & reskilling courses to the public aside from SMEs in October 2020, so do lookout for that.
“Our upcoming plans also include a programme called BetaBuildLab: Innopreneur Program – Teaching people who innovate to become entrepreneurs.”