The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Ant International are strengthening their partnership to accelerate the digital transformation of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) nationwide.

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(L-R) Chen Leiming, Senior Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer of Ant International; Ir. Wan Murdani Wan Mohamad, Vice President of Digital Adoption, MDEC; Ian Cheong, CEO of EPOS

In a newly established Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Ant International will empower local MSMEs through EPOS, the all-in-one SME transformation platform of Ant International’s Antom, offering a comprehensive suite of digitalisation solutions. MDEC will support the programme by engaging the MSME community, industry associations, and ecosystem partners to drive broad-based digital adoption across the country.

This builds on MDEC’s ongoing collaboration with Ant International to support local talent and innovation development through its global digital business centre in Kuala Lumpur under the Business Digitalisation Initiative (BDI).

Anuar Fariz Fadzil, CEO of MDEC said, “Digitalisation has become a fundamental requirement for MSMEs to stay competitive and resilient. Our deepened collaboration with Ant International directly supports Malaysia’s journey towards an AI Nation, ensuring that even the smallest enterprises can access modern, AI-enabled tools. By synergising global technology capabilities with Malaysia’s national priorities, we are empowering MSMEs to transform how they operate, strengthen their business foundations, and participate fully in the opportunities of the digital economy.”

Driving Digital Inclusion for Malaysian MSMEs

MSMEs represent the backbone of Malaysia’s economy, accounting for 97% of all business establishments. Yet many still face challenges in adopting digital tools due to limited access, cost barriers, and lack of technical knowledge.

This collaboration is designed to bridge those gaps. Through EPOS, Ant International will unify its ecosystem of digital solutions and cutting-edge AI technologies, into a single platform that integrates payments, digital banking solutions, and growth tools tailored for MSMEs. With EPOS, MSMEs will gain access to simple, affordable, and powerful digital solutions—including payments, multi-channel online store deployment, operations management, and AI-powered productivity tools—all accessible within minutes.

Merchants can also unlock valuable business insights that enables them to run operations more efficiently, make data-driven decisions, and expand their reach across online channels.

Retail and F&B merchants stand to gain significantly. These sectors continue to face rising labour costs, manpower constraints, and increasing customer expectations for seamless, digitally enhanced experiences. As consumer behaviour shifts toward mobile-first engagement, digitalisation is no longer optional, but it is essential for sustained competitiveness and growth.

Ian Cheong, CEO of EPOS, said: “Malaysian MSMEs are ambitious, resilient, and eager to grow, but they need the right tools to compete in an increasingly digital economy. MDEC has made great strides in supporting MSME digitalisation, and through EPOS, we can advance this national strategy even further. By making advanced technology accessible within minutes, so that even the smallest business can operate smarter, serve customers better, and scale with confidence, we can ensure no MSME is left behind.”

Leveraging Malaysian Ecosystems for Support

As the agency leading Malaysia’s transformation towards an innovation-led digital economy, MDEC will spearhead initiatives to connect local communities, industry partners and ecosystem players, enabling them to collectively reach SMEs across diverse sectors.

These initiatives will include workshops and training sessions to raise awareness and facilitate access to new technologies such as AI, co-developed programs to engage SMEs and support them in adopting digital solutions, and strategic alignment of the partnership with MDEC’s broader national digitalisation strategies and ongoing initiatives.

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About MDEC

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) was established in 1996 to spearhead the country’s digital economy. MDEC launched Malaysia Digital (MD), a national strategic initiative aimed at addressing current key challenges in the digital landscape for a robust and agile digital economy. As an agency under the Ministry of Digital, MDEC drives the digital economy through industry development, trade facilitation and policy advocacy. Visit our website at www.mdec.com.my

About Ant International

With headquarters in Singapore and main operations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. Through collaboration across the private and public sectors, Ant International’s unified techfin platform supports financial institutions and merchants of all sizes to achieve inclusive growth through a comprehensive range of cutting-edge digital payment and financial services solutions. To learn more, please visit https://www.ant-intl.com/

About EPOS

EPOS is a leading Point-of-Sale (POS) digital solutions provider based in Singapore. Supporting Ant International's mission to empower SMEs, EPOS leverages Antom’s digital capabilities as the organisation’s central hub to serve regional small and medium-sized businesses with integrated O2O digital, payment and banking solutions. For more information about EPOS, please visit https://www.epos.com.sg

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