Measat and Parcel365 partner to encourage rural entrepreneurship. Photo: Measat

Measat and Parcel65 have revealed details of a milestone as they look to help rural entrepreneurs across Malaysia. The two companies announced Aug. 24 that they had activated the Program Transformasi Usahawan (PTU) segment of the KampungDigital365.com initiative. The activation was marked by a launch event that included the introduction of the PTU platform, which enables corporations and individuals to support the sales of local products, as well as training and creating employment for villagers.

The PTU will first focus on empowering women entrepreneurs to uplift themselves and their communities via the digital economy, while subsequent phases will target youths and farmers, among others.

Participants in the PTU will be provided startup capital, tools and access to Measat’s CONNECTme NOW high-speed broadband to get their business activities off the ground while receiving e-commerce training. The inaugural phase targets to train 125 entrepreneurs, which in turn supports 2,500 villagers from the Orang Asli community.

“As Malaysia’s rural broadband service provider, we are committed to connecting rural communities nationwide to the benefits of reliable high-speed internet connectivity and creating an ecosystem to develop the digital economy in rural areas. In our empowerment efforts, we believe that women are a key demographic whereby elevating them also means empowering families and the community. Thus, we are rolling out Phase 1 of the PTU in partnership with Parcel365 with a focus on women entrepreneurs in rural areas,” said Yau Chyong Lim Measat COO said in a statement.