Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia AirAsia Academy, RedBeat Capital’s education arm under Capital A Berhad has recently joined forces with Malaysia’s automotive marketplace and tech unicorn Carsome to develop in-demand marketable tech skills for underprivileged women through #RatuTech. The campaign aims to encourage women to not only develop marketable skills but also to expand their economic opportunities, participate in decision-making, network, grow as individuals, and simply have fun with technology.

To commemorate the partnership, Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A and Co-Founder and Group CEO of Carsome, Eric Cheng, met at Carsome’s Headquarters in Petaling Jaya. 

Cheng said that Carsome’s journey from only a lean team of five which has now expanded to become Southeast Asia’s largest car e-commerce platform was inspired by entrepreneurial stories and figures the founders respect like Tony. They also discussed ways to expand collaboration between the two digital platforms through #RatuTech.

Cheng added, “As one of the fastest growing tech companies in the Southeast Asian region, Carsome understands the shortage of tech talent to fill the growing demand for STEM jobs. We are happy to support AirAsia Academy’s efforts to expand the digital talent pool by helping women gain access to education, training, or networks that can make a career in technology possible. We are actively exploring creating job opportunities for the graduates of RatuTech, as we are confident that they will be capable and competent after taking Academy’s digital courses.”

The group of female students are part of the 200 women from underprivileged backgrounds, especially those in the B40 income group, taking digital fundamental courses including Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, Cybersecurity, Cloud Infrastructure, and Software Engineering, in hopes of becoming data analysts, digital marketers, cloud experts, and cyber security specialists. Some of the other sponsors include the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC), the Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre (SCENIC), Google Cloud as well as Yayasan Peneraju.

Fernandes commented, “AirAsia Academy’s vision of making education accessible, affordable and inclusive is very much in line with Capital A’s mission of serving the underserved and democratising our services for all. We are excited that Malaysia’s leading tech player Carsome has put faith behind our digital edutech platform and joined in our efforts to educate and cultivate the next generation of female tech talents, and also creating job placement opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Aireen Omar, President (Ventures) Capital A and CEO of AirAsia Academy, said, “We are grateful that Carsome is lending their support to our initiatives of addressing the underrepresentation of women in tech, and are confident that they can add value to their future company of employment. It’s inspiring that the women we are training as part of this campaign come from all walks of life, with great stories of overcoming personal and circumstantial struggles.”

“We have a stay-at-home mum who’s being upskilled to learn to grow her business and get into a new career to fund her business, along with a hearing impaired student who is learning to rise beyond her physical challenges to develop in-demand marketable digital skills,” Omar adds.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – airasia academy, the edutech arm of airasia Digital, and Google Malaysia have partnered in providing free digital courses for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia, as part of its BINA Digital program, which targets building a progressive business plan structured to supercharge their efforts online while looking into technical methods of productivity.

Said collaboration aims to empower the SME community in reskilling and upskilling themselves to digitize their business, stay relevant, be equipped with modern tech skill sets and continue to excel in their businesses.

Google’s involvement in the collaboration includes the utilization of the Google Primer, a mobile app that offers quick, easy-to-understand lessons to help business owners and individuals grow skills and reach their goals. The free courses are now available for SMEs or any individual who is interested to learn via the on-demand Learning platform at airasia digital’s website.

The first 50 airasia academy students who have completed the Primer series by 31 October 2021 will have the option to subscribe to courses on the on-demand Learning platform at only RM10 a month. They will also stand a chance to win a free seat to airasia academy instructor-led training courses and a lunch date with Aireen Omar, president of airasia digital when they have fully completed the Primer series.

Omar stated that they are delighted to embark on this journey together with Google Malaysia and look forward to reskilling and upskilling thousands of SMEs in Malaysia so they can be more resilient and continue to contribute positively to the economy.

She also added that the free courses will consist of nine minicourses for beginners, intermediate and advanced levels with topics such as ‘Grow your business and generate revenue’, ‘Take your business online’, ‘Get started with digital advertising’, among others.

“The SMEs are a key pillar of our economy. In these tough times, we’ve seen many local SMEs struggling to stay afloat and we want to continue playing our part by providing free access to those in need to ensure that they are equipped with tech skill sets to grow their businesses. Many businesses are sometimes unsure where to start and we believe these free courses can guide them into taking the first step to learn new tech skill sets.” Omar explained.

Meanwhile, Marc Woo, managing director at Google Malaysia, commented that by continuing to work with their long-standing partners like airasia academy, Google remains committed to ensuring that every business has the support and tools they need to recover and rebuild for the long run.

“Malaysians are spending more time online and as we embark on the path of economic recovery, digital technologies are pivotal to help SMEs adapt. This means that when these businesses go online, they can reach their customers faster, which in turn generates a higher uplift in our digital economy. It is even more crucial now than ever that we continue to help businesses of all sizes build digital skill sets,” Woo stated.