KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 -- A leading regional E-commerce firm has expressed optimism about the government’s continued plan to encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to grow and raise their competitiveness in Budget 2020.

Loyalty and payments platform Fave said via tech adoption, SMEs can raise productivity to hedge against the country's challenges should there be an economic downturn, as well as increase their efficiency in the long term.

Fave, which operates in 35 cities across Malaysia,Singapore and Indonesia, said it had enabled tens of thousands of SMEs to generate RM400 million in revenue growth across the region in 2018.

"Digital transformation is sweeping through the various service sectors, specifically in the food and beverage (F&B), wellness centres and retail industry.

"Fave is a merchant-first platform that allows these F&B SMEs to build their technological infrastructure to scale up their businesses and grow efficiently through its simple and easy-to-use mobile app for consumers," it said in a statement today.

Fave said the food services industry contributed nearly 2.8 per cent to Malaysia's gross domestic product in 2016.

In 2017, the sector recorded a gross output value of RM82.8 billion while employing 958,803 workers.

Fave said Malaysia's rising urban population has also led to an exponential increase in demand for food products.

However, the F&B SMEs face many challenges in their daily operations such as high cost of rental and manpower as well as customer reach.

"We at Fave are optimistic about the government’s announcement to highlight expansionary ways for retailers to go digital for the betterment of the nation’s economy," the company added.

Under Budget 2019, the government allocated RM210 million from 2019 to 2021 to support the transition and migration to Industry 4.0 for SMEs.

-- BERNAMA