GLOW MDEC’s aspirations help digital freelancers be more competitive globally
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) on Thursday announced the Global Online Workforce Aspirations (GLOW Aspirations) program, which is a program to help Malaysians become digital freelancers who are more globally competitive.
GLOW Aspiration is a support program to its main program, namely GLOW, which has been introduced since 2016.
The new program will focus on providing intensive training, where coaching sessions are conducted entirely by MDEC to ensure its quality and effectiveness.
The program which will be scheduled to run from May to September 2022 will provide training, coaches and mentors to 4,000 Malaysians to become digital freelancers.
It sets a target that at least 75% of the trained participants will be successful in generating income.
Chief Executive Officer of MDEC, Mahadhir Aziz said, GLOW Aspiration is driven by a digital platform that meets the demands of the current economic environment.
“We intend to match the two elements in order to promote access to digital platforms for citizens who are interested in engaging in economic sharing.
“We want to utilize and reactivate assets that are not being maximized in the economy and seize various opportunities to increase household income. It can be done through improving skills and improving the marketability of gig workers,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
The program targets unemployed graduates with preference given to those holding diplomas or degrees in Information Technology (IT), Computer Science, Multimedia, Business, Marketing, Hospitality and Languages.
MDEC also gives priority to workers in the tourism and hospitality, creative media and education sectors who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially workers who are laid off and those who are subject to a salary cut of more than 30%.
Through this program, participants will be given exposure and guidance to identify online platforms where they can utilize skills, as well as the training needed to improve skills.
Participants will be introduced to five important cluster topics such as websites, information technology (IT) and software, content writing, design, media and architecture, data management, virtual office clerks, sales and marketing.
Training sessions will be conducted by GLOW trainers who are experienced freelancers who have excellent achievements and provide mentoring sessions for free until participants successfully obtain their own projects on a platform recognized by MDEC.
MDEC has partnered with a host of local and international platforms to provide guarantees to freelancers to bid for jobs, and projects in a safe and protected digital environment.
Among the platforms are Upwork, Freelancer.com, Workana, Topcoder, 123RF, Favser.com, Rtist, Experfy, DesignCrowd and PeoplePerHour.
Since its launch in 2016, GLOW has empowered local talent through retraining and upskilling, as well as helping to promote online freelancing to be recognized as a lucrative career that can provide sustainable income.
Overall, the GLOW program has successfully trained a total of 73,198 participants and helped them generate a cumulative income of over RM240 million.
source – Astro AWANI
