Nowadays, it’s commonplace to see neighbourhood shops offering QR code payments and we continue to see people around us using delivery and courier services, even after the lockdown was lifted. As we advance further in the nation’s digital transformation, local businesses will need to explore frontier technologies like Big Data, the internet of things, artificial intelligence (AI), and more in order to stay ahead.      

With that, the Huawei Spark Accelerator programme has returned once again this year to expedite the growth of digital startups. For those who have not heard of the Huawei Spark program, it is a global initiative from Huawei with the purpose to incubate and accelerate the growth of startups in Malaysia. The focus industries this year include banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), healthcare, education, office automation, marketing automation, AI, or machine learning analytics. A total of  more than RM150,000 worth of benefits will await participants of the Huawei Spark program. These benefits include training resources, mentoring, business match-making, going to market with Huawei as well as opportunity to sell through Huawei App Store and Cloud Marketplace, giving startups access to 600 million Huawei mobile and cloud users globally.  

Read on to find out why the Huawei Spark Accelerator program is your preferred platform in boosting your company’s digital journey.

1. Know What Digital Grants You’re Eligible For

The government has recognised the importance of new technologies in helping small-and-medium enterprises thrive during and beyond the pandemic. Whether it’s financing from the government or private sector, there are plenty of initiatives or products offering financing support for businesses of all sizes.

For example, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) is giving small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) up to RM5,000 for digitalisation purposes in key areas like payroll, accounting, procurement, marketing, and so forth.   

As mentioned earlier, the Huawei Spark programme provides digital startups with the opportunity to leverage on Huawei technologies and expertise. Digital startups with an innovative and scalable business model are welcome to apply for the programme. 

Last year, local tech startup Innov8tif emerged as the winner in the Huawei Spark competition for its solution, the OkayDoc platform, an e-KYC (electronic know your customer) tool that automates ID authentication and prevents fraud. As the winner of the competition, the company got to walk away with financial support in the form of USD 125,000 worth of Cloud credits for the company to build their technology stack.  

2. Train Up Talents And Outsource 

With a shortage of skilled talents in the IT labour market, business owners can turn to automation and technologies to reduce the need for specialist manpower. Business owners can subscribe to solutions like Device as a Service (DaaS) that help companies manage and maintain their technological devices.    

In addition, Huawei Cloud services, for example, provide products like the ModelArts is an AI development platform that enables developers and data scientists of any skill level to rapidly build, train, and deploy models anywhere for production purposes and so forth. Meanwhile, FunctionGraph allows you to run your code without provisioning or managing servers, while ensuring high availability and scalability. All you need to do is upload your code and set execution conditions, and FunctionGraph will take care of the rest.

Selected participants of the Huawei Spark programme will undergo training on Huawei Cloud services and will be provided with tools and resources to build their product. As mentioned earlier, Innov8tif emerged as the winner in the Huawei Spark competition for its solution, the OkayDoc platform. Powered by AI, OkayDoc automates the authentication process to check for visual compliance and prevent fraud during the eKYC check. This feature uses machine learning capabilities. Innov8tif has developed nearly 12 sets of algorithms to cater for its OkayDoc platform.

3. Be Part Of A Tech Community

As digital transformation in the nation is still in its early days, it may not be easy to find an established community where you’re able to explore advanced technologies together. Huawei Spark is held in collaboration with top tech agencies in the nation including MDEC, TM One, Cradle, and more. 

Participants of the Huawei Spark programme will get to attend workshops conducted by industry leaders in their area of expertise. The top winners of the Huawei Spark 2021 programme – Innov8tif, DoctorOnCall, and MHub – all received one-on-one mentoring and networking opportunities with industry experts, online and offline training resources, dedicated technical support, go-to-market (GTM) support, and more. Hence, the programme does not only offer monetary rewards, but also crucial resources like market access, mentorship, and more. 

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As a digital startup, it’s important to expose oneself to new technologies and interactions with industry experts, and what better way to catapult your company to new heights than through the Huawei Spark programme.

• TAGS:
• Digitalisation
• Huawei
• Huawei Spark Accelerator
• SMEs