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December 14, 2023 – Penang Global Business Services (GBS) Industry Academy (PGIA), first launched on 8 December 2022, is an academy that pools resources from the private sectors, government entities and academia to bridge talent supply and demand gap as well as become a launchpad to enhance the readiness and competency of the GBS talent.

InvestPenang, being the project manager of PGIA, officially concluded the 4^th quarter roundtable session in 2023 on 12 December 2023. Chaired by CEO of InvestPenang, Dato Loo Lee Lian, this session marked a pivotal milestone in collaboration with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Penang GBS Focus Group Members and Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC).

The topics discussed revolved around the outlook of GBS industry, PGIA’s 2023 training progress, and the outline of 2024 strategic plans, with the ultimate aim to build a robust talent pipeline for the evolving digital economy ecosystem for sustainable growth.

With the proliferation of next-generation technologies and the acceleration of digitalisation agenda, PGIA spearheaded upskilling and re-skilling courses focusing on technical skillsets, management, as well as soft skill development primarily aimed at enriching the existing GBS workforce.

Over the course of the year, PGIA organised a total of 23 courses and successfully trained 524 participants. Additionally, PGIA conducted a spectrum of GBS programmes and targeted workshops specialising in Finance, Accounting and Human Capital development throughout the year.

Malaysia’s GBS sector is expected to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.2%, reaching US$6.7 billion by 2025.  In addition, with the launch of Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDigital) in 2021, Malaysia emphasises on boosting its digital economy and expecting the digital economy to contribute 25.5% to GDP by 2025. With a focused strategy on talent development and swiftly transitioning from traditional execution to digital technology management, Penang is on track to emerge as a leading GBS destination, ensuring long-term and sustainable growth for talent regeneration.

Moving forward, PGIA commits to continue its engagement with industry players through organising targeted workshops and conference to promote high-value GBS activities and provide update on the most current GBS landscape and outlook. The focus for next year will revolve around engineering, IT, data analytics, generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), environment, social & governance (ESG) amongst others.

PGIA also strives to conduct more engagement with Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) in the northern region by launching GBS Career Days on campus, aiming to gather GBS companies to share about their workplace and also raise awareness of the job opportunities available in the digital economy to the jobseekers.

Also planned for 2024 are GBS networking sessions, with proposed GBS run and Sports Day, which serve as a dynamic platform for employees from different companies to gather and network, as well as advocating the GBS industry to a wider community.

For more information of PGIA, please visit https://investpenang.gov.my/launching-of-penang-gbs-industry-academy-pgia/. Individuals interested in becoming part of the GBS Focus Group members, feel free to contact Tun Ain at ain@investpenang.gov.my for more information.

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About InvestPenang
InvestPenang is the Penang State Government’s principal agency for promotion of investment. Its objectives are to develop and sustain Penang’s economy by enhancing and continuously supporting business activities in the State through foreign and local investments, including spawning viable new growth centers. To realize its objectives, InvestPenang also runs initiatives like the SMART Penang Center (providing assistance to SMEs) and Penang CAT Center (for talent attraction and retention). For more information, please visit https://investpenang.gov.my/ and follow InvestPenang’s social media channels: Facebook; LinkedIn.

Media Contacts:
InvestPenang
Elaine Cheah / Michelle Goy
elaine@investpenang.gov.my/ michelle@investpenang.gov.my