Accelerate My Business Executive Summary Report 2022
Disruption to labor markets brought by Covid-19, alongside rapid digitalization, created a ‘double disruption’ for marginalized sectors in the Asia-Pacific region. The micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector has generally suffered in the Asia-Pacific region, but female entrepreneurs were most affected. They have been facing challenges such as limited access to funding for business ventures, lack of networks and expertise, and gender biases.
In response to these challenges, The Asia Foundation collaborated with AT&T and Visa to launch the Accelerate My Business (AMB) program, an initiative to help women-led MSMEs in rural and remote communities in Malaysia and Indonesia to gain practical skills to sustain and grow their businesses. AMB is designed to build on the basic digital literacy training provided by Go Digital ASEAN and to equip women-led MSMEs with the next level of skills needed to better participate in the digital economy. AMB is part of a wider suite of digital skilling initiatives offered through The Asia Foundation’s Future Skills Alliance. This report provides an overview of the Accelerate My Business program in Malaysia and Indonesia.
