Reflection On The Global Online Workforce Initiative In Malaysia
On September 24, 2018, I attended a seminar on e-Rezeki (GLOW) organized by the MDEC. The seminar was conducted by Encik Muhd Ihsanuddin Jamhari, he is a master trainer for GLOW and he is also a full-time freelancer. He explained that MDEC is a one of the digital economic platform that widely used by Malaysians, but there is some people do not know about MDEC very well.
Main focus of MDEC program is to help people to generate their income digitally. MDEC divided into two which is, e-Usahawan and e-Rezeki. E-Usahawan is a program that will teach us techniques on how to sell and promote our products in social media such as Facebook, Instagram and etc. Next, he also explains that e-rezeki have rebranding their program into new one named GLOW which is comprises the word Global Online Workforce. This is because they want to avoid confusion among people about e-Rezeki and GLOW. So, we can consider e-Rezeki and GLOW is a same program that have same objectives.
First of all, GLOW is one of the government's initiatives to Malaysians to create a career by using the Internet as a platform to gain income. The GLOW program is one of the alternatives that have organized by MDEC which is a government agency under Malaysia's Ministry of Communications and Multimedia. GLOW is a digital income-generating program for Malaysians via 'crowdsourcing' method. "Crowdsourcing" means digital revenue generation where work is offered and implemented digitally on a global platform. GLOW is implemented to create a community of capable digital workers. GLOW also introduces freelancing as an alternative career for Malaysians through global digital revenue. After that, GLOW used concept of "sharing economy" as a method to apply in business. For example, Jeff Bazos the founder of Amazon and he is one of the richest people in the world who used concept of "sharing economy". This concept is one of the most effective method because we can share our products with the public and this concept also introduces the "stuff to skills" technique. Stuff to skills means that we used our services to people with skills that we have. The closest examples we can visualize in Malaysia are Lazada and Shopee, these two platforms are widely used by people to do online business. Thus, benefits that we can get by joining this program are opportunities to open a digital employment agency business, and flexibility of performing digital jobs anywhere at any time.
Furthermore, MDEC attract people’s attention to join GLOW by using social media and media mass. The question is, who should be involved in this program and what is the criteria that we should have to participate in this program? The criteria for selecting GLOW participants usually have the qualifications or skills in technology. Qualifications in technology, digital design and foreign language are an advantage to participants who wish to participate in this program. In addition, experienced digital workers are very welcome to participate in this program. GLOW also accepts students from IPTA and IPTS, so it is a good thing for all students who want to generate income while studying and it also accepts freelancers who can work offline and face to face. Hence, we can conclude that digital skills are high demands in current job market.
Moreover, the impact of this GLOW program on Malaysians are to reduce unemployment rates especially among university graduates. After that, this program can provide opportunities for people to enhance their skills internationally or within Malaysia and promoting services and skills of Malaysians to the global marketplace. Besides, GLOW have introduced lots of seminar training for free. For example, the GLOW HLI's program and ‘fast track’ program. The advantages for those who are participating this seminar will have an individual mentoring sessions and online monitoring. They also can be a member of the Malaysian Freelance Association (MAFA). In addition, economy can also be strengthened and expanded with the existence of this skilled freelancer.
Am I interested to join this program? The answer is absolutely yes because the program able to give me an experience and opportunity to highlight my IT skills. Next, GLOW program can be one of the alternatives for me to share ideas with the people around the world and learn something new from them. This program can improve my soft skills to do work at a time, for example I can work while studying. I also can have my own side incomes by using my skills in IT such as doing a proposal to a big company. Last but not least, I don’t have to worry about on how to manage my time because I will do my work due to time given by the clients. Hence, this program is flexible for a student like me. Finally, I hope the MDEC can organize many programs like this to help our netizens to change their lives. I also hope MDEC will provide a lot of programs like this to show support for digital workers to be more motivated and committed.
