MDEC appoints chief digital business officer as part of 'Reinvent' agenda

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The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has appointed Aiza Azreen Ahmad (pictured) as chief digital business officer to drive all business development, strategic and operational aspects of the company. This includes corporate and business development initiatives; strategic planning; budget development and control; commercial input into national digitalisation development; as well as support investor relationships and fundraising.

In her new role, Aiza will be a member of the MDEC Operating Council and will report directly to CEO Surina Shukri. She will oversee and steer the digital adoption ecosystem in eCommerce, business digital adoption, data ecosystem development and the digital infrastructure departments. She will also lead external innovation opportunities to expand commercial strategies and build corporate business and innovations for eCommerce, in line with MDEC’s focus on digitalising SMEs, MSMEs and enterprises.

She has over 20 years of experience working in Malaysia and Australia across multiple industries in strategy development and execution of large-scale business transformation. She held leadership positions at Pertama Digital, Axiata Digital Services, Axiata eCode, Bank Rakyat, Sime Darby Group, Media Prima and AmBank. During her time in these companies, she was responsible for pioneering Malaysia’s cashless ecosystem with Boost eWallet; deploy frontier technologies; innovate operating models and commercialise businesses through mergers and acquisitions; venture building; and collaborating with strategic partners.

Aiza is among the few latest leadership appointments since the beginning of 2021, including Dashika Gnaneswaran as senior manager, newsroom and Norazidah Mohd Nor as director of corporate secretarial. Last year, it also restructured the organisation into four focus areas - digitally-powered businesses, digital investment, and digitally-skilled Malaysians.

According to MDEC, the appointments are part of its "Reinvent" agenda, which CEO Surina previously described as a strategic change management exercise launched to inculcate a high-performing and high-impact organisation.

“I had the good fortune of having conversations with the leadership team at MDEC on what is required to accelerate Malaysia’s digital economy, the execution of MDEC’s ‘Reinvent’ as well as the inherent and future challenges in these efforts. At the end of these conversations, taking leave from the private sector to be part of MDEC’s journey was not a difficult decision to make," Aiza said.

Meanwhile, Surina said Aiza's appointment is a reflection of MDEC’s commitment to create technocrats and a people-first society in the age of 4IR technology, leading to shared prosperity for all. "The appointment of Aiza will strengthen our line-up as we expand our business capabilities and opportunities, both domestically and globally, in our resolve to create and bolster impactful digital outreach for Malaysia. I’m excited to work with Aiza and I am confident that she will further add value to MDEC as we strive towards driving digital outreach for the society and economy," Surina added.

MDEC's chairman Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff said with Aiza, MDEC is able to further expand and solidify its business development initiatives and reach in the digital economy sphere, allowing it to fulfil its goals and Malaysia’s digital vision as espoused in the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint.

The MyDigital initiative was recently launched by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and covers three phases. It is expected to complete by 2023 and this is alongside the government's plan to help 875,000 micro enterprises and SMEs to kickstart their digital journey via eCommerce. At the same time, this initiative aims to attract RM70 billion in domestic and international digital investments by 2025.

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