Govt teams up with eBay

Online auction site eBay and its payment provider PayPal have signed a deal with the Malaysian government to help boost small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in the region, reports The Star Online.

Under the agreement, eBay will organise education services and e-commerce workshops in several major cities across the country.

“We want to help the SMEs break into e-commerce to give them a competitive advantage in the global arena,” says Dr Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid, chairman of government-controlled SME Corporation.

US president Barack Obama has outlined plans to encourage small businesses to create more jobs, states All Headline News.

The $33 million plan would give SME owners a $5 000 tax credit for adding more workers and another $1 000 credit for increasing employee salary.

Obama says: "The economy is growing, but job growth is lagging. This is only one part of our larger jobs package, but it will be a key element to spur hiring and give all small businesses that participate significant tax relief."

This is the best time for small and medium IT and I-enabled services (ITES) companies to start, as the cost of becoming an entrepreneur is shrinking two times compared to five years' back, said Sachin Vinod Rathi, architect adviser at Microsoft India, according to SME Times

He was speaking at a recent conference in New Delhi on the 'Future of India's IT & ITES sector; evolving business models for sustained growth', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, in partnership with Punjab Infotech.

Rathi said: "Currently we are going through a phase, which is termed a 'cheap revolution'; because of cloud computing the infrastructure is cheap now. The hardware and software is cheap. Similarly the cost of marketing is getting cheaper and cheaper today. Due to this e-marketing revolution, which is almost zero cost marketing, the cost of traditional marketing media is also becoming less costly in comparison to what it was five years back."