Four case studies focusing on Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar were published in 2020 by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s (KAS) Regional Economic Programme Asia (SOPAS) and Woomentum, under the ‘Path to Success: How Women-owned Businesses Transform in the Era of Digitalisation’ publication. Lessons from Malaysia is a section that was part of this publication which looked at how digitalisation can support women-owned small and medium enterprise (WSMEs) in Malaysia. The publication overall argues that digitalisation can offer new potential for women-owned small and medium enterprises (WSMEs) to not only grow and innovate, but also offset some of the gender-related barriers towards further leveling the playing field.

Interviews were conducted to gather insights on the following four pillars as representative of key areas in which digitalisation can bring opportunities and challenges: 1) Access to Financing, 2) Access to Mentoring, Networking, and Skills, 3) Business Processes and Management, and 4) Crisis Management (COVID-19)