Since opening for business on December 2 last year, the MARA Digital Mall – which runs on the concept of only leasing out retail space to Malay traders – has made RM1.7 million in sales.
Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob laid out the numbers at the monthly assembly for his ministry’s staff this morning.
“In the context of producing more ICT entrepreneurs under the entrepreneurial development holistic model through this centre (Mara Digital), Mara materialised wholesalers, anchor tenants, marketing platforms, entrepreneurial training and finance facilities,” he said, as quoted by Bernama.
The pilot MARA Digital Mall, located in Menara MARA in Kuala Lumpur, was proposed after racial violence broke out last July in Low Yat Plaza, arguably Malaysia’s most popular tech and digital mall.
A Malay youth had been beaten and captured by ethnic Chinese employees in Low Yat for stealing a mobile phone. More than 200 Malay-rights activists and their supporters gathered outside of the mall to demand respect for “Bumiputera sovereign rights”.
The MARA Digital Mall now has outlets owned and operated by 38 Bumiputera traders, as well as storefronts for national telcos and ISPs Maxis, Celcom, DiGi, Umobile, p1Wimax, and Fiber@Home.
MARA, or the People’s Trust Council, is scheduled to open two more MARA Digital outlets in Shah Alam and Damansara by June this year.
