The MoU, inked on the sidelines of an eight-day trade and investment mission led by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz, was between MOL Accessportal, Canadian e-solution technology firm Municipal Web Portal Solutions Inc, and technology project financier Malaysia Debt Ventures Bhd.
Ganesh told Bernama after the signing that his company’s e-Government solutions, developed from ground-up based on Microsoft’s platform and having e-services concept, had attracted several Canadian local governments.
“Yes, Canada is advanced but because their e-solutions were developed a long time ago, those solutions are out of date. Now they are looking for replacement,” he said.
Ganesh said that given the high Internet penetration in the North American market, MOL Accessportal saw it as a big market and expected to secure contracts worth between C$2mil and C$5mil over the next one year.
MOL Accessportal’s e-Government solution is now used by the municipality of Pasir Gudang, Johor, with the contract valued at RM2.5mil.
While the market for its e-Government solutions looked promising and gave MOL Accessportal a higher margin, he said the company’s true crown jewel was its first project, MOL Cybercafe, a free worldwide management system that runs a programme called MOL e-points where users can pay cash at cybercafes for their online transactions.
Ganesh said MOL Accessportal planned to use e-points to turn cybercafes from just an avenue for Internet access to be more like e-commerce hubs.
“Our e-points’ overall revenue has been growing at a rate of 70%–100% a month,’’ he said.
On expansion, Ganesh said: “We are already talking with parties overseas. We have been getting queries about bringing it to countries like the Philippines, Nigeria and India. We even got a cybercafe in Britain wanting to distribute our products and to be a partner in Europe.”
For its financial year year ended June 20, 2002, MOL Accessportal enjoyed RM5.3mil in revenue. The company expects double-digit increases in revenue in the future. — Bernama
Quelle: The Star
