And the Perak-born mother-of-one was eager to help; she is currently working on a solution to digitalise Tok Yob’s network marketing business for its main product, Kopi Tenang.

Tan’s always eager to help any Malaysian with an entrepreneurial spirit.

What’s most important, however, is that she can, through BuyMalaysia.com, an e-commerce marketplace for everything Malaysian, which she heads.

BuyMalaysia, part of the MPay “Digital Economy, Connected Community” ecosystem, and its B2B platform MDEX (Malaysia Digital Enterprise Exchange) were the brainchild of Chew Chee Seng – the founder of MPay and Tan’s boss.

It was set up in 2010 under the National ICT Initiative to champion e-commerce for SMEs in the country.

Although the initial adoption was high in 2010 with some 3,000 businesses under its umbrella, the SME market was simply not ready to go digital.

According to Tan, this was due to trust issues, which led to low usage.

Fast forward to a few years later, BuyMalaysia had a second shot at a revival of sorts in 2017 when the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) launched the Matrade eTrade grant to help SMEs get on board e-commerce.

The scheme was devised to help SMEs export their products through e-commerce or digital means and to help Malaysian brands grow and thrive – which is coincidentally what BuyMalaysia is all about.

A change in consumer behaviour, especially with people becoming more accustomed to online shopping and the emergence of new technology eventually saw the company roping in more Malaysian brands to introduce to the foreign markets.

To date, they have 261 merchants under them, including Aik Cheong, Hurix, Dates Valley, The Milk Shop, Kenyalang and Seniman.

But it was the Covid-19 pandemic that made BuyMalaysia’s role more relevant.

Tan says it accelerated the need for digitalisation by five years.

“The pandemic also showed we cannot rely 100% on imports, and this is what the brand is about,” she tells FMT.

“We want to encourage Malaysians to continue to produce, and not slip to become a consumption nation.”

And the nationalistic spirit of supporting local brands, which hearkens to the time the country pushed the “Beli Barangan Buatan Malaysia” campaign, is everywhere now, she says.

“It’s very strong now and the pandemic has given us this opportunity (to leverage on that).”

Covid-19 saw the willingness of more traditionally-inclined SMEs to transition to digital, based on the volume of enquiries she has received and organic traffic into the site.

It has spurred her to look into launching a local brand with a neighbourhood concept.

“It’s basically going to be run by a neighbourhood, for the entrepreneurs within the neighbourhood. We will provide the technology,” she says.

“This way, we are able to offer an equitable and affordable way for micro and small businesses to go digital, and an alternative to the current service providers who are charging some 20-something percent commission on sales.”

Tan explains further that by using a community-run model, BuyMalaysia is able to offer much lower rates, making digital more inclusive to the little guys.

Come mid-April, BuyMalaysia will be launching a Zoom event on their Facebook page to pitch the idea to enterprising entrepreneurs who have expressed keen interest in the concept.

Tan says that BuyMalaysia – which she still views as a startup – is more than just a platform aimed at helping small to medium enterprises penetrate a crowded local market or an international one.

It also wants to groom Malaysian entrepreneurs and form strong partnerships around the globe, especially with the digital economy becoming even more vital in the Covid-19 era.

In the last few months, BuyMalaysia has signed global partnerships with both digital and traditional businesses in the import/export scape and will soon announce a new “Global Qualified Leads” programme for their sellers.

Through these partnerships, niche-focused virtual events will also be organised to connect sellers and their products to buyers worldwide.

And then there is the Global Rakan BuyMalaysia programme, which sees Malaysians abroad (and fans of Malaysia) become representatives who “knock on doors” to introduce and promote Malaysian brands.

For Tan, the human factor is very important.

“While technology facilitates business-to-business (B2B) transactions, you cannot take away the human factor in developing trust and a relationship,” she says.

“It is still very much part of the decision-making process when buying an item. Our core belief is that it takes a community to build a business, so it’s not B2B, but rather more B4B.”

Currently, BuyMalaysia has “friends” in Hong Kong, the US and Bahrain, and is in talks of signing Rakan BuyMalaysia in New Zealand, the UK, and Australia soon.

The concept is a no-brainer, according to Tan, considering the huge number of Malaysians studying and working abroad.

“That’s your pool of customers. If you’re entrepreneurial, sign up, pick a product you like and advocate it,” says an optimistic Tan, who hopes that many would join hands and introduce Malaysian products to their non-Malaysian friends.

For more information on BuyMalaysia, visit its website or Facebook page.