KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — Malaysians, especially Bumiputeras, with the right knowledge and skills in technology have an added advantage in securing jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic as sectors accelerate towards digitalisation.

Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera (Yayasan Peneraju) chief executive officer Mohd Muzzammil Ismail said the country’s young human capital needs to be retrained and upgraded to be efficient, well-informed and data-driven.

"With the increasing number of unemployed graduates year on year as the requirements of employers have changed and automation has taken the job of humans, nobody can be sure of what the future will hold for the millennials and future graduates.

"Scholars should be prepared to face the fact the jobs they want may not exist in the future and they need to reskill and have learning agility to change and be responsive to the changes,” he said in a statement sharing his key inputs at the 2021 Peneraju Profesional Finance, Banking and Investment (FBI) Virtual Forum.

The FBI virtual forum was attended by more than 400 participants including the foundation’s existing scholars and new intakes for the Peneraju Profesional Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) and Peneraju Profesional Financial Risk Managers (FRM) programmes.

Mohd Muzzammil noted that Malaysia faces a shortage of CFAs and FRMs, with only 800 registered CFA charterholders and 93 certified FRM registered so far. Of the number, Bumiputeras comprise only 115 and 15 respectively.

"Yayasan Peneraju has always emphasised on producing future ready generations so that these talents can contribute towards alleviating the socio-economic woes of our nation,” he said.

Yayasan Peneraju, an agency under the Prime Minister’s Department, has been mandated to increase the quality, quantity and relevance of Bumiputera talents in high-income economy through academic, vocational, professional and specialist certification programmes.

It has developed over 35,000 young human capital in various fields through its 261 funding programmes, distributing a total allocation of RM716 million since it was established nine-years ago.

Information on the funding programmes can be obtained at www.yayasanpeneraju.com.my. — Bernama