KUALA LUMPUR: Alibaba Group has announced the return of its LiveNOW training programme, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative dedicated to the Malaysian community.
An extension of the LiveNOW 2020, the 2022 edition will be remodelled to upskill and reskill more Malaysians, including the B40 group and other underserved communities, and help them unlock potential opportunities in the interactive e-commerce world.
Designed for individuals who are interested in exploring a career as a KOL live-streamer or online video producer, LiveNOW 2022 is also relevant for business owners, especially micro-entrepreneurs, who are keen to host their own livestream or produce their own e-commerce videos to deepen consumer engagement.
The free training sessions will be conducted in three languages across three Saturdays – June 25, 2022 for English, July 2, 2022 for Bahasa Malaysia, and July 9 for Mandarin. All training sessions will be held online to accommodate more participants across the country.
"The rise of a mobile-first reality in recent years means that consumer engagement formats such as live streaming and online videos are increasingly intertwined with commerce," said Tmall Taobao World Malaysia country manager, Jess Lew. The Tmall Taobao World is an Alibaba business unit that supports the LiveNOW programme.
"Encouraged by the positive response we saw in 2020, we are excited to bring back our LiveNOW CSR programme this year to open the door to potential opportunities in interactive e-commerce wider for Malaysians, as part of Alibaba's commitment to enabling access to the digital economy for all," added Lew.
In addition to the original module about KOL live streaming, this year's training will be upgraded to include an online video production component given the increased use of short videos as a marketing means in recent years.
Participants will be able to learn from industry guest speakers, including coaches from Taobao Malaysia and Lazada Malaysia, as well as KOLs who will share their first-hand experience and insights.
In 2020, LiveNOW had successfully incubated 200 live streaming KOLs. This year, the programme aims to train up to 300 participants in collaboration with Moden KOL Academy and with the support from Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp), MYNIC Berhad, Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation
(Sidec) and Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC).
Founder of Sharing his thoughts on this year's programme outline, Moden KOL Academy founder, Jerry Hang said that in addition to live streaming skills, participants will also be learning on what it means to be an authentic KOL and how it differs from being an influencer.
"With consumers demanding more video content and research showing that the majority of them are convinced to buy a product after watching a video, we will incorporate training in e-commerce video production to build participants' fundamental knowledge in this field," said Hang.
This year's programme has also been optimised to create more post-training opportunities for participants to put what they learn into practice. Those who complete the training are welcome to join the LazTalent Community – Lazada's pool of grassroots live streaming KOLs.
Alibaba LiveNOW training programme 2022 is now open for registration to all Malaysians aged 18 years and above. Fill up the form to register https://bit.ly/livenow2022