New Digital Sdn Bhd CEO and founder Nhu Nguyen saw the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to address the immediate needs of businesses struggling to maintain operations amid travel restrictions.
She founded Salt Tech Solutions, which quickly rose to prominence, achieving recognition as one of the top 20 tech companies in Malaysia under National Tech Association of Malaysia for its Virtual Event System and earning the Top 100 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Award for Fast Moving Companies in 2022.
Nhu provided an instant solution for an instant issue but after Covid-19, businesses did not need it anymore and she was short on funding.
Adapting to the changing landscape, Nhu restructured her business, leading to the creation of New Digital Sdn Bhd in May 2023 which focuses on leveraging cutting-edge technology to empower SMEs in their digitalisation journey.
“With limited funding, I did different things to help customers grow sales with the help of technology. I signed many partnership agreements with bigger tech teams and solutions,” she told TMR.
Her main challenges are to create products that can scale.
“Some products require highly skilled IT development, which is limited in Penang. We hired and trained developers, but some left for multinational corporations,” she said.
Nhu noted that Malaysia’s multicultural environment and diverse talent pool are significant strengths that contribute to the country’s tech ecosystem.
New Digital is going to focus on dynamic and integrated call centre solutions, language-specific AI and machine learning models for natural language processing, enabling better communication tools and services.
She is also venturing into fintech innovation, including mobile banking, digital wallets and peer-to-peer lending.
New Digital is partnering several payment gateways across Southeast Asia, to streamline payment
transactions for its customers, as well as the Northern Corridor Economic Region and Malaysia Digital Economy Corp for market access opportunities for Malaysian companies.
