Media Statement (10 October 2014)

Johan Mahmood Merican, Chief Executive Officer of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp)

In Budget 2015, the Prime Minister has shown that public private partnership is imperative to nurture home-grown Malaysian talent. The Budget 2015 speech set out various initiatives and incentives involving the Government partnering and promoting private sector employers to upgrade Malaysian talent in line with the needs of the economic transformation.

Key Budget 2015 measures embodying this spirit of collaboration between the public sector and private sector employers include:

• Encouraging employers to upskill their workforce by providing a double deduction incentive on expenses incurred in providing employees with professional qualifications (such as ACCA, CFA, and PMP) and industry recognised vocational qualifications;
• Developing industry ready graduates through a RM30 million allocation by TalentCorp for the Industry Academia Collaboration programme where universities, Government entities and industries will collaborate to develop the curriculum for short courses and industrial training;
• Providing more talent with industry exposure by extending double deduction incentives to employers providing structured internships to students pursuing diploma and equivalent vocational certifications;
• Encouraging the corporate sector to provide more scholarships to poor students by providing double deduction incentive on scholarships given to fund vocational and technical courses at the certificate level; and
• Bringing more professional women on a career break back to the workforce through the Women Career Comeback Programme which will be set up by TalentCorp.

TalentCorp will do its part to support Budget 2015 measures, by working with leading employers to better enable Malaysian talent to access high income career opportunities arising from the economic transformation.

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