Go Digital ASEAN Project Overview

Go Digital ASEAN is an initiative designed to promote and provide digital skills training to entrepreneurs, small business owners, and aspiring startups across Southeast Asia. This project is supported by Google.org and ASEAN and is executed by The Asia Foundation. The program focuses on helping participants develop critical digital skills to thrive in the evolving digital economy. The project is divided into two key programs: Explore Digital and Grow Digital.

Program 1: Explore Digital

Explore Digital is an inspirational speaker series that brings together entrepreneurs and thought leaders from across ASEAN to share their experiences, successes, and insights into regional trends impacting small businesses.

The program takes place in the form of 6 webinars, allowing participants to connect with a digital community of fellow entrepreneurs. By fostering a platform for knowledge exchange, small business owners learn from one another’s challenges and solutions.

Key Features of Explore Digital:

• Webinars: Six sessions covering topics like digital marketing, e-commerce, financial management, and innovation.
• Target Audience: Small business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, and students from various industries including e-commerce, technology startups, hospitality, food and beverage, and retail.
• Engagement: Participants get the opportunity to interact with successful business leaders from across ASEAN and engage with peers in a collaborative digital village.

Challenges Encountered:

• Partnering with Organizations: Building partnerships with aligned goals required overcoming competing priorities and limited resources.
• Audience Outreach: Targeted advertising needed to address region-specific content and combat digital fatigue.
• Platform Setup: Using Google Classroom for the webinars required careful setup to ensure a seamless experience, high engagement, and compliance with regional data security standards.

Participation:

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Over 2,062 participants joined the webinar series, with additional participants viewing recorded sessions as part of the Grow Digital physical training program.

Program 2: Grow Digital

Grow Digital provides advanced training for entrepreneurs and small business owners on critical business skills. The program focuses on four main topics: Financial Literacy, Digital Literacy, Cybersecurity, and Green Business.

Unlike Explore Digital, Grow Digital takes place through physical training sessions, with 30 workshops held across 8 provinces in Cambodia. The training empowers business owners with the tools they need to improve their operational efficiency, expand their digital presence, and adopt sustainable business practices.