BANGI:Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today launched the Ministry of Higher Education's National Economic Reform Plan (PENJANA) Career Advancement Program or KPT-CAP, which ensures graduates of the skills improvement program are gainfully employed.

He said the course under the KPT-CAP program was designed according to the needs and requirements set by companies hiring these graduates.

Citing the example of the 'Smart Trucker' course, he said the (course) content was designed based on skills required by logistics companies to issue the 'Letter of Commitment' (LOC) to the ministry.

"Once the course is completed, the graduates will be offered employment with the logistics company," he said when launching the program at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) here today.

Muhyiddin, who expressed his concern on the fate and future of students graduating this year, said graduates can now apply to join KPT-CAP through the ministry's Graduates Reference Hub for Employment and Training or GREaT portal.

"I would like to call on the graduates of 2020 and 2019 who have not been fortunate enough to land a job, to take the opportunity to learn more skills and competency values to further improve their marketability," he said.

In his speech, Muhyiddin gave the example of local university graduates who have made a name for themselves as entrepreneurs and deserved to be inspiring icons for young graduates.

He narrated the achievements of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) graduate Arif Tukiman, 28, who is currently the chief executive officer and owner of RunCloud company which offers cloud server and web deployment services.

The company, now worth RM20 million, manages more than 230,000 web applications from over 100 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and India, the company's main markets.

Runcloud has won various awards including Merit Award at the International Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) in Guangzhou China; Judges 'Choice TOP100 Asia Pacific Echelon; Global Techsummit Malaysia winner and Startup of the Year at the Asean Rice Bowl Award that led to Arif being named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2020 list under the Technology Business category, Muhyiddin said.

The prime minister also shared the success of Multimedia University graduate Muhammad Usamah Zaid Yasin, an important figure behind the animated series 'Upin and Ipin' and 'Agent Ali The Movie' which earned RM30 million in six weeks of screening.

Muhyiddin also mentioned another successful Multimedia University graduate, Mohd Nizam Abdul Razak, the creator and director of the animated series BoboiBoy and its franchise, and the founder of Animonsta Studios.

Muhyiddin said entrepreneurship not only generates income but helps creates jobs as well.

"Entrepreneurship should be seen as a great potential career that can be explored by students and graduates," he said.

Muhyiddin said he was made to understand that the Higher Education ministry was developing the Entrepreneurship Action Plan for Institutions of Higher Learning 2021-2025 to ensure the entrepreneurship agenda in tertiary institutions continue to be empowered.

"I hope this action plan will uphold the entrepreneurial agenda in tertiary institutions more comprehensively through the strengthening of a complete entrepreneurial ecosystem," he said.

-- BERNAMA