Digital inclusion intervention for women microentrepreneurs in East Coast Peninsular Malaysia: Integrating digital literacy, social support, and entrepreneurial capabilities NGT approach to selecting the most practical and impactful interventions

Abstract

This study constructs a combined digital inclusion intervention model for women micro-entrepreneurs in East Coast Peninsular Malaysia, based on the intersection between digital literacy, social support system and entrepreneurial capability enhancing. Women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Teren-gganu and Pahang encounter complex barriers such as inadequate digital infrastructure, low technological literacy, poor business networks and sociocultural norms that impede them to engage in the digital economy. Using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) approach, seven experts purposively selected from government officials, training providers, digital literacy entrepreneurs women who have succeeded in enterprise and financial institutions participated in a virtual consensus-building session held on Google Meet. Experts identified and prioritised six key interventions through five formal rounds of silent generation (ideas), round-robin (sharing ideas), group discussion (reasoning) and total priority voting. The findings showed that it was univer sally agreed upon (across all ratings) that "Easy Financial Records & Cashflow Workshop using apps" was the number one priority (100% consensus), followed by "Content and Live Selling Training (By Phase)" (95.24% consen sus) and finally, "Digital Security & Anti Scam Training" garnered a 90.48% consensus. Our results show preference on the part of experts for agents that connect digital tools to business objectives with significant focus on financial management and revenue generation as opposed to early-stage technical training. This approach is an evidence-based guide for the policy makers and program designers to adopt a business value first standpoint in terms of how best to tailor initiatives on digital inclusion for rural women entrepreneurs in developing economies.