Former PIKOM chairman to expand eCommerce ecosystem with Netccentric purchase

KUALA LUMPUR: Former National Tech Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) chairman Ganesh Kumar Bangah has emerged as the substantial shareholder of Netccentric Ltd, a company listed in the Australian stock exchange.

Incorporated in Singapore in 2006, Netccentric is a digital media company with key markets being Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.

When contacted, he replied that his purchase of Netccentric was “for investment purposes and that more details would be made available in due course”.

Ganesh currently owns 84 per cent of Netccentric, having bought the block of shares from Tiah Ewe Tiam, Tiah Thee Kian, Tiah Thee Seng and Cheo Ming Shen.

In financial year 2019, the Netccentric group posted a pre-tax loss of S$100,000 on the back of S$7.3 million in revenue.

A source that NST Business spoke to said Ganesh would likely have strategic plans for Netccentric as it is unlike him to be a passive investor.

“Some industry people view Ganesh as being Malaysia’s ‘Bill Gates’,” he said.

“He had become Malaysia’s youngest CEO of a public listed company at 23 with the listing of MOL.com Bhd on Bursa Malaysia. His proven track record also includes listing MOL Global Inc on the Nasdaq market of the United States.”

The source added that Ganesh’s acquisition could stem from his belief that the field of ‘social commerce’ is still in its infancy and set to grow tremendously in years ahead.

Social commerce is essentially an extension of eCommerce that involves social media and user contributions to assist online buying and selling of products and services.

“Social commerce involves the employment of social networks in the context of e-commerce transactions, with influencers playing a huge part in swaying purchasing decisions,” said the source.

“My sense is that Ganesh is embarking on harnessing the power of social media and web technologies to turn Netccentric around, bearing in mind that he also owns Malaysia’s Commerce.Asia group with interests throughout the region.”

“Knowing Ganesh, he is probably looking at optimising operations at Netccentric while looking at diversifying and innovating on product offerings,” he added.

Ganesh had founded eCommerce ecosystem builder Commerce.Asia in 2016.

Since then, the all-in-one e-commerce ecosystem has grown in leaps and bounds and today has a database of over 8 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Southeast Asia with over five thousand active sellers that sell an estimated USD$200 million worth of goods through various eCommerce platforms.

Just last month, the Commerce.Asia group acquired a 30 per cent stake in Malaysia’s rural social commerce platform BizApp when Ganesh reportedly told media that he is looking at consolidating his entire eCommerce ecosystem before laying its focus on further regional expansion.

BizApp is a platform that is primarily used by local businesses and brands to manage business operations including order and fulfilment management.

The firm currently has over 200,000 agents with a gross merchandise volume of over RM600 million transacted in 2019.

Source: NST