IN LINE with the Human Resources Ministry’s mission to address youth unemployment and accelerate digital inclusion, the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) and home-grown social impact enterprise Pepper Labs have teamed up under the Google Gemilang initiative.
This pioneering collaboration marks another significant stride in Pepper Labs’ decade-long journey of impact and nation-building through technology, innovation and strategic partnerships.
Having empowered over 300,000 Malaysians with AI (artificial intelligence) fluency and future-ready digital skills, Pepper Labs now works closely with public sector stakeholders to integrate AI solutions into the transformation of governance and service delivery.
This partnership exemplifies Pepper Labs’ unique positioning as a trusted enabler of Malaysia’s digital and socioeconomic agenda.
Under the scholarship, unemployed Malaysian youth are offered fully sponsored scholarships to access globally recognised certifications in high-demand areas such as AI, cybersecurity, data analytics, project management and digital marketing curated by Google and delivered via www.coursera.org/google-career-certificates.
The programme bridges the education-to-employment gap and supports the national goal to build a future-ready, digitally skilled workforce.
Under the strategic direction of the Human Resources Ministry, SOCSO facilitates candidate identification through its MYFutureJobs platform and career fairs while Pepper Labs as the lead implementation partner, delivers end-to-end support, ranging from technical skills, 21st century skills, soft and living skills, future of works related skills to job placement support, thus ensuring graduates are well-positioned to secure meaningful employment.
Digital pursuit
“Through this partnership between SOCSO and Pepper Labs, we’re ensuring that unemployed graduates are not left behind in the digital transition,” enthused Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong.
“This initiative is a testament to our belief in the potential of our young talent and our resolve to uplift them with meaningful, globally recognised opportunities.”
As an entity recognised by the Government for its consistent impact-driven innovation, Pepper Labs was most recently recognised by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim under Budget 2025 with a national commitment to establish community cloud kitchens across underserved communities, hence further expanding its role in inclusive job creation and local enterprise development.
This tripartite collaboration reflects a shared commitment to nation-building, digital empowerment and inclusive economic recovery.
By investing in human capital and fostering public-private partnerships, Malaysia moves one step closer to achieving its digital aspirations under the Malaysia MadanI vision. This pilot initiative sets the foundation for a scalable model that could benefit even more Malaysian youth in the future.
The first group of participants began their training on May 26 with candidates identified through SOCSO’s outreach efforts.
While enrolment is currently by invitation, interested graduates may reach out to Pepper Labs at [email protected] to express interest and learn about future opportunities under this initiative. – Aug 6, 2025
