He said Mara Digital centres had been established in Shah Alam, Kuantan and Ipoh, while other places that had been identified were Larkin in Johor, Kuala Terengganu, Kota Bharu, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.

Ismail said that when Pakatan Harapan took over the government following the 14th general election in 2018, the Mara Digital initiative was shut down and new projects were discontinued.

“Mara Digital is very close to my heart. I came up with it to develop Bumiputera entrepreneurs in the field of IT and gadgets, whether in terms of selling products, repairing (equipment) and others,” he said in a Facebook post last night.

Earlier, he made a surprise visit to Mara Digital Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by rural development minister Mahdzir Khalid.

“Alhamdulillah, during the visit, the traders informed me that they were still able to continue with business because sales were increasing, but (they) needed support from Mara in terms of promotion, loan assistance and reduction of rental rates, among others,” he said.

The opening of Mara Digital as a telecommunications and IT equipment sales centre in 2015 was spearheaded by Ismail when he was the rural and regional development minister.