SAMENTA Brings Its AI Workshop Tour to George Town. Why SME Owners in Penang Should Attend the SAMENTA AI Fest Workshop on 29 May 2026

Event Details

Date: Friday, 29 May 2026

Time: 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (Registration from 9:30 AM)

Venue: MDEC (Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation) Northern Office, No. 21-35, Bangunan UAB, Gat Lebuh China, George Town, 10300 Penang

Admission: Seats are limited. Register free today [Register Here Eventsize]

What Is the SAMENTA HyperLokal AI Fest 2026?

SAMENTA, Malaysia’s oldest and most active SME association, organized the first SME AI Fest in 2025. The response from business owners was clear. SMEs across Kuala Lumpur and Penang showed up in full. They wanted practical guidance, not theory. They wanted to see how AI actually works inside a real business, not just a slide deck explaining what AI is. You can read about the full story of that event in the SME AI Fest 2025 Malaysia SME Digital Conference recap and the SME AI Fest Penang 2025 recap.

SAMENTA took that feedback seriously. The 2026 edition evolves the format into a workshop model, with hands-on components and real implementation focus. The HyperLokal concept means the event goes directly to where SMEs operate, across 50 cities in Malaysia, starting with George Town on 29 May. The goal is not to bring SMEs to a conference in Kuala Lumpur. The goal is to bring the workshop to your city, where your business operates, where your customers live, and where the economic impact lands.

This is the First Workshop Edition, which means it carries a specific format. Attendees work with AI tools during the session. Practitioners share real strategies. The sessions connect directly to the four areas SME owners care most about: productivity, marketing, sales, and operations.

The Problem Most SME Owners Face Right Now

You run your business. You handle the operations, chase the sales, manage the team, and still find time to think about growth. But somewhere in the middle of all that, you notice something. The business next door is moving ahead more quickly. Their marketing comes out quicker. Their customer responses are sharper. Their costs seem lower. They are utilizing AI tools, and they are doing so now, not later.

For many SME owners across Malaysia, AI still feels like something that belongs to large corporations with big IT budgets. The tools exist, but choosing the right one, learning how to use it, and connecting it to real business problems takes time most owners do not have. That gap between knowing AI matters and actually putting it to work in your business is exactly what SAMENTA’s upcoming workshop in George Town aims to close.

The SAMENTA HyperLokal AI Fest 2026 First Workshop Edition arrives in Penang on 29 May 2026, and George Town is the first stop on a 50-city nationwide tour. This is a hands-on, three-hour workshop built specifically for SME owners and business decision-makers who want to move from curiosity to action.

“Empowering SMEs, One Town at a Time.” This is the SAMENTA HyperLokal AI Fest 2026 mission in seven words.

What Makes the HyperLokal Format Different

Most AI conferences in Malaysia take place in Kuala Lumpur. Attending them requires travel, accommodation, and time away from the business. Many SME owners in secondary cities and industrial hubs simply skip them because the cost and logistics do not make sense. The HyperLokal format removes all of that friction. SAMENTA brings the workshop to your city, your community, and your schedule.

George Town is the opening city for the 50-city rollout, and that matters. Penang carries one of the strongest SME concentrations in Malaysia, spanning manufacturing, retail, food and beverage, professional services, and logistics. These businesses operate in a competitive environment and face real pressure to improve efficiency, control costs, and grow revenue. The workshop addresses those pressures directly, with AI strategies built for SME scale and SME budgets.

The hands-on component sets this apart from a standard talk or panel event. Attendees do not leave with slides they will not open again. They leave with strategies they tested in the room, questions answered by practitioners, and a clearer picture of what their next step looks like. The session runs from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, a three-hour block designed to respect your time while delivering real depth.

What You Will Learn at the Workshop

The workshop focuses on four areas where AI produces direct, measurable results for SMEs. Each area comes with practical strategies, tools, and use cases that business owners can apply from the week after the event.

✅Marketing Performance and Lead Generation

AI tools now write ad copy, generate social media content, produce email campaigns, and analyse which messages perform best. For SMEs with small marketing teams or no marketing team at all, this changes the output-to-effort ratio significantly. You will learn how to use AI to produce consistent, targeted marketing content without hiring additional staff, and how to connect that content to lead generation strategies that bring new customers into your business.
Streamlining Operations and Reducing Costs
Repetitive tasks consume time that should go toward revenue-generating work. Scheduling, reporting, inventory tracking, customer follow-up, and internal communications all eat hours every week. AI tools automate these workflows with minimal setup. You will leave the workshop understanding which parts of your operations are the best candidates for automation, and which specific tools address those processes at a cost that makes sense for an SME.
Customer Engagement and Sales Conversion
Speed matters in customer communication. Businesses that respond faster convert more. AI-powered chatbots, automated follow-up sequences, and smart customer segmentation let small teams respond at a pace that was previously only possible for large companies. You will learn how to set up these systems, how to personalise them for your customer base, and how to measure whether they actually improve your sales numbers.
Scaling Efficiently in a Competitive Digital Economy
Growth is not just about doing more. It is about doing more without breaking what already works. AI helps SMEs scale by handling increased volume without proportional increases in headcount or cost. You will see examples of Malaysian SMEs that used AI to grow their output while keeping their team size stable, and you will come away with a clearer picture of how to apply that kind of thinking to your own business model.

Who Is Behind This Event

SAMENTA stands for Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia. It is Malaysia’s oldest SME association, and its approach to the AI Fest series comes from a direct understanding of what SME owners actually need. SAMENTA does not organize these events to sell a product or push a platform. The mission is to give SME decision-makers access to the knowledge, tools, and networks that accelerate AI adoption at the business level.

The April 2026 Penang edition of the SME AI Fest, which you can read about in detail at the SME AI Fest Penang 2026 recap, drew strong participation and confirmed that Penang’s SME community is actively seeking this kind of practical guidance. The May workshop builds on that momentum with a deeper, more interactive format.

The event carries weight because of the organisations behind it. Maybank and CelcomDigi serve as national partners. MDEC, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, provides the venue through its Northern Office in George Town. The supporting ecosystem includes Ashisuto Global Technologies, A Training Academy, Big Domain, MUST Experience, S and J Barcode, and Trinity42. These are not names on a banner. They are organisations that work with SMEs every day, and their involvement means attendees connect with real resources, not just awareness.

Maybank
CelcomDigi
MDEC
Ashisuto Global Technologies
A Training Academy
Big Domain
MUST Experience
S & J Barcode
Trinity42

Event Details and How to Register

The workshop takes place on Friday, 29 May 2026, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Registration opens at 9:30 AM. The venue is the MDEC Northern Office at No. 21-35, Bangunan UAB, Gat Lebuh China, George Town, 10300 Penang. Admission is free, and seats are limited. Registration is required to secure your spot.

Directions to the venue: MDEC Penang is located at Level 1, UAB Building, Gat Lebuh China, 10300 George Town, Pulau Pinang. You can find the full map at this Google Maps link. Plan to arrive by 9:30 AM to complete registration before the session starts at 10:00 AM.

Register for the Workshop

Free admission. Limited seats. George Town, Penang. 29 May 2026.

Secure Your Spot Now !

Why You Should Register Now

George Town is the first city in the 50-city SAMENTA HyperLokal tour. That means Penang SME owners get access to this format before it reaches the rest of Malaysia. You sit in the opening session of a nationwide movement, alongside early adopters and practitioners who treat AI as a working business tool, not a future consideration.

The businesses that adopt AI tools in 2026 will be two to three years ahead of those that wait. That gap compounds over time. A competitor who automates their marketing in 2026 produces more content, reaches more customers, and converts more leads than one who starts the same process in 2028. The advantage is not just technological. It is structural, and structural advantages take years to close.

Three hours on a Friday morning, at no cost, at a venue in the heart of George Town. What you take away from those three hours will inform how your business operates for years after. Register, show up, and bring one specific business problem you want AI to help you solve. The practitioners in the room will help you find a starting point.