AI and healthcare plans at the heart of G3 (7184) G3 GLOBAL BHD

AI and healthcare plans at the heart of G3 (7184) G3 GLOBAL BHD

G3 Global Bhd is morphing into a provider of technology-based healthcare solutions, says its new major shareholder and executive director Datuk Seri Aminul Islam Abdul Nor (better known as Datuk Seri Mohd Amin).

“We want to focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and other information technology-based healthcare solutions.

“Especially with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare has taken centre stage. This new focus is a natural extension of our biomedical solutions,” Mohd Amin tells StarBizWeek via email replies to questions. Mohd Amin was appointed an executive director of G3 Global two weeks ago, after he emerged in the company with a 25% stake.

In corporate circles he is known as being the founder and chairman of technology firm Bestinet Sdn Bhd, which provides information technology solutions for managing foreign labour for all stakeholders.

G3 Global had said that Mohd Amin had initiated the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (FWCMS) for the Malaysian government, an end-to-end platform that connects all stakeholders in the migrant workers management such as employers, recruitment agents in Malaysia and resource countries, governments and medical centres.

On Sept 8, G3 Global acquired a 51% stake in Bestinet Healthcare Sdn Bhd, which distributes hospital and pharmaceutical products that include rapid test kits for Covid-19, canulas, syringes and needles, among others.

This week, G3 Global announced in a filing with the stock exchange that it intends to seek shareholder approval for a diversification of business into the healthcare sector related business, which includes the distribution of Covid-19 test kits and that this is being done via its acquisition of Bestinet Healthcare.

The filing revealed that Bestinet Healthcare has already secured revenue of RM2.6mil from the sale of antigen test kits since starting the business just four months ago.

It says that the plan is to source Covid-19 test kits from local manufacturers approved by the Medical Device Authority (MDA) and that Bestinet Healthcare has secured a distributor licence from MDA to undertake the distribution of such kits.

G3 Global said that the test kit market in Malaysia has grown from 1.1 million tests in 2020 to 21.5 million tests in 2021 and will hit 25 million tests in 2022.

Mohd Amin hints that G3 Global’s healthcare business will move beyond just the sale of test kits.

“The potential use for artificiall intelligence (AI) in healthcare is vast. One niche we are looking at is in the area of healthcare diagnosis,” says Mohd Amin.

AI has been meant to be a theme for G3 Global for some time. Recall that back in 2019, G3 Global had inked a memorandum of understanding with SenseTime Group Ltd and China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd to set up the first AI park in Malaysia. The three parties were to invest around US$1bil (RM4.22bil) in the project. However, there has been little development of the project since then.

Addressing the issue, Dirk Quinten, the managing director of G3 Global said the company had participated in the request for proposal for the development of the desired land area for the AI park and received a letter of intent in Oct 2020.

G3 Global Bhd managing director Dirk QuintenG3 Global Bhd managing director Dirk Quinten

“We have been working on the development of concepts, layouts, masterplans, foreign direct investment schemes, preferred technologies, partnerships and content among other things.

“This is a massive project that involves our inhouse team as well as local and international consultants, architects and developers. Term sheets with clients and partners are under discussion,” says Quinten.

He adds that progress has been steady but projects of such scale require time to consider and consolidate the wishes, needs, variables of the many stakeholders involved.

“In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic is not creating a conducive environment for such a project, but things are still moving. Notably, the AI park is something that we think the country urgently needs and G3 Global is confident of ground-breaking in the near future,” he adds.

Quinten, who was made managing director in July last year explains that since assuming the position, the company has been undertaking various measures to put it on a better financial footing.

They include streamlining operations, reducing operating expenditure and improving the company’s cash position.

He notes that AI adoption rate in Malaysia is still very low.

However, large scale or high-end AI solutions require robust infrastructure, regulatory policies and other ingredients currently often unavailable nationwide, he points out.

On its part, he adds that G3 Global does not only provide high-end AI solutions but “also strives to be the partner to government agencies and policy makers in creating the blueprints for sustainable AI development in all verticals as detailed in the published national AI Roadmap”.

Meanwhile, Mohd Amin hopes to bring more value to the company, leveraging on his expertise in mega IT developments and projects.

“For example, we want to make the FWCMS modules available.

“G3 has many fantastic AI products and solutions which need to be embedded in IT infrastructure and ecosystem to maximise functionality and usability,” he says.

In explaining his past experience as a businessman, Mohd Amin says that he had built FWCMS to bring about transparency and efficiency in the management of human resources.

“After the number of years I have been in the business, I realised many challenges and issues in the human resource industry and the only way to resolve these issues was through technology to improve the business process and making them transparent for all stakeholders involved.

“This is where I came up with the FWCMS system, which was the first in the world bringing together all stakeholders into one single system to eliminate the leakages,” Mohd Amin says.

According to him, some of these challenges (in the human resources sector) include employers taking a long time for visa approvals, workers failing the medical tests, impersonation, forged medical reports and forged or no insurance coverage for the workers.

Eventually, Mohd Amin says that he plans to expand the business at G3 Global to South-East Asia and the Middle East.

For the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2021, the company made a net loss of RM2.79mil as compared to a RM1.96mil net loss in the same period a year ago.

Its shares were last traded unchanged at 11 sen, giving the stock a market capitalisation of RM238mil.

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/12/11/ai-and-healthcare-plans-at-the-heart-of-g3-global