From AI talent to Malaysian-built solutions: Pepper Labs advances Sovereign AI for the public sector, MSMEs

PEPPER Labs today announced its strategic expansion into AI solutioning, building on its track record in talent development and community empowerment to design and deploy Malaysian-built applied artificial intelligence solutions for the public sector, enterprises and underserved communities.

The expansion will focus on two priority areas: Agentic AI solutions for public-sector transformation and bespoke sovereign AI platforms developed around the specific data, workflows, language and governance requirements of Malaysian organisations.

Pepper Labs’ approach combines AI talent development with real-world technology implementation.

This enables the company to support organisations throughout the full AI adoption journey—from identifying high-value use cases and preparing employees to developing, deploying and driving the adoption of production-ready AI solutions.

Its collaborations with global technology leaders including Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google further strengthen its access to leading AI technologies, cloud infrastructure, technical expertise and industry-recognised learning content.

Pepper Labs has supported the AI learning journey of more than 400,000 learners across Malaysia through flagship initiatives including AI Ready Malaysia, AI for My Future Malaysia, Google Gemilang and programmes delivered through the nationwide NADI network under MCMC, including collaborations with AWS.

Building on this reach, the company is connecting inclusive AI talent pipelines with practical technology adoption across communities, MSMEs and the public sector.

“Malaysia does not only need more users of artificial intelligence. We must also develop the local capability to design, build, govern and scale AI solutions that respond to our own institutional and economic needs,” said Thanaselan Rajendran, Managing Director of Pepper Labs .

“Our expansion into AI solutioning reflects Pepper Labs’ commitment to building technology in Malaysia, by Malaysians. We are developing practical AI systems that understand local workflows, operate within appropriate data-residency requirements and create measurable value for public officers, businesses and communities,” he said.

Advancing agentic AI for the public sector

This progression from learning to implementation is reflected in Pepper Labs’ work in developing Agentic AI solutions for ministries, government agencies and statutory bodies .

Pepper Labs has built a strong public-sector portfolio with more than 10 active government accounts and over 30 ongoing AI proofs-of-concept.

Its capabilities include the successful deployment of Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations and retrieved-augmented generation (RAG) systems tailored to government requirements that connect AI agents with trusted institutional data, documents and workflows.

Its growing portfolio includes capabilities for parliamentary-question management, policy research, document intelligence, media monitoring, meeting management, public-service counters, reporting and organisational knowledge retrieval.

These solutions can be configured as a coordinated suite of agents—including AI Pintar Dasar, AI Pintar Dokumen, AI Pintar Media, AI Pintar Mesyuarat and AI Pintar Parlimen —within a unified AI environment.

Each agent addresses a defined g overnment workflow while sharing appropriate organisational knowledge and governance controls.

Bespoke sovereign AI built around Malaysian needs

Alongside its public-sector work, Pepper Labs is also developing bespoke sovereign AI solutions for organisations that require greater control over their data, knowledge and AI workflows.

Each solution can be tailored to the organisation’s users, operating environment and intended outcomes.

This positions AI as a governed organisational capability instead of a standalone technology experiment.

Bisnes.AI: Sovereign AI for Malaysian MSMEs

The same approach underpins Bisnes.AI , a homegrown sovereign AI platform designed specifically for Malaysia’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Built in Malaysia by a Malaysian development team, Bisnes.AI is designed to give local businesses practical access to artificial intelligence while addressing key concerns surrounding data residency, language, relevance and ease of adoption.

Bisnes.AI builds on Pepper Labs’ decade-long journey from a microenterprise into an AI solutions developer, informed by its extensive Dapur Digital entrepreneur network.

It is now being integrated into every Dapur Digital location as an AI backbone supporting micro and small enterprises with business intelligence, content, document processing and decision-making.

Recognising that language remains a major barrier to AI adoption, Bisnes.AI is designed for multilingual interaction, with particular emphasis on Bahasa Malaysia and the everyday language used by local entrepreneurs.

Users can ask questions conversationally instead of learning technical commands or specialised prompting techniques.

This supports Pepper Labs’ goal of making AI accessible to microbusinesses, community entrepreneurs and MSMEs that may be using advanced AI tools for the first time.

Built-in AI Agents for everyday MSME Needs

Bisnes.AI brings multiple specialised AI agents together within a single platform:

Rakan Jualan assists with product enquiries, lead engagement and customer responses, including support outside normal business hours.

Rakan Operasi helps businesses understand inventory, costs, operational information and recurring administrative tasks.

Rakan Kewangan produces easy-to-understand financial summaries and business-performance insights to support better decision-making.

Rakan Pematuhan helps entrepreneurs navigate requirements such as e-Invoicing, company renewals and other relevant business obligations.

These agents are designed to work together as an integrated digital support team.

Pepper Labs also plans to introduce additional industry- and workflow-specific agents as the platform expands.

A participant trying out Bisnes.AI on a smartphone.

Connecting talent development with technical execution

Pepper Labs will retain talent development as a core pillar of its work, with training and apprenticeship programmes increasingly connected to the development and adoption of real AI solutions.

However, its training and apprenticeship programmes will increasingly be connected to the development and adoption of real AI solutions.

Through its recently concluded AI Apprenticeship programme with Khazanah, Pepper Labs has developed emerging Malaysian talent through hands-on learning and industry-based implementation.

The programme has connected learning with business needs through capstone projects that are adopted by participating MSMEs.

Participants of the AI Masterclass: AI for Government Productivity for the Ministry of Transport Malaysia, held at DoubleTree by Hilton Putrajaya Lakeside.

Building Malaysian AI Capabilites

Pepper Labs’ expansion reflects a broader ambition to strengthen Malaysia’s capacity to create and own applied AI solutions.

The company will continue collaborating with government institutions, technology partners, industry organisations, universities and local AI talent to develop solutions for public administration, policy delivery, enterprise productivity and inclusive economic development.

“Talent development remains central to our work, and AI solutioning extends what we can deliver with that talent,” Thanaselan added.

“Our role is to become a Malaysian AI transformation partner that can bring together people, process and platform—from developing talent to building the solutions that talent will use,” he pointed out. —Oct 13, 2026

Main image: Pepper Labs

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