KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Bank Bhd has concluded its largest-ever OCTOFest celebration at LaLaport Bukit Bintang City Centre (LaLaport) in Kuala Lumpur, following a nationwide tour aimed at expanding market access for local entrepreneurs and encouraging digital payment adoption.
The month-long festival brought together 255 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across four locations, providing participating businesses with opportunities to showcase their products, reach new customers and engage consumers beyond the Klang Valley.
The tour began in Penang, before moving to Kuantan, Johor Baru, and finally ending in Kuala Lumpur across the weekends in October.
The nationwide initiative is said to reflect the bank’s brand promise of “Moving You Forward”, using a combination of merchant showcases, consumer activities and digital payment solutions to support smaller businesses and promote local commerce.
CIMB group chief brand and marketing officer Toni Darusman said the initiative reflected the bank’s purpose of advancing customers and society.
“OCTOFest reflects this commitment by creating meaningful connections between people and businesses while opening up opportunities for local entrepreneurs to grow and reach new customers,” he said.
For MSMEs, reaching new customers is an important part of business growth, but the ability to collect payments efficiently and maintain healthy cash flow is paramount.
CIMB Bank Bhd and CIMB Malaysia chief executive officer Gurdip Singh Sidhu said the bank’s digital platform served both consumers and businesses through a range of services under the OCTO ecosystem .
“We have OCTO for all our consumer customers, OCTO Biz for our business clients, and we have recently launched OCTO Collect, which is a service and platform for merchants and businesses to facilitate their payments and collections,” he said.
Gurdip said that OCTOFest had expanded beyond its original Klang Valley base to give participating MSMEs greater exposure in various parts of the country.
“The MSMEs that we are working with also benefited in
different locations, not just in KL. Hopefully next year we can expand even further and go to other parts of Malaysia,” he added.
At the Kuantan event, Pasar Sera vendor Hijau Coklat expressed their excitement to be part of OCTOFest. “It was our first time taking part in OCTOfest and we are pleased with the response that we garnered.”
Cumulatively, this year’s OCTOFest drew close to 100,000 visitors, which helped generate an overall sale opportunity of nearly RM1mil for the participating businesses.
OCTOFest is also a platform for the bank to interact and get feedback directly from customers.
Previously, a vendor provided feedback that having a consolidated summary of their earnings was crucial, which the bank deemed as sound advice and eventually led to the launch of OCTO Collect.
OCTO Collect brings together credit and debit card payments, Financial Process Exchange (FPX) online banking transfers and various e-wallets together through a single API and unified checkout screen.
Businesses can manage different payment methods in one place rather than relying on multiple providers.
The system can be deployed within one to three months and includes a real-time sales dashboard for monitoring authorised sales, month-to-date performance and transaction details.
Gurdip said efficient collection matters greatly for MSME merchants, whose small businesses depend on steady cash flow to operate daily.
The bank’s role, he said, is to make the process as seamless as possible.
Beyond its business focus, OCTOFest incorporated entertainment and lifestyle activities to draw visitors and create opportunities for them to interact with participating merchants.
The festival held in four cities featured live performances by local acts including ALPHA, OAG, Ruffedge and Blues Gang.
Interactive fitness sessions led by Malaysian personalities Syafiq Kyle and Meerqeen also formed part of the programme.
Another attraction was the “Mission Happiness” challenge, which centred on a giant OCTO phone installation and offered consumer rewards worth up to RM85,000.
Users of the CIMB OCTO App (free to download via Apple App Store and Google Play Store) also participated in digital missions throughout the campaign.
