PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Elitery Malaysia, AWS's edtech partner, celebrated the successful conclusion of the CendekiAwan Malaysia program, marking a significant milestone in Malaysia's journey toward developing a future-ready digital workforce. The initiative reached its milestone conclusion with a high-energy Closing Event, highlighting the remarkable achievements of students and universities in mastering generative AI technologies.
Since its launch in November 2025, CendekiAwan Malaysia has reached a total of more than 13,000 student participants across six partner universities, namely Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), Universiti Malaya (UM), and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). As an ongoing initiative through the end of 2026, the program continues to expand its reach, bridging the gap between academic theory and industry demand by equipping students with the essential tools to experiment, build, and innovate with cutting-edge cloud technology. A key highlight of the journey was the integration of PartyRock, AWS's no code, browser based service, which empowered students to build 227 functional, innovative applications using natural language prompts. These submissions showcase the power of generative AI to solve problems in sectors like digital health and smart education, proving that generative AI is a powerful tool for students of all academic backgrounds.
The initiative culminated in a milestone Closing Event on April 20, 2026, which celebrated the program's collective success. Beyond recognizing the transformative role of partner universities, the ceremony showcased the most impactful Generative AI applications built using AWS PartyRock. Top honors were awarded to five exceptional student innovators who demonstrated the power of AI to solve critical challenges:
- Siti Aisyah Binti Abdul Azis (UiTM) in GovTech & Social Impact with CareerAdvisor;
- Amir Fahmi Bin Jasni (UniMAP) in Smart Education with ThinkPath;
- Nik Hannan Qistina Binti Zulkifli (UiTM) in Financial Inclusion & SME Empowerment with CashSmart Campus;
- Muhammad Fadlan Bin Mairuzsazali (UniMAP) in Digital Health with Isihat+; and
- Ang Ke Sin (UTHM) in Sustainable Environment & Climate with KitarSemula AI.
Among the featured innovations, Isihat+ stood out for empowering users to optimize daily routines through precise physiological tracking and health metric analytics. Meanwhile, CashSmart Campus redefined personal finance for the academic community, offering students a streamlined tool to track expenses and gain actionable insights for long-term financial literacy. This massive achievement ensures that every participant is career-ready, armed with industry-validated skills to thrive in today's competitive digital economy.
Hussein Mohd Ali, Country Manager, AWS Malaysia, emphasized the transformative power of early experimentation with generative AI. "Building a culture of experimentation starts at the earliest ages. When we empower students with tools like PartyRock and AWS generative AI technologies, we're not just teaching them skills — we're enabling them to curate the future they want to see. The applications created through CendekiAwan Malaysia demonstrate what's possible when young innovators are given the freedom to experiment, fail, learn, and ultimately build solutions that matter to their communities. This is how we strengthen Malaysia's digital talent pipeline — by nurturing curiosity and creativity from the ground up," said Hussein.
Kresna Adiprawira, President Director of Elitery, emphasized the importance of this collaboration in fostering local talent and regional digital transformation. "We are honored to facilitate this bridge between industry and academia. The success of CendekiAwan Malaysia is more than just statistics; it represents the immense potential of Malaysia's next generation of digital leaders. By providing the right platform, we are empowering these students to catalyze digital transformation across the entire region. The 227 innovative applications developed through this program are a powerful reminder that when student creativity is matched with industry-leading tools, it translates directly into real-world solutions", said Kresna.
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CendekiAwan Malaysia Program Empowers Thousands of Malaysian Students to Lead the Generative AI Revolution
Consumers without credit or debit cards will be able to access subscription-based digital services like streaming, software, and gaming platforms globally
SINGAPORE and CURITIBA, Brazil, April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, EBANX—a global payment technology company connecting merchants with consumers and businesses in emerging markets—announces the expansion of its offering for recurring alternative payment methods (APMs) to six more countries across Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America: the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Colombia, and Peru.
The announcement takes place during Money20/20 Asia in Bangkok, Thailand, and follows EBANX's recent expansion announcement, which brings its payments operations into Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Malaysia, and Vietnam, with the latter two scheduled to go live in Q3. These operations will be fully supported by EBANX's APAC HQ in Singapore.
The integration of these new recurring capabilities adds to EBANX's current offering of recurring APMs in India, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. Via EBANX, global merchants of subscription-based services such as streaming, software, and gaming platforms will be able to reach more than 1 billion people* who use these APMs across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, per data from APMs' operators and Statista.
This reach becomes even more impressive considering that over 1.3 billion adults lack access to credit or debit cards across these markets, according to the World Bank.
"Consumers without access to credit or debit cards rely heavily on APMs to pay for subscription-based e-commerce services," said Eduardo de Abreu, Global Chief Product Officer (CPO) at EBANX and Regional CEO of EBANX Singapore. "If a SaaS or streaming company does not offer local, alternative solutions for these consumers, they simply won't access them."
EBANX's launches include recurring capabilities for digital wallets in Southeast Asia, such as Maya and GCash in the Philippines, OVO and DANA in Indonesia, and TrueMoney in Thailand. The roll-outs will be available to merchants in Q2, Q3, and Q4 this year.
Across Asia, EBANX also enables recurring transactions through UPI AutoPay, built on top of India's leading instant payment infrastructure, UPI. Through EBANX, the system's feature is already proving its value: a global AI merchant that implemented UPI AutoPay acquired more than 4,000 new customers per day during the first three months.
In South Africa, Capitec Pay Recurring—the new recurring feature of the account-to-account (A2A) solution Capitec Pay—will be available for cross-border transactions through EBANX's integration. EBANX was the first global Payment Service Provider (PSP) to offer Capitec Bank's A2A solution in a cross-border model. The new Capitec Pay feature enables global merchants to collect recurring payments directly from Capitec Bank accounts through an A2A, non-card payment flow.
New subscriptions in Latin America
In Latin America, Pix, Brazil's instant payment method, introduced Pix Automático, its recurring feature, in June last year. EBANX integrated it from day one and has already demonstrated its potential to grow merchants' consumer base and ultimately increase sales: 56% of customers using Pix Automático to buy from EBANX's merchants are new users.
NuPay has also shown strong results for subscription-based platforms that use EBANX: a global SaaS provider offering the digital wallet's recurring feature via EBANX saw a 13% increase in paid subscriptions compared to credit cards, a 17% rise in free-trial sign-ups, and a 76% payment success rate.
With today's launch, EBANX is also enabling two additional APMs in Latin America for cross-border transactions: the mobile payment platform Nequi in Colombia and the digital wallet Yape in Peru. These solutions complement existing recurring payment options integrated by EBANX in the region, such as Mercado Pago in Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil, besides Pix Automático and NuPay in Brazil.
Less friction, more revenue
"For years, low card penetration in emerging markets forced subscription merchants to rely on one-off payment workarounds that were never built to support long-term customer relationships," commented Abreu. "Over time, these approaches eroded retention because every renewal required the customer to pay again, manually."
Recurring APMs address that friction through a consent-based enrollment model. Originally shaped by local payment challenges, APMs in emerging economies are evolving to deliver an increasingly card-like experience for end users. Once the customer provides prior authorization, merchants can automatically initiate recurring billing, reducing the need for manual action at each renewal and enabling a more seamless subscription experience on local payment rails.
EBANX at Money20/20 Asia
At Money20/20 Asia, taking place in Bangkok, Thailand, from April 21st to 23rd, 2026, EBANX is speaking in two key sessions.
In the panel Ecosystem Readiness: Turning Isolated Progress into Coordinated Scale, Eduardo de Abreu joins other industry leaders from Nium, Boku, and Bitpace to discuss how fragmented advancements across regulation, infrastructure, and market demand can be aligned to drive scalable ecosystem growth.
In the session Innovation Without Borders, Vladimira Artopé, Regional Director for Southeast Asia at EBANX, contributes to a discussion on the transformative impact of fintech and education solutions for underserved women in Asia, particularly in maternal and financial health. The panel highlights how technology can support greater financial inclusion in resource-constrained environments.
*1,020 billion people use APMs across the following 12 emerging markets, based on data from the operators of the most used APMs in each country and Statista: Brazil (Pix), India (UPI), South Africa (Capitec Pay), Colombia (Nequi), Peru (Yape), the Philippines (GCash), Indonesia (DANA), Malaysia (TrueMoney), Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay (Mercado Pago).
ABOUT EBANX
EBANX is the leading technology platform connecting global businesses to the world's fastest-growing digital markets. Founded in 2012 in Brazil, EBANX was built with a mission to expand access to international digital commerce. Leveraging proprietary technology, deep market expertise, and robust infrastructure, the platform enables global businesses to offer hundreds of local payment methods and streamline cross-border payments across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. With a global footprint, it established a technology and regulatory headquarters in Singapore in 2026. More than just payments, EBANX drives growth, enhances sales, and delivers seamless purchase experiences for businesses and end users alike.
For further information, please visit:
Website: https://www.ebanx.com/en/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ebanx
Media Contact:
Shan Huang
shan.huang@ahgstrategies.com
** This press release is distributed by PR Newswire through automated distribution system, for which the client assumes full responsibility. **
Money20/20 Asia: EBANX expands recurring alternative payments offering, unlocks a 1 billion user potential across 12 emerging markets
