China SME Push: China’s MIIT and six departments rolled out a 2026-2028 action plan to boost coordinated growth of platform enterprises across large, medium and small firms, with targets for AI governance, algorithm transparency and shared tech/data. Malaysia AI With People: Malaysia’s Women, Family and Community Development minister Nancy Shukri said AI must be shaped around people and values, urging women to help steer inclusive digital transformation for small businesses across ASEAN. India Rural Jobs Funding: India’s KVIC disbursed Rs 504.68 crore under PMEGP for 22,259 new village artisan and micro-enterprise projects, with banks sanctioning about Rs 1,485 crore and expected jobs for 244,849 people. Africa SME Banking Bet: Standard Bank says it’s targeting a R250bn revenue opportunity by expanding business/commercial lending across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, riding intra-African trade and SME growth. Central Asia Logistics: Wildberries’ merged entity RWB plans to invest $300m+ in a logistics hub in Uzbekistan to speed regional exports and support local sellers and small businesses. Cybercrime Warning: ESET says ransomware gang Gentlemen is using sophisticated EDR-killing tools and targets victims across Southeast Asia, South America and Western Europe. Embedded Finance Trend: A new analysis argues embedded finance is a growth and churn strategy, not just a tech upgrade—relevant for Asia-Pacific SMEs looking to retain customers via payments and lending. Security & Trust for SMB SaaS: Cosmos Data Technologies completed SOC 2 Type 1 for its Business Central reporting platform, aiming to strengthen cloud reporting confidence for SMBs.