Ascent: The Corporate AI Certification launched by GrowthPro.asia and Cradle aims to move businesses beyond understanding AI tools towards applying AI to real business problems and measurable outcomes. The partnership bridges the enterprise AI skills gap by turning theoretical AI knowledge into measurable financial performance and ROI. (In featured pic: (L) Peter Kua and Alvin Koay from GrowthPro.asia)
KUALA LUMPUR, 1 September 2026 — As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in the business landscape, GrowthPro.asia and Cradle Fund Sdn. Bhd. (Cradle) are collaborating on a corporate AI capability programme that puts the business problem before the technology.
The strategic collaboration featuresAscent: The Corporate AI Certification (Ascent), a certification pathway designed to help businesses move beyond simply understanding or using AI tools towards identifying meaningful business problems, understanding the data behind them, developing practical applications and translating AI capabilities into measurable outcomes.
The approach is already reflected in an earlier high-tech manufacturing engagement undertaken by GrowthPro.asia. Workforce capability development progressed into AI pilots addressing real Industry 4.0 operational challenges, including computer vision, defect classification and production optimisation. For one manufacturing plant in Malaysia, the initiative resulted in a reportedUS$2 million in projected annual cost savings and cost avoidance, with subsequent solutions intended for plants within the region.
It demonstrates the principle underpinning the GrowthPro.asia-Cradle collaboration: connecting capability development to practical application, and application to measurable business outcomes.
Start with the Business Problem
For GrowthPro.asia Co-Founder Peter Kua, the collaboration reflects a shift needed in the conversation surrounding AI.
“The conversation around AI has become heavily focused on tools. But a tool alone does not create business value. We have to start with the business problem and connect strategy, people, domain knowledge and data to the outcomes that matter, whether that is increasing revenue, reducing costs or improving efficiency,” said Kua.
The capability gap makes the issue particularly relevant. According to AWS and Access Partnership figures cited in the collaboration announcement, 89% of Malaysian employers prioritise hiring AI-skilled talent, yet 81% struggle to find the talent they need. Meanwhile, 88% do not know how to run an AI training programme.
This points to a challenge that goes beyond access to AI technology: organisations also need to develop the capability to use it effectively. GrowthPro.asia calls this the“human–AI connection.”
“At GrowthPro.asia, we call this the human–AI connection. People possess the domain knowledge, experience and context of a business. AI expands what they can do with that knowledge. When we bring the two together effectively, we can tie strategy and capability development directly back to business bottom lines,” Kua said.
Its methodology is consequently anchored around three business outcomes —increasing revenue, reducing cost and improving efficiency. The approach identifies the business challenge, examines the organisation’s data and domain knowledge, determines the appropriate intervention and measures performance against the intended commercial outcome.
Building Human Capability Alongside AI
The approach also places people at the centre of AI adoption. Instead of removing people from the equation, the objective is to elevate human capability alongside technological capability, enabling employees to move into higher-value roles that contribute more directly to organisational performance and ROI. The need to build such capabilities is becoming increasingly significant as AI reshapes existing roles. TalentCorp estimated in 2024 that around620,000 Malaysian jobs, representing approximately 18% of the workforce, could be significantly affected by AI within three to five years.
GrowthPro.asia Co-Founder Alvin Koay said the collaboration is supported by courseware built according to established international skills-development standards.
GrowthPro.asia designs and maintains GenAI curricula aligned with Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) and SkillsFuture Singapore standards, and trains the trainers who deliver them. “What differentiates our approach is what happens next, taking that structured capability development into the enterprise, applying it to real business problems and ensuring solutions are tangible and sustainable,” said Koay.
Closing the Gap Between Knowing and Doing
Central to GrowthPro.asia’s approach is itsCapstone Method, designed to address the distance between knowing about AI and applying it. “At the Capstone stage, participants define and scope a high-impact business problem, prepare the relevant data, design and test a functional prototype, and present its potential impact, risks and implementation roadmap,” Kua explained. This allows capability development to move beyond knowledge and certification.
“This means the outcome of capability development can extend beyond knowledge and certification into actual use cases, prototypes and pilots that have the potential to deliver measurable business value,” Koay added.
The approach is also intended to retain capability within the organisation. “It also keeps capability within the organisation. This approach develops internal champions who can operate, sustain, improve and continue innovating solutions as organisational requirements evolve,” said Kua.
Connecting Corporate Problems with Startup Solutions
Another dimension of the collaboration is its potential to connect real corporate problem statements with Malaysia’s technology startup ecosystem. Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, Group Chief Executive Officer of Cradle, said the broader picture requires founders and organisations to look beyond individual AI tools and consider the problems that data and intelligence can address, in order to be relevant.
“For the startup ecosystem, the bigger picture matters. We want founders and organisations to look beyond AI as a collection of tools and understand how data and intelligence can solve meaningful problems and ultimately contribute to the bottom line,” said Vanhaecke.
“Ascent is about building AI capability across the organisation, from leadership to the teams applying it. By equipping people with the right skills, businesses become more confident and prepared for an AI-driven future.”
Norman Matthieu Vanhaecke, Group Chief Executive Officer of Cradle
AI Capability Across the Organisation
Ascent is a co-branded certification pathway delivered by GrowthPro.asia in collaboration with Cradle. It draws on GrowthPro.asia’s portfolio of more than45 AI and data programmesacross three capability tracks, ranging from beginner to advanced and designed to develop role-ready capabilities across an organisation.
- The first track,Leadership & Executive AI Strategy, is designed for C-suite executives and senior leadership, covering board-ready AI literacy, governance frameworks and monetisation roadmaps.
- The second,Applied Business AI, is targeted at functional teams. It provides role-specific and workflow-based AI training built around real use cases, with an emphasis on adoption rather than attendance.
- The third,AI Engineering & Systems Intelligence, is designed for transformation and digital and data leads. It focuses on closing the gap between pilots and production through data readiness, engineering depth, and building the internal capability needed to scale AI beyond proofs of concept.
Delivered through workshops and bootcamps, the portfolio allows organisations to progressively develop AI capabilities across business functions, technical teams and leadership rather than treating AI as a standalone technology skill.
The Ascent certification is issued by GrowthPro.asia, and programmes are claimable under HRD Corp’s Claimable Courses scheme.
GrowthPro.asia will lead the programme delivery, providing the curriculum, trainers and programme operations while applying its data and AI expertise and contextualised learning approach to enterprise business challenges.
Cradle, meanwhile, is Malaysia’s focal agency for early-stage startups under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI). Since 2003, it has supported more than 1,300 technology startups through funding, advisory support, capacity building, and market access.
Through the collaboration, the focus of AI capability development is clear: moving beyond knowledge of AI tools towards identifying business problems, developing practical applications and connecting those capabilities to measurable business outcomes.
For more information on Ascent, visit GrowthPro.asia
