6,580 MSMEs Have Scaled Up This Year, Reflecting The Impact Of Govt Intervention - Sim
By Erma Idayu Mohd Yusop
GEORGE TOWN, Sept 13 (Bernama) -- A total of 6,580 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have successfully scaled up their businesses year to date, a development described as evidence that government intervention is starting to have a tangible impact on entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said the achievement was among the indicators of the effectiveness of efforts by his ministry (KUSKOP) in helping MSMEs improve their competitiveness and expand their businesses.
“Of the total, 3,827 businesses have moved from the informal sector into the micro category, while 2,235 micro businesses have progressed to the small category and 518 small companies have advanced to the medium category.
“This shows that there is an impact. Companies in the informal sector that were previously unregistered have now registered and become micro enterprises, while those that were formerly micro enterprises have grown into small businesses and small companies have progressed to the medium category,” he said in an interview with Bernama during a visit to Bernama’s Penang Bureau here recently.
During the visit, Sim, who is also DAP Penang chairman, was accompanied by state DAP leaders to distribute mooncakes in conjunction with the Mooncake Festival.
Sim said KUSKOP targets to have at least 10,000 MSMEs scale up or power up their businesses this year, and the plan is also expected to receive a boost from an additional RM1 billion in microcredit financing announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in conjunction with the National Day celebrations recently.
He said the additional allocation brings the total microcredit financing provided by the government this year to RM6 billion, up from RM5 billion previously.
Of the additional RM1 billion, RM100 million will be channelled through TEKUN Nasional, bringing TEKUN’s total financing allocation for this year from RM1 billion to RM1.1 billion. TEKUN has disbursed nearly RM700 million to more than 31,000 entrepreneurs nationwide during the first seven months of this year.
Sim said the amount of financing received by each entrepreneur varies according to their business needs and the TEKUN financing can reach as much as RM100,000.
Meanwhile, he said KUSKOP is targeting the disbursement of RM15 billion in financing to entrepreneurs throughout this year, with nearly RM9 billion having been channelled as of July to about 250,000 entrepreneurs nationwide.
Of this, RM3.4 billion represents new financing for about 34,000 entrepreneurs who are getting access to financing for the first time.
In Penang, Sim said, RM737 million had been disbursed to nearly 6,000 entrepreneurs during the same period, he said.
According to him, the financing is not solely intended to help entrepreneurs obtain capital, but also enables them to make basic improvements to enhance efficiency, productivity and market reach.
He said the digital transformation of MSMEs does not necessarily require major investments in technology; it can begin with the adoption of digital payment systems, e-wallets, QR codes, financial management, and inventory systems.
“Do not assume that all these changes and transformations require major investments, such as having robots and so on. Of course, we hope that they will eventually be able to purchase robots, but even basic things such as payment systems, financial management and inventory systems are areas where we want to provide assistance so that traders can improve their efficiency and productivity and expand their markets,” the minister said.
On efforts to expand digital transformation among cooperatives, Sim said KUSKOP is targeting 100 cooperatives nationwide to become self-collection points for e-commerce platforms by the end of this year.
He said that as of the first half of this year, 56 cooperatives had joined the initiative, which not only provides the cooperatives with an additional source of income but also helps the cooperative movement adapt to the digital economy.
“The effort not only creates an additional source of income for cooperatives, but also helps the cooperative movement, which has been around for more than 100 years, in adapting to developments in the digital economy.
“This is among KUSKOP’s efforts to diversify cooperative businesses and help them implement digital transformation,” he added.
-- BERNAMA