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50,000 SMEs registered in Sarawak by 2016-end

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Naroden (third left) presenting the PKS Lean Transformation Offer certificate to one of the recipients after officiating the SME Transformation Seminar 2017, while Tengku Azmi (fourth left) and the others look on.

KUCHING: The state has registered up to 50,000 small and medium enterprises (SME) by the end of 2016 despite the challenging economic situation.

The state government managed to persuade Sarawakians to get involved in entrepreneurship, even on a small scale through various programs organised to help the entrepreneurs in spite of the challenge, according to Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais, Assistant Minister of Resource Planning.

Naroden (third left) presenting the PKS Lean Transformation Offer certificate to one of the recipients after officiating the SME Transformation Seminar 2017, while Tengku Azmi (fourth left) and the others look on.

“For example, in 2005, only around 6,000 SMEs were registered with the government agency, but at the end of 2016, there is almost 50,000 registered, and I believe that there are many in the micro level that have yet to register with us, and I estimated that to be around 30,000 to 40,000.

“To me, there is no other government that have done what the Malaysia government did to help the entrepreneurs through their program by providing grant assistance, training and promotion programs and other business opportunities.

“We also have various other programs that help to improve their products and also the management quality not only for SME, but also for the micro entrepreneur,” said Naroden in his speech when officiating the SME Transformation Seminar 2017 held at Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) office in Demak Laut Industrial Zone here yesterday.

He added that the businesses in the State still has much do to catch up with their Peninsular counterparts.

Naroden also noted that the vast geographical layout and scattered population of the state meant that the market and production scope is still small compared to those in Peninsula.

Thus, he said, ‘we need a concentrated effort and the cooperation from all agencies to ensure that our program will benefit our entrepreneurs.’

“There are at least 60 federal and state agencies that are involved and if they work together, it would give the program an impact to our entrepreneurs, and this challenge will become more complicated when we are expanding towards the borderless world.

“We have no other choice but to improve our product and management quality, including our marketing style so that we can penetrate a bigger and deeper market, be it locally or internationally,” he said.

He also pointed out that that is why the Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg wanted to further improve the Information Technology (IT) knowledge in the state.

Naroden said with digital strength, the people can communicate and acquire information in various fields, especially entrepreneurship.

“So for those entrepreneurs, we must learn to improve our IT knowledge to utilise the social media to promote and at the same time enhance our product and management quality, so that we will be able to go forward and grow in the future,” said Naroden, adding the digital world will influence our decision making and also the way we think.

Meanwhile, a total of 11 companies received a PKS Lean Transformation Offer certificate with a total development grant of RM625,000.

Also present was MPC Sarawak Region Director Tengku Azmi Tengku Majid.

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