KUCHING: RM100 mln will be allocated to Sarawak to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) grow.

“For the whole country, we will ready a fund amounting to RM1 bln (for SMEs).

“For Sarawak, we allocate RM100 mln, and together with the state government, we hope this will benefit those who are already in business or those who are interested to start a business.

“They can seek funding and advisory services at our SME and Cooperatives (SMEC) Centre in Kota Sentosa or at any Bank Rakyat branches in the state,” said Bank Rakyat chief executive officer Datuk Syed Abdul Aziz Syed Hassan.

He said this during a press conference together with Bank Rakyat chief business banking officer Mohamad Shiblie Abang Sapuan here on Thursday (Jan 27).

He added that new entrepreneurs could access the bank’s digital banking service platform Quick Response to Entrepreneur (QR2E) easily by scanning the QR2E code or via a link Qr2e.bankrakyat.com.my

Shiblie added: “Whether in Sarawak, Sabah or other states, we want to make sure we engage with these entrepreneurs.

“For example in Kapit, there is no SMEC centre but we have the QR2E. When they enter into our ecosystem, they can make application, seek motivation, learn, get online training and others.

“This is for micro entepreneurs who started small, SMEs and we also have cooperative funding as well as purchasing of assets and capital purchases.”

Abdul Aziz mentioned the village economic financing scheme, which is an agenda to empower SMEs to move forward.

Shiblie said that a financial assistance scheme for traders and hawkers and entrepreneurs, which is waiting for approval, was an effort to assist and lift SMEs affected by the pandemic.