KUCHING: The Facebook Bazaar Rakyat Online Sarawakku Sayang (Bross) has managed to record sales of RM100 million as of this year.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the programme had helped some 10,000 small traders and hawkers to sell their products through social media.
He said this was among the initiatives introduced by the International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development Sarawak Ministry (Mintred) to promote Digital Marketing Sarawak.
“Digital Marketing Sarawak is a capacity building assistance where entrepreneurs who participate in this programme will be given intensive training in handholding for at least six months.
“This intensive training includes digital entrepreneurship management for startups and digital entrepreneurship certification,” he said when officiating at the opening of Centexs Commercial Media (CCM) at Centexs Headquarters at Jalan Sultan Tengah here Thursday (Nov 11).
He said his ministry has also implemented the Jum Regista programme with the objective of providing awareness and knowledge to micro, rural and youth entrepreneurs on the importance of having a business license/permit and helping them register businesses to enable them to receive assistance from the government and financial institutions.
“In 2020, a total of 1,392 entrepreneurs have successfully registered their businesses.
“In addition to assistance in the field of digital and business registration, my ministry also offers some financial assistance in the form of grants and soft loans,” he added.
The deputy chief minister said the Small and Medium Industries Local Scheme (Spiks) has approved a total of RM30.13 million in financial assistance benefiting 411 SMEs.
In addition, he said financial assistance of RM7.76 million has been channeled to 652 entrepreneurs under the Gerak and Ustev programmes under his ministry so far.
“My ministry is also active in promoting local Sarawak products through the Sarawak Products Pavilion based in Kuala Lumpur (SPP KL).
“SPP KL plays an important role as a hub to help promote, display, distribute and sell the products of Sarawak entrepreneurs. SPP is also a platform that provides opportunities for Sarawak entrepreneurs to gain access to the market in Peninsular Malaysia and internationally.
“So far, a total of 250 entrepreneurs have registered using the SPP KL platform with a total of more than 500 products,” explained Awang Tengah.
