GEORGE TOWN, May 14 — The Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development (KUSKOP) is intensifying efforts to help petty traders and hawkers improve their business management capabilities so that they can benefit from the various policies and financing facilities provided.
Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Minister Steven Sim said the effort was being implemented through agencies under the ministry, such as TEKUN Nasional and Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), including through the ‘Power Up 10K’ initiative, which focuses on financing and capacity development.
“The focus is not only on financing, but also on capacity development, which includes providing knowledge and skills to these entrepreneurs so that they know how to register their businesses.
“We not only want to provide financing and help with scaling up, but we are also targeting to spend about RM100 million on capacity development for at least 100,000 entrepreneurs,” he told reporters after chairing the National Hawkers and Petty Traders Consultative Council (M3PK) meeting here today.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim directed relevant ministries to hold engagement sessions with hawkers to identify issues causing the low participation rate among the group in formal financial assistance programmes.
Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the directive was issued during the Cabinet meeting following a study and survey findings by the Khazanah Research Institute (KRI), which found that only five per cent of hawkers received assistance from institutions such as Bank Simpanan Nasional, TEKUN and AIM.
Sim, who is also the Bukit Mertajam MP, said through the Power Up 10K campaign, the ministry aimed to help entrepreneurs enhance their business capacity and viability through comprehensive training, guidance and financial support.
Meanwhile, Sim said he had met with the commercial banking sector and that within the next few weeks, the institutions would announce various products for SMEs to assist the sector.
“As of April, we have successfully approved about RM4 billion in financing for 154,000 MSMEs, and that is among the current achievements. Our target is to channel up to RM15 billion into the sector,” he said.
— BERNAMA
