Putrajaya, Dec 23: More than 60,000 women entrepreneurs and business owners in Malaysia have benefited from the various programmes made available by the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDAC) and its agencies.
A total of 60,719 women entrepreneurs, to date, have participated in programmes organized MEDAC and its agencies, namely National Entrepreneurship Institute (INSKEN), SME Corp Malaysia and Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNS), which were mainly focused on capacity building and entrepreneurial skills development programmes.
Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the ministry is indeed committed in assisting women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses, which accounts for 20 per cent of the country’s SME businesses.
Based on an economic survey in 2016, women-owned businesses stood 186,855 out of the total number of 907,065 registered SMEs in Malaysia.
He said these business owners should take full advantage of the various assistance, incentives and programmes made available by MEDAC and its agencies to remain competitive in today’s challenging business environment.
“We are now living in the post-COVID-19 era. Lots of things around us are changing and we have to accept and adapt to the new norm. In business, it is all about survival of the fittest. Entrepreneurs need to continuously equip themselves with new knowledge and skills not only for their businesses survival but also to take advantage of the many new opportunities,” he said in a press statement today.
Among the programmes for women entrepreneurs conducted by MEDAC this year, via its agencies, include:
a) SME Corp Malaysia – Women Netpreneur, Micro Connector and Creative Sewing Training Workshop.
b) INSKEN – Online Onboarding Coaching Programme (E-Board), INSKEN Coaching-Mentoring Programme, Agri-Coaching and Industry Development Programme (ACID), INSKEN Business Training (IBT), Kursus Asas Keusahawanan (KAK), INSKEN e-BizClinic and INSKEN Documentation Review.
c) PNS – Successful Women Entrepreneurship Engagement Talents (SWEET).
Earlier this week in the parliament, Wan Junaidi had reported that MEDAC has disbursed RM1.85 billion to 176,356 women entrepreneurs of various ethnicity in the country, between 2014 and 2020, through various financial assistance programmes conducted by its agencies.
He was replying to a question by Senator P Waytha Moorthy who asked for women’s participation (based on race) in micro, small, medium and large businesses and the types of allocation and financial assistance provided by the government (based on race) between 2014 and 2020.
For the period under review, TEKUN Nasional has disbursed RM1.62 billion to 161,522 women entrepreneurs while Bank Rakyat has approved RM225.22 million worth of financing to 14,397 of this target group nationwide.
Wan Junaidi who is also Santubong MP said SME Bank via MySMELady Programme has also disbursed RM 219.8 million worth of financing to 107 women entrepreneurs and UDA Holdings’ UDA Bizznita Fincare Programme, which provides up to RM3,000 financing, aims to disburse RM7.3 million to 330 women entrepreneurs. -DayakDaily
