KUCHING, Oct 2: Tunas Usahawan Belia Muda (TUBE) Sarawak Alumni records RM9.6 million in sales out of a total of RM154.38 million recorded by TUBE participants throughout the country.
According to a press release by SME Corp Malaysia, the federal programme it implemented under Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Ministry (Kuskop) aims to encourage Bumiputera youth between the ages of 18 and 30 to venture into business.
Sarawak Deputy Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Dr Ripin Lamat said he hoped that the initiatives of the federal and State governments through various youth entrepreneurship activities can help provide more job opportunities and at the same time eradicate unemployment in Sarawak.
“In addition, I urge Sarawak’s youth entrepreneurs to continue exploring various fields, especially high growth industries in the future such as medical devices, aerospace, biotechnology, and so on,” he said during the launching ceremony for the programme here today.
Meanwhile, SME Corp Malaysia CEO Rizal Nainy said since the TUBE programme’s launch in 2014 until now, a total of 7,238 youth entrepreneurs have been successfully trained with business grants amounting to RM101.40 million.
He also said that a total of 728 (10 per cent) participants are from Sarawak, with distribution of business start-up grants amounting to RM10.12 million.
“Compared to other states, Sarawak has the second highest number of participants after the State of Sabah,” he added.
This year, the main target of the TUBE programme are Bumiputera youth who have skills and certificates from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
In order to provide advanced training and get feedback and the latest updates on TUBE alumni businesses, SME Corp Malaysia in collaboration with Persatuan Tunas Usahawan Bumiputera Kenyalang (KITA) organised a ‘Meet & Greet’ session with TUBE 2023 Sarawak Alumni today which successfully gathered nearly 100 TUBE alumni participants from Sarawak. — DayakDaily
