KOTA KINABALU: Aspiring Sabahan entrepreneurs under 40 years old are invited to apply for grants under Skim Usahawan Permulaan Bumiputera (SUPERB), TERAJU’s latest initiative to assist promising Bumiputera individuals of start-up companies.
Successful or ‘winners’ will receive a possible grant of up to RM500,000 through their innovative and creative business ideas, TERAJU Sector Development director Nasrul Nasir said.
Speaking to reporters when met at a SUPERB engagement program here yesterday, Nasrul said the program was to help bring bumiputera entrepreneurs to another level.
According to Nasrul, the government has allocated a RM100 million fund under SUPERB for three years to help creative and innovative young Bumiputera entrepreneurs find their footing.
SUPERB, he said had since its inception in 2014 received more than 4,000 quality and highly innovative ideas submitted for its latest Series 3 from young, aspiring entrepreneurs all over the country.
This year, TERAJU is looking at getting higher quality applications that not only have the elements of creativity and innovation but also has the potential to penetrate overseas markets.
He said TERAJU also hoped to encourage more young entrepreneurs especially from Sabah and Sarawak to participate in SUPERB.
Meanwhile it was disclosed that out of the 76 successful applicants for the grants, only four were from Sabah and two from Sarawak.
To this end Nasrul said TERAJU was doing its best to help those in these two states as well as those in the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia.
“We try to be fair to everyone, but each state has their own characteristics of people. Some states have a bit more entrepreneurs while some do not have that spirit of entrepreneurship. What we are trying to do now is to bridge that gap.
“We are trying to improve the participants from Sabah and Sarawak, Penang, and the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia. We will be going to the ground to promote the program and also to find out what is the actual situation on the ground because the conditions for winning the grants are the same whether you are in KL or Sabah or Sarawak. There is no difference.
“We will be promoting the program more aggressively in Sabah and Sarawak. We understand that because you are far from the headquarters, you may think it is troublesome and all that but we do not want that kind of excuses.
“That is why we are here today to create awareness and disseminate information about the program. We are also hoping that those who attended today’s session will tell their family and friends about the program. We are in the midst of creating more exposure to the public. We need more engagement with the people,” he said, adding that there would be a few more similar sessions next year.
He is confident that they will be able to achieve the target of helping 200 starter businesses by 2016 as the number of applicants has grown significantly from the last session.
Now is a matter of creating the awareness of the program and get people to actually understand where we come from aside from just getting information from the website and other printed materials, he stressed.
He disclosed that there would be four more series of the program in 2016, with the tentative date for the first series somewhere in February.
He said TERAJU planned to have it quarterly and the dates as well as venue would be advised accordingly.
“In terms of post disbursement of grants and other assistance, the process is once the winners are announced, they will be assigned to government agencies based on which sector their entry is,” he said, adding that at the moment they had 10 under their roof which includes PUNB and MTDC.
The grants, he said would be disbursed based on the applicant’s ‘milestones’ or progress in business.
“We do not just disseminate the grant in one lump sum because some people will just take the money and run. We do not want that to happen. We communicate with them continuously. It’s a two way thing. With the milestone they present, we and the agencies will technically question them again.
“After six months we will call them in again for a progress report. Along the way we try to assist and guide them,” he said.
For aspiring applicants, Nasrul’s advice to them is that they just be confident.
“When I say be confident I mean overall, confident of yourself, your product and confident that you can get somewhere,” he said, adding that there is also need to ensure that their products and services are sustainable for the long run.
“Certain products or services for example last for three or five years. Then they would also have to reinvent themselves to sustain for next level of period. Those are the kind of things entrepreneurs have to understand,” he said.