Naroden cutting the ribbon to declare open Gapema’s office.
KUCHING: Bumiputera small and medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) in the state are encouraged to register themselves with SME Corporation (SME Corp), as statistics showed that only less than half of them were registered.
Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development) Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais, who made this call, said out of the 100,000 Bumiputera SMEs in the state, only about 45,000 of them were registered with SME Corp.
“Majority of them are still in the cottage category, where they operate from home in villages without proper business premises. So there are still many that are not registered,” he told a press conference after officiating the office and the first annual general meeting of Gabungan Persatuan Penjaja dan Peniaga Melayu Malaysia (Gapema) at Wisma Pheonix, here, yesterday.
Naroden, who is also Assistant Minister of Resource Planning, pointed out that among the factors hampering many Bumiputera SMEs from registering themselves were the long distance between the villages and registering office and lack of awareness of the importance of getting their business registered.
“Although they are encouraged to register themselves, those who are registered will still receive government assistance because we know who they are. For example, during Ramadan, we still give the soft loan to the entrepreneurs and have them insured.
“In Sarawak, although SME may be the fourth or fifth engine of growth, we are strengthening our SMEs with all the programmes that we have to encourage more people to be involved.
“Secondly, we want to encourage quality entrepreneurs who can be involved in online business as well as oil and gas industry. These are the areas where we can provide training and assistance to them.
“We also hope that Gapema will be a platform to channel important information to help to increase entrepreneurship activities in Sarawak.”
By being active entrepreneurs, he said they could also contribute to employment in the state, thus helping to reduce unemployment.
“When they are employed, they will have purchasing power and this will enhance domestic spending and this will stimulate economic activities.”
Meanwhile, Gapema president Datuk Mohammad Mahmood said the opening of the organisation’s office in Sarawak was to enable them to give more attention to Malay and Bumiputera hawkers and businessmen in the state.
“This is to ensure that the business and hawkers in Sarawak will not be left behind in whatever facilities as well as benefits that are enjoyed by Gapema members in Peninsular Malaysia.
“Gapema’s role is also to solve the issues concerning this group (hawkers and business)…We do not want to be suppressed by the bigger group of businessmen.”
According to him, Gapema will find ways and means to enable businessmen and small hawkers to sustain themselves due to the current economic recession.
“At the same time, we will ensure that the interests of this group such as in obtaining licence as well as financial assistance from Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) are protected and utilised fully.”
Among those present at the event were Gapema deputy presidents Datuk Omar Ahmad and Nawawi @ Narawie Ibrahim and Datuk Zainol Ishak.