Businesses urged to register with relevant govt agencies

KUCHING: Business owners in Sarawak need to register under a relevant government agency in order to take advantage of the various training programmes, assistance or promotions available to them.

Entrepreneur Development Assistant Minister Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais said that it would be a shame for them to miss out, especially those running micro businesses online or on a part-time basis.

“When I became assistant minister in 2005, I found that only 6,000 businesses were registered. By the end of 2016, there were over 50,000 under SME Corporation (SME Corp) Malaysia Sarawak,” he said.

Naroden was speaking at the launch of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Transformation Seminar 2017, held yesterday at the Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) office in Demak Laut.

He estimated that there could be up to 40,000 micro enterprises in Sarawak that have yet to register and urged the 60 federal and state agencies to work together and provide these entrepreneurs with the help they need. Naroden, who is also Resource Planning Assistant Minister, urged Sarawak SMEs to increase their knowledge of harnessing information technology to their advantage.

“The digital realm is no longer an option but a necessity. I hope that the SMEs of Sarawak will not become mere spectators but take advantage of the state government’s efforts to boost the ICT infrastructure in the next five years,” he said, reminding those present that the Chief Minister has just announced an allocation of RM1 billion for this purpose.

Also present were MPC Sarawak director Tengku Azmi Tengku Majid, Ministry of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development, Trade and Investment (MIETI) Small and Medium Industries section head Samat Julai, Sarawak SME Corp Esmawady Mohd Esa, and seminar speaker Iana Corporation Sdn Bhd director Mohammad Hafidz Rohani.

Naroden also handed over certificates to representatives from 11 companies who are receiving SME system development grants.