Khairul Nizam (sixth right) and Leany (seventh right) pose with participants of Matrade’s ‘Export Opportunities in Halal Industry’ seminar.
KUCHING: Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) Sarawak branch encourages export-ready Sarawakian companies to fully utilise export programmes and grants that are readily available.
According to Matrade Sarawak, this year, there are 477 Matrade Work Programmes comprising exporters development and export promotion activities.
These programmes are aimed at accelerating Malaysian companies in participating in the export industry through export market information, business-to-business meeting opportunities, financial assistance, and many more.
There are also 40 big events this year involving major sectors such as the food & beverage (F&B), aerospace and maritim, oil and gas, and many others, which are relevant to Malaysian companies.
In particular, Matrade Sarawak urges export-ready Sarawakian companies to take up its programmes to benefit from the financial assistance that comes with these programmes.
One of its grants includes its Market Development Grant (MDG) programme which provides financial assistance for companies interested in exporting their products or participating in export exhibitions worldwide.
“We want to assist more companies financially because currently, the take-up rate in Sarawak for the grant that we provide, is not that high.
“Any company can benefit from MDG as it covers a wide variety of things such as the company’s flights, the employees’ accommodation, or booth fees at the exhibition, and others,” Matrade Sarawak director Leany Mokhtar said in her opening speech for Matrade’s ‘Export Opportunities in Halal Industry’ seminar held here yesterday.
She said there should be more from Sarawak as the awareness is still low and as such she encouraged interested companies to approach Matrade on their eligibility on getting the grant.
Aside from that, Leany highlighted that Matrade also has over 40 offices across the world which Matrade members can utilise for their business meetings.
She also urged Sarawakian companies to register with Matrade to fully utilise the information that the agency offers.
“By registering with Matrade, we will be able to share our trade leads from our offices across the world. We will be able to share all these market intelligence such as what’s the new regulations in certain markets or the current market trends, and others as we have officers that are ‘on the ground’ there who can give us live updates on the market there.
On another note, Leany warned exporters or interested exporters to be aware of the legitimacy of companies that approach them for export businesses.
She explained that this was because there is a worrying increase in business scams preying on local companies.
“If you feel that there is something that is ‘not right’ with the company that you’re dealing with, let us know and we will check for you because that is one of the services that we provide.
“We will check with you on whether the company that you’re dealing with is a genuine company. Even though they may look like a legitimate business, there are incidences that these companies are scams.
“Utilise Matrade and the information we can provide to cross check the companies that you deal with,” she added.
Aside from that, during the seminar, Leany highlighted several other exporters development programmes such as Matrade’s eTrade platform, Go-Ex, Bumiputera, Women & Youth Exporters Development Programme (BWYEDP), exporters advisory, and others.
The seminar yesterday was also held to highlight the importance of intellectual property (IP) in the exports market, export opportunities in the halal industry as well as products and services provided by Matrade.
Also present during the seminar was Matrade’s deputy director of Halal, F&B, and Agro-based Section Khairul Nizam Moonier.