Naroden (front centre) is seen in a group photo with SEDC staff, guests, and seminar participants. SEDC general manager Abdul Hadi Abdul Kadir is at front second right.
KUCHING: Entrepreneurs looking to break into the halal food and drink market must understand the needs and wants of their target market.
Assistant Minister of Entrepreneur and Small, Medium Enterprise Development Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais said entrepreneurs need to equip themselves with the knowledge, skills, and ability to understand and fulfil the needs of markets.
“Markets are growing more fussy and sophisticated not only in taste but also in terms of quality, costs, packaging, delivery, payment system, and so on.
“So for entrepreneurs who want to go further, they must understand and appreciate modern systems and latest technology in processing, manufacturing, marketing and others,” he said when launching the ‘Juh! Halal 2019’ seminar yesterday.
Naroden pointed out that with a global Muslim population of around 1.8 billion or 24.1 per cent of the world’s population, the market for halal products is vast.
“We can see that the market for halal products is huge, and it is not necessarily for the Muslims only. Even non-Muslims could benefit from halal products.
“This is because halal products don’t only mean they are free from pork or from animals not slaughtered the Islamic way. Halal is a process that involves the equipment, ingredients, processing, and so on that are holistic and comprehensive from farm to table.
“It means that if a product is certified halal, it has passed in terms of cleanliness, hygiene, and quality,” he said.
The E-Commerce Assistant Minister stressed entrepreneurs who forgo technology in their processes would risk falling behind.
“No matter how small our company is or whether we are located in urban or rural areas, as long as we make good use of technology to get information, process information, and make educated decisions, we will have the same equal opportunities, the same level of playing field, like bigger companies too,” he said, while reminding the entrepreneurs that the Sarawak government provides several forms of assistance including loans and grants.