Ministry out to help solve issues affecting micro-entrepreneurs

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Fatimah (left) presents the RM1,000 Endowment Fund Sarawak to a recipient. At right is Sibu District Officer Suhaili Mohamed.

SIBU: The Ministry of Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family and Childhood Development will discuss and work with the relevant agencies in helping micro-entrepreneurs address issues and challenges.

Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said many of these entrepreneurs had failed to apply for trading licences in view of them running their operations from home and not having commercial addresses.

This, she said, would result in them missing out on various assistance schemes provided by the federal and state governments.

“The state government, via the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), has a lot of assistance covering items, grants and loans. Similarly, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development Sarawak has lots of assistance for entrepreneurs.

“The government is providing so much assistance, but they (entrepreneurs) cannot fulfil the criteria. Some entrepreneurs, of course, will find shoplots and (some may) share with other people, but not everybody can do that,” she told reporters after the closing of ‘Sarawak Women Entrepreneurs Licence Registration Taskforce Programme’ yesterday. Similar programmes were also held in Kuching, Subis, Dalat, and Sarikei.

Based on the taskforce’s survey, many entrepreneurs are keen to apply for licensing, but less than 20 per cent of the applications receive approval – the low number is due to applicants not having any commercial address.

Fatimah said these entrepreneurs could apply from the Inland Revenue Board or the local authorities. She said SEDC had gone out to help by allowing these entrepreneurs use the corporation’s address – at a rate of RM200 per year. However,
she said such accommodation was limited and could not cater to all entrepreneurs.

“So we have to work it out – we have to sit together with the relevant agencies and discuss ways that we can have these people registered when the issue now is that they do not have any commercial address,” she said.

Fatimah added that her ministry would not able to solve the issue as licensing was under the jurisdiction of the district office, Inland Revenue Board, and Ministry for Local Government and Housing.

“But we will work together and we are in touch with these people,” she said, pointing out that many micro-entrepreneurs are women.