Move to develop 4,000 women entrepreneurs by 2012

THE government aims to develop 4,000 women entrepreneurs by 2012, said Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir.
He said SME Corp Malaysia Bhd has set up a special unit to monitor, coordinate and formulate programmes for women entrepreneurs through collaborations with various ministries, agencies and business associations.
"In order for women entrepreneurs to compete globally, Matrade through Women Exporters Development Programme has introduced export assistance programmes, designed for women owned businesses that are new to or have limited experience in exporting.
"These programmes will definitely help SMEs develop the necessary skills and knowledge to penetrate and further expand their export markets," he said.
WENA's president, Raja Azam Baezah Raja Mokhtar, said a common problem for women Bumiputera entrepreneurs is the lack of branding for their products.
"Many also don't have much capital to bring their business to the higher playing level," she said of WENA, a six-year old non-profit organisation with 200 people as members.
WENA conducts regular meetings with members and guides them on how they should market their products or get the right grants.
"We can point them in the right direction on what and where to go next,"she said. - BT

Aim for National Mark, SMEs told

MALAYSIA'S small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) must strive to achieve the mark of distinction, or National Mark, which is the government's stamp of approval on companies with attributes of quality, excellence and distinction of products and services.

It is said that through the National Mark, the government intends to bring products and services of Malaysian SMEs to a higher quality and enhance packaging standards to be on par with products of more established brands.

Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) will undertake various promotion activities for brands that have been awarded the National Mark.

To date, it is learnt that more than 14 applications have been received for the Malaysian Brand Certification Scheme.

Out of these, only one company has been certified.

SME Corp Malaysia introduced the SME-Brand Development Programme which was endorsed by National SME Development Council in 2007.

One of the programmes is the development of the National Mark of Malaysian Brand undertaken by SME Corp Malaysia in collaboration with Matrade and Sirim Bhd

Companies that fulfil the set criteria and have successfully undergone the audit process will be certified and ultimately granted the use of the National Mark.

Indeed, this is the mark that the market should look out for.

SMEs were called to invest in the development of human resource capability, which is key to innovation, and to enhance collaboration with other players within their respective industries and stakeholders.

SMEs represent 99.2 per cent of total business establishments in Malaysia and are an important source of endogenous growth towards transforming Malaysia to become a high-income economy in the new economic model.

Growth strategies for SMEs

THE government has put in place a number of strategies geared to further develop existing industries and also create new business opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
They are centered on potential new growth drivers, namely in the services, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said as support, infrastructure, institutional framework and appropriate incentives will be provided to facilitate a conducive investment environment for SMEs to leverage on the new business opportunities.
He said growth areas identified include among others those in electrical and electronics, medical devices, textiles and apparel, machinery and equipment, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, wood-based, rubber and rubber-based products, oil palm-based and food processing.
"One sector we strongly encourage SMEs to enter into is biotechnology, with programmes that include facilitating business start-ups, capacity building and product development," he said.

Najib said various initiatives are made available for SMEs in their effort to acquire new technologies such as the Technology Database, Technology Roadmap Repository, development of i-SMEs as well as the Technology and Innovation Showcase.
He said the liberalisation of the services sector is also expected to spur investments in new areas and create higher value employment opportunities.
"The services sector will continue to be a key driver of growth and adopting new technologies will be key factors, especially in non-traditional services such as information communication technology, health, education, shared service and outsourcing," he said.
Elaborating on the SME annual report 2008 titled "Rising to Meet Global
Challenges", Najib said a total of 174 programmes, including 17 new ones, worth RM3.04 billion are being implemented to further enhance the capacity and capabilities of SMEs.
"To ensure effective and efficient implementation, SME Corp will introduce a new framework to closely track implementation of the programmes and undertake independent assessment using an outcome-based approach, namely the Impact Analysis Framework on SME Programmes," he
said.
Last year, a total of 202 programmes worth RM3 billion were carried out, benefiting 598,000 SMEs, accounting for a two-fold increase from the number of beneficiaries in 2007.
"SMEs will be developed based on three strategic thrusts - strengthen infrastructures that support, develop capacity and capabilities and increase access to financing," Najib said.

Source: BT