ONE-TENTH OF SMES KEEN ON LISTING
Easier for firms to go public via Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform, says SME Corp CEO
AT least one-tenth of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) participating in SME Corp Malaysia’s Enterprise 50 Award (E50) aim to go public as soon as it is possible to do so.
“Although they are SMEs, but they are top-tier SMEs that have all the capabilities to go for that listing status,” said SME Corp chief executive officer Datuk Hafsah Hashim.
“We have seen that at least 10 per cent of the SMEs that participate for the E50 will go public upon being shortlisted or winning the E50.”
Hafsah added that it was much easier for these top-tier SMEs to grab hold of the coveted listing status now that Bursa Malaysia had created the Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform (Leap) Market.
According to a market study by SME Corp, some 19,000 local SMEs can benefit from the launch of the LEAP Market as it is one of the avenues for fund-raising.
“As you know, companies which qualify for the LEAP Market include those at seed or early growth but lack assets for collateral and a track record.
“However, because these companies were part of E50, we are therefore prepared to vouch for them and to ensure that their path to the LEAP Market would be as smooth as possible,” said Hafsah at a press conference prior to the announcement of the E50 winners yesterday.
To date, there are two firms that have been listed on LEAP Market. They are Cloudaron Group Bhd and Red Ideas Holdings Bhd, which ended their firstday debut recently at 11 sen and 35 sen, respectively.
Hafsah and SME Corp chairman Tan Sri Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid had earlier announced the top 10 winners of E50.
They are Builtech Project Management Sdn Bhd, Big Onion Food Caterer Sdn Bhd, CLPG Packaging Industries Sdn Bhd, Ever Delicious Food Industries Sdn Bhd, Harta Maintenance Sdn Bhd, MKRS Bumi (M) Sdn Bhd, Respack Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, The Origin Foods Sdn Bhd, Tidy Non-Wovens Sdn Bhd and xPrint Sdn Bhd.
At the E50 Award gala dinner last night, Harta Maintenance Sdn Bhd was announced as the No. 1 winner. Builtech emerged as first runner-up, while Respack was the second runner-up.
In addition, Ever Delicious Food managing director Yo Bee Kew was named the E50 Women Entrepreneur Award 2017 winner for her excellence and oustanding performance in managing her business.
Mohamed Al Amin said: “Almost 70 per cent of this year’s award recipients have already penetrated the export market, despite the challenging market conditions and the volatility of the ringgit.
“The export segment plays a significant part in the competition this year as we believe that in order for a company to be big, it have to look beyond Malaysia alone,” he said.
More than 500 firms with a four or five-star ratings under the SME Competitiveness Rating for Enhancement Programme organised by SME Corp were invited to submit nominations.
However, only 50 of the best firms were evaluated by Deloitte and a panel of professional judges to receive the award.