By Neil Brian Joseph
MARA complete ecosystem to elevate SMEs
THE Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) is determined in elevating the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of the country to reach greater heights, by providing them with a ‘complete ecosystem'.
MAR A Deputy Director General (Entrepreneurship) Zulfikri Osman asserted that MARA is very much into human capital development and the development of local entrepreneurs.
He explained that MARA offers a complete ecosystem that addresses the human capital development, the business development and the need for support facilities such as financial assistance.
“To develop entrepreneurs, we need to offer complete ecosystem,” Zulfikri said during the Malaysia Business Landscape and Opportunities Forum at the sixth instalment of the Mara-Oisca International Business Forum (MOIBF) 2017 on Tuesday.
In line with this, MARA has provided training and other forms of support, such as business premises, factories and financial assistance for the SMEs which are already in the growth stage.
For SMEs that are heading towards the maturity stage, Mara may also provide them with loan and grants, for them to secure certificates.
“We (MARA) are not only about education and entrepreneurs. We also have a third pillar, which is investment.
“In MARA, there are about 20 subsidiaries and within the Mara group of companies, we have about 43 or 45 companies. This means that we are an industry player.
“When we are an industry player, it is easier for us to open up business opportunities along the supply chain,” he said, adding that MARA has industry players in the furniture, property and aerospace industries, among others.
“In terms of working capital, we have a number of financing facilities, such as the funding facilities for the supply chain development, whereby MARA can give entrepreneurs up to RM5 million. This can be used to help them buy equipment and machineries.
“Also, if any of the entrepreneurs are in the automotive industry, we do offer a specific funding/programme for them,” Zulfikri said.
It is understood that MARA has more than 300 training institutions, comprising of secondary schools, colleges and universities all over Malaysia and most of them focus on vocational and technical training.
Zulfikri explained that MARA offers various entrepreneurial development programmes and courses for its students with the various Mara training institutions.
He further reiterated that MARA is always willing to assist SMEs from all stages, namely, the start-up level, growing stage and maturity stage.
Other than that, MARA also offers equity financing to local entrepreneurs. This is intended to help entrepreneurs who seek to take over other potential companies.
Zulfikri also said that MARA is also keen on pushing the local SMEs to go global
The other speakers in the forum were Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) Director of Domestic Investment Division Ahmad Tajudin Omar and Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA) Assistant Vice-President Iwan Hermawan Hj Masrul.
Ahmad Tajudin, in his talk, described MIDA as the principal government agency that is responsible in the promotion and coordination of investment in the country.
In a nutshell, MIDA has four main functions, namely, promoting, planning, evaluating and monitoring/ follow-ups, he said.
Meanwhile, Iwan, in his talk, explained that Sedia's main functions are to promote and accelerate development of SMEs in the state, adding that one of Sedia's main principles is to capture a higher economic value for the good of the state.
He also said that most of the projects undertaken by Sedia are sustainable and environmentalfriendly.
As of 2017, Sedia has created almost 50,000 jobs all over the state and the poverty rate is now at 2.9 per cent, he added.
The forum was moderated by SME Corporation (SME Corp) Executive Officer 2 Rithaudden Makip.
OISCA or The Organization for Industrial Spiritual and Cultural Advancement is a leading nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Japan that has over 4, 500 companies registered in it.
It has 36 chapters from around the world. As for Malaysia, Mara is the leading agency for OISCA.