Local entrepreneurs want action on fake goods

KUALA LUMPUR: Local product founders want the government to step up enforcement against fake goods.

Celebrity entrepreneur and Naelofa Hijab founder Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor or Neelofa represented the group in meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) at Menara Ilham yesterday on the issue.

“There are too many duplicate targets out there but which do not have quality outcomes. So in today’s meeting I shared a lot from my business perspective, what we are facing within Naelofa Hijab,” she said.

According to her, working with the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry and Customs Department to curb the rampant peddling of counterfeit goods had proven to be too costly for her and other entrepreneurs.

“So I was suggesting to the council, maybe whenever we lodge a report they will work with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commissions to shut down the accounts of the people who are selling fake items,” she said.

Neelofa also urged the government to facilitate the process for business loans by providing a one-stop centre where relevant information and documents were readily available.

“I hope what they are going to restructure later would enable more Malaysian entrepreneurs to reach a bigger market and go global conveniently. The situation has been rather messy, we don’t know where to go and what to do next because there is no guidance from these agencies,” she said.

Meanwhile, FashionValet and dUCK Group, Datin Vivy Sofinas Yusof or Vivy Yusof said her company had to compete with fake products particularly from Vietnam and China.

To this end, she hoped the authorities particularly Customs would find a solution to the issue since the department could locate fake and imitation goods distributors from their business addresses.