Pernas targets to produce 5,000 franchise entrepreneurs by 2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Perbadanan Nasional Bhd (Pernas) aims to produce 5,000 franchise entrepreneurs by 2025 involving more than 90 per cent of micro, small and medium Enterprises (PKMS).

Deputy Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister Datuk R. Ramanan said that the target also involved a total of RM1.47 billion in shareholders’ funds.

“Pernas has been established since 1969. It has been 55 years since this agency was established to become a very important agency for the franchise industry since 2000. Since then (2000) the franchise financing which Pernas has offered is as much as RM441 million, with a total investment of RM709 million.

“Out of that number, more than 5,000 entrepreneurs have been produced, and have created 35,000 job opportunities,” he told reporters, after his visit to Pernas Tuesday. He said that Pernas is a very important agency to develop and expand the franchise industry and its entrepreneurs, thereby helping to improve the country’s economy.

“Our mission is to make sure that franchise entrepreneurs, especially PMKS, are developed to a higher level; the opportunity is for all, you have to take the opportunity and work hard... we don’t want them to just be at the stall, but to be able to penetrate supermarkets and hypermarkets, including the airport.

“Pernas has also held various support programmes, such as the B40 Empowerment programme, which is not only held in Kuala Lumpur but also in other states... I also hope that more job opportunities will be created in the future,” he said.

In another development, Ramanan said that the Franchise Act 1998 is now placed under the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives, as decided by the cabinet.

Previously, the Franchise Act was under the purview of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN).

Ramanan also said that Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister, Datuk Ewon Benedick, will announce a replacement for the vacant position of chief executive officer (CEO) of Pernas in a day or two.