A BOOST FOR ENTREPRENEURS IN SABAH
MOSTI to provide financial support
THE Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry will be providing assistance to small- and medium-sized entreprises (SMEs) to take part in the Sirim-Fraunhofer programme which provides companies with technological audit services.
Under this programme, companies are required to fund 20% of the total cost of the technology uptake while Sirim will bear the remaining 80%.
However, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau noted that not many can afford it.
Hence, the ministry is allocating RM400,000 from its Social Innovation Fund to assist these SMEs with the programme.
“I hope the state government will come in and do its bit in this sense,” he said after officiating the “Enhancing Small and Medium Enterprise Growth in Sabah” programme by Sirim and Fraunhofer, a German research organisation, late last month.
“Many cannot afford to fork out the money so MOSTI is helping a little,” he explained.
The Sirim-Fraunhofer programme provides technological audit for a participating company. It helps a company identify prob- lems within the business and provide solutions for the development of the company.
Madius said companies that have undergone the programme are able to increase their productivity, improve the standard of their products and reduce the use of electricity and cut overhead costs among others.
The two-day Sirim-Fraunhofer programme attracted a total of 35 SMEs comprising some 150 people from Sabah.
Sirim group chief executive officer Prof Dr Ahmad Fadzil Mohamad Hani said such programmes help SMEs learn more about product and business development.
He said a total of 446 SMEs nationwide have undergone the technology audit and have shown tremendous improvements in various fields.
Sirim will also be developing a new standard for kopi-o (coffee), which is the code of practice to process coffee. This is expected to benefit everyone involved in the coffee making and marketing industry.