SME sector remains robust with strong government support

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have remained robust this year as the sector braces for the adoption of Industrial Revolution 4.0, with strong and encouraging support from the government.

While the performance of the sector is also affected by global volatility, which has resulted in a weakening ringgit and in turn rising cost of business, the situation is deemed temporary.

The business environment for SMEs continued to be supported by the government and corporate companies with various initiatives put in place to help SMEs promote their products and services locally and globally.

SME Corp Malaysia (SME Corp), which has been tasked with coordinating and implementing SME development, had introduced various programmes and activities to spur growth in the sector.

This year, a total of 158 SME development programmes were implemented with a total financial commitment of RM14.3 billion.

Among others, the agency spent RM217.33 million to implement 28 innovation and technology-related programmes, benefiting 37,429 SMEs under the innovation and technology adoption initiative in its annual SME Integrated Plan of Action (SMEIPA).

Based on SMEIPA for 2018, a total of 151 SME development programmes were planned to benefit 613,576 SMEs.

In further enhancing the technology ecosystem, SME Corp had in June collaborated with Huawei Malaysia to sponsor a study on 2,033 SMEs across regions and sectors including services, manufacturing, construction and agriculture, to explore the state of adoption of information and communications technology.