Sabah SMEs urged to comply with ESG
KOTA KINABALU: The International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) is urging all Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Sabah to comply with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG).
Its deputy minister, Datuk Lim Ban Hong, said that ESG compliance is important as it will propel Malaysia’s companies to greater heights as the focus for companies is not on the domestic market but also to become exporters such as the BTC Group in Sabah.
He said that BTC Group not only caters to the local market but also exports food products to Brunei Darussalam.
“I was made to understand that they have plans to export food products to other countries. I think that this is a positive development,” he said to reporters at Plaza BTC in Inanam near here.
He led an entourage of the agencies under his ministry to visit SMEs in Sabah to help them to reach the aim set in the 12th Malaysia Plan.
Lim added that compliance to ESG is important for products and services to be strong in both the global and region.
He also said that his ministry is focused on helping the local SMEs as it wants the contribution of SMEs in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to increase from 38.2 per cent in 2020 to 45 per cent, and export contribution from 13.5 per cent to 25 per cent as targeted in the 12th Malaysia Plan.
Meanwhile, BTC Group is planning to export its food products to countries in the BIMP-EAGA region which comprises Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Its managing director, Datuk Abdul Kadir M.E. Sikkandar, said that currently, they are already exporting to Brunei Darussalam.
They are also planning to export their food products to Japan, South Korea and Singapore, he said to reporters after receiving a delegation from the ministry.
Abdul Kadir also explained that they want to move forward in the processing of food and is grateful for the delegation for providing information.
He said that they are applying for mechanisation and digitalisation for their food production factory and bakery.
“We have informed the minister and he said that he will ask his agencies to help us,” he said.
He added that among the other types of assistance BTC Group had received from the government is grant for their bakery from SME Corp and training from MPC.
“And now we are applying for automation and digitalisation ... we will replace our manual machinery to automatic, and digitalise our factory — our food factory and bakery,” he said.