MaGIC welcomes Budget 2021’s allocation for social enterprises development
KUCHING: The Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) welcomes Budget 2021’s allocation for the development of social enterprises and emphasis on the need to accelerate research and development (R&D).
According to chief executive officer Dzuleira Abu Bakar, MaGIC will continue to play the lead role in empowering technology startups and social enterprises by providing them access to capacity building, market, regulatory and funding.
Boosted by the initiatives tabled under Budget 2021, MaGIC is relentlessly committed to creating the next generation of resilient startups, better equipped and agile to thrive in the new economy, fuelling their growth to be sustainable.
“We welcome the allocation of RM20 million to develop social enterprises further,” Dzuleira said in a statement.
“Social enterprises have proven to be a leading light during the Covid-19 pandemic, as they continue to help the vulnerable sections of society in these difficult times.
“In addition, the e-Perolehan Impak Kerajaan (e-PIK) will further boost social innovationdriven activities.”
The e-PIK is a bold and much needed initiative that leverages the government’s massive purchasing power to drive positive social and environmental outcomes in the country.
“Through this initiative, social enterprises (SEs) can supply goods and services to the government in total up to 20 million ringgit per year and this translates to social value creation in areas such as community livelihood, food security, heritage preservation, our health and social wellbeing, and environmental protection.
“The initiative will begin its pilot phase in 2021, which will focus on establishing a viable proof of concept by testing the programme among eligible SEs and a few ministries.”
The government is also working with NGOs and SEs to tackle social and environmental issues, with RM100 million funding made available via a matching grant mechanism.
The MySDG Trust Fund is another initiative that highlights the Government’s commitment in achieving United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.
Further funding is made available to the All Party Parliamentary Group to conduct programmes related to the SDGs.
Dzuleira recapped that the Budget has also placed emphasis on the need to accelerate R&D as the country seeks to develop more innovative solutions that are commercially viable.
“A stronger ecosystem, encouraged by tax incentives, will definitely accelerate the commercial scalability of innovative solutions. This is in line with the objective of the National Technology and Innovation Sandbox (NTIS), which was recently launched in August this year.”