SME Development Bank to disburse RM741mil worth of loans

MELAKA: SME Development Bank Malaysia Bhd (SME Bank) expects to disburse some RM741mil worth of new loans to entrepreneurs under the bank’s ongoing engagement sessions with small business owners.

SME Bank chief operating officer (banking) Datuk Kamaluddin Ismail said the amount was 30% higher from the total loans of RM570mil disbursed via the same initiative in 2017. He said a total of 1,947 entrepreneurs from across the country have joined the bank’s engagement session con- ducted last year. “Melaka is the fifth destination of our engagement session with our potential customers for this year.

“In January, we have carried out similar sessions in Selangor; Kuching, Sarawak; Tawau, Sabah and Alor Star, Kedah,” he said at the opening of the SME Bank Engagement Session for its Southern Regional Centre here yesterday.

The one-day programme at the Holiday Inn in Banda Hilir was opened by Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong.

Kamaluddin said the programme aims to tackle the issue of access to financing faced the small-medium enterprises (SME) nationwide. Meanwhile, Chua said SME entrepreneurs should not be satisfied to penetrate only the local market and must take the opportunity to export their respective products. He said currently only 17% to 18% from the more than 900,000 SMEs in Malaysia have been exporting their goods. “We are hoping to increase the percentage to 23%,” he said. He urged the local entrepreneurs to visit the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade), an agency under the International Trade Industry Ministry (Miti), in order to learn how their companies can succeed in the international market.

During the same event, Chua also presented letters of offer (LO) for SME Bank loans worth RM13.63mil to six successful applicants who are involved in the engineering, construction, oil and gas and services sectors.