The Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development (MEDAC) which is focused on developing entrepreneurship and oversees the hundreds of thousands of small business owners in the country has recently identified 13,600 of its members affected by the floods.
In assuring that their welfare will be looked after, Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar said the entrepreneurs are among those who will receive assistance in form of aids and business grants as agreed in the previous Cabinet meeting.
He added that his officers are in the midst of gathering information on these entrepreneurs and will submit the full report hopefully by February for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to make the announcement on the type of assistance the Government will be providing. This is scheduled to be made in March at the latest.
All parties who were affected have been engaged including the hawker associations, small and medium enterprises and chambers of commerce to identify entrepreneurs affected by the floods. Apart from that, the ministry — through the National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (TEKUN), SME Bank and Bank Rakyat — will also be conducting a study on the affected customers.
The recent flood was a wake-up call for the government which left many areas of its management questionable, however assistance has been pouring in for the recovery phase and so far more than RM1 billion has been spent to support the community.
