SME Malaysia awarded its association members in organising a mega turnout event at MITEC Convention Centre to show the might of support for the small and medium enterprise industry. The Platinum Business Awards organised by the SME Association of Malaysia, is a showcase of Malaysia’s top SMEs assessed on business quality and performance.
Commenting on the state of SMEs in Malaysia, President Ding Hong Sing said he is very worried as they are facing a difficult time, especially after the 4 years post-pandemic. First, the weak Ringgit makes imported raw materials more expensive. Second, it is harder for SMEs to get foreign workers. Third, exporting SMEs are required to apply ESG in their companies. And fourth, market demand has slowed down.
However, he notes that most of them are keen to adopt and willing to start to reduce the dependency on foreign workers but just that they don’t know how.
The assistance meted out by the government is welcomed, Budget 2024 saw an allocation of RM 900 million in loans under
Bank Negara Malaysia to finance SME digitalization and automation projects but SMEs need more details about the funding. SME Malaysia hopes the loans will have special interest rates of below 2 percent to make loan repayment affordable for SMEs. And hopes the loans are guidelines simple and transparent.
The president also noted that many SMEs do not even understand what ESG means but they know they cannot export goods to EU countries and take part in global supply chains if they don’t start ESG now. SMEs are appealing to the Government to consider one-to-one matching grants of 2 Billion Ringgit for SMEs to use green technology and adopt ESG practices in their companies
SMEs are also calling for the urgent need for fresh funding for the MATRADE Market Development Grant. MDG is important for SMEs to continue export activities, improve global access to Made-In-Malaysia goods and services, and enhance SME branding. Ding hopes the Government can top up funds for MDG so that more SMEs can export their products and boost the national GDP.
Ding also proposes setting up model versions of smart factories for various industries, a public-private project between the Government and selected companies that cater for educational tours for other SMEs to learn what a smart factory is all about. The owner of the model smart factory will share learning points on infrastructure, automation, and digitalisation so that other SMEs in that industry can learn how to set up their own smart factories.
As the largest SME association in the country, SME Malaysia said it fully supports the objectives of the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 and the National Energy Transition Roadmap. And believes Malaysia can build a resilient SME ecosystem with Government assistance for our SMEs to adopt automation and digitalisation, embrace the ESG challenges, maximise the Market Development Grant under MATRADE, and set up model smart factories.
