The Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry will waive social enterprise rating fees from Aug 1 to Sept 17, 2026, in a push to encourage more Malaysian businesses and organisations to obtain official recognition.
Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said the RM300 Accredited Social Enterprise fee and RM50 Basic Social Enterprise fee would be fully covered by the National Entrepreneurship Institute in conjunction with National Month and Malaysia Day.
To date, 649 social enterprises have received KUSKOP ratings, comprising 328 aspiring, 253 basic and 68 accredited social enterprises.
The figure remains far below the Malaysia Social Entrepreneurship Blueprint 2030 target of 5,000 social enterprises, originally set for 2025.
Sim said cost and limited awareness may have discouraged companies, corporations and non-governmental organisations already carrying out social-impact activities from applying.
Registered social enterprises are eligible for tax incentives until Dec 31, 2027, while nearly RM20 million has been allocated to help the sector strengthen capacity and expand operations.
The ministry has also cut the processing period for rating applications to 30 days from 90 days and aims to procure at least RM300,000 worth of goods and services from social enterprises this year, triple last year’s RM100,000.
