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Minister of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Datuk Ewon Benedick wants Sabah entrepreneurs to take full advantage of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Hub to access the latest information on entrepreneurship so they are always aware of opportunities to further expand their business potential.

The MSME Hub aims to function as a one-stop centre for entrepreneurs to obtain accurate, fast and comprehensive information on the field on entrepreneurship, including knowledge on starting a business, the best practices to do so, access to markets, human capital developments, financial resources and the latest industry developments.

According to Ewon, the Sabah business community and potential entrepreneurs could also get advice from officers on duty and information on entrepreneurship programmes offered by the government, in addition to the space provided for MSMEs to showcase their products and services.

This Sabah MSME Hub is the first (to be built) in East Malaysia. So far, the MSME Hub has only been at the SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. We also plan to open another hub in Sarawak.

“After being appointed to lead this ministry, I see the need to give additional focus to the development of entrepreneurship and cooperatives in East Malaysia as Sabah and Sarawak must not be left behind in the agenda to ensure that the scale of businesses can be expanded,” he explained.

The minister also targets for about 10,000 Sabah entrepreneurs to visit the MSME Hub every year, which was based on the number of visits recorded by the SME Corp’s MSME Hub.

Last year, a total of 10,035 MSMEs physically visited the MSME Hub in Kuala Lumpur, while 2,607 MSMEs visited the Sabah hub from January to March this year already.

Meanwhile, SME Corp chief executive officer Rizal Nainy highlighted that as the largest entity in the business community, the contribution of MSMEs to the gross domestic product (GDP), exports, employment and productivity should be enhanced.

“SME Corp remains committed to intensifying efforts to empower MSMEs, which includes improving access to information for MSMEs such as through the MSME Hub initiative,” he stated, noting that the agency had assisted more than 9,100 MSMEs in Sabah through the 12th Malaysia Plan.

During the launching event of the Sabah MSME Hub, Ewon presented cheques totalling RM841,099.97 to 15 recipients of the Bumiputera Enterprise Improvement Programme in Sabah as well as the Best Participant Award and Best Business Plan for the Bumiputera Youth Entrepreneurs Programme 11 for the state.

Source: https://sme.asia/sabah-entrepreneurs-urged-to-leverage-from-msme-hub/