PETALING JAYA: The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta), which celebrates its 37th anniversary this year, is committed to continuing to support the country’s SMEs by championing their plight to the government and other stakeholders, said its chairman Datuk William Ng.
Speaking at the association’s central region Lunar New Year open house in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, he said: “We are committed to supporting the more than one million SMEs in the country.
“During the December 2021 floods, we activated the Samenta Central Task Force (CTF), which helped over 200 affected SMEs make police reports, negotiated for a moratorium with banks and sought assistance from various government agencies.
“This was appreciated by the affected SMEs, and as such, we are keeping the CTF active in case something similar happens to SMEs in the future.”
He said Samenta will continue working to drive up the productivity of SMEs, adding that the main challenge is not a lack of financing or even the labour crunch, but the low margins as a result of low productivity.
“We are working closely with the Malaysia Productivity Corporation to help raise the productivity of our SMEs through digitalisation and automation.”
Over 300 guests attended the Lunar New Year open house, including Entrepreneurship and Cooperatives Development Deputy Minister Saraswathy Kandasami and Peru ambassador to Malaysia, Ricardo Morote.
In her speech, Saraswathy congratulated Samenta for its work in supporting SMEs.
“As the first and largest SME association in the country, Samenta has been instrumental in helping SMEs over the years by connecting them to global markets.
“The ministry looks forward to continuing to work with Samenta to improve the capacity and capability of SMEs in Malaysia,” Saraswathy said.
Source: https://www.thesundaily.my/local/association-reiterates-commitment-to-serve-smes-DD10644564