THERE are a total of 241,767 micro and small women entrepreneurs (MSWEs) in the country, making up 21% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia, according to Strive Malaysia.
It also highlighted that while 80% of them are digitally literate for personal use of social media platforms, they do not know how to use these tools for their businesses.
Additionally, many MSWEs lack confidence in their financial expertise, with only 50% comfortable with basic income tracking.
Consequently, 78% are seeking more guidance from financial institutions on key areas like loans, grants and market insights.
Strive Malaysia programme officer Li Yang Lau explained that this report has been used to create specific programmes which addresses the needs of women-owned businesses.
“We provide them with easy access to a free self-assessment tool, tailored skill-building training and microlearning resources, and mentorship opportunities, thus fostering a more enabling business ecosystem via Strivers’ Hub, a one-stop-shop digital platform designed to cater to the evolving needs of small businesses, particularly women entrepreneurs,” he said at the Women-Led SMEs Push Malaysia’s Economy Forward panel session today.
Strive Malaysia’s report also revealed that the biggest challenge for women entrepreneurs (97%) is time constraint, stemming from the need to balance business, childcare and household duties.
This is rooted in Malaysia’s gender norms that expect women to be primary caregivers.
Meanwhile, despite the government’s target to achieve a 60% female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) by 2033, Talent Corp Malaysia Bhd Women’s Programmes (Wanita MyWira) Assistant VP Natasha Alias revealed that it has dropped by 0.2% this year to 56.2% from 56.4%.
“As of this year, about five million women are outside the labour market. Out of that number, almost four million said the reason they are outside the labour market is family care,” she said.
TalentCorp will be releasing its Gender Action Lab report in the first quarter of next year. It will begin the first cohort in May and work with 10 selected companies to create equity and inclusion (EI) policies.
The panel discussion was organised by self-service laundrette dobiQueen and featured experts from the public and private sector such as TalentCorp, Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) and Strive Malaysia.
Source: https://themalaysianreserve.com/2025/04/22/twenty-one-percent-of-malaysian-smes-are-women-led/