KUALA LUMPUR – A total of 43,206 entrepreneurs in various business sectors have benefited from Tekun Nasional’s financing, valued at RM451.36 million, from when the pandemic started in March to October 18.
Another agency under the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative (Medac), SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp), also provided financing and development assistance for bumiputera entrepreneurs, including the Bumiputera Youth Entrepreneurship (TUBE) under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) initiatives, said its minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
“The aid given is in the form of training with a start-up business grant of up to RM15,000 and business monitoring for a period of 12 months. For this year until September, a total of 765 participants were involved in this programme,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a query from Sabri Azit (PAS-Jerai) on the amount of assistance disbursed for hawkers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The ministry is aware of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on micro businesses and the informal sector, particularly hawkers and small traders.
“In this respect, the ministry has provided various assistance for hawkers and small traders through the implementation agencies under Medac such as Tekun Nasional, SME Corp, SME Bank dan Bank Rakyat,” he said.
He said Tekun Nasional received a total of RM300 million from the government through the Additional Prihatin SME Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin SME Plus) and Penjana to be distributed as an easy financing to entrepreneurs affected by the pandemic through the Covid Business Recovery – Micro and Tekun Business Recovery Scheme. – Bernama, November 2, 2020
