PUTRAJAYA: Due to overlaps involving several ministries and agencies, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said a permanent secretariat for the National Entrepreneur Development and MSME Council (MPUPK) will be established.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the decision was made to ensure that all relevant ministries and agencies could better coordinate programmes concerning micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“After the presentation, it was found that there was an overlap of functions and roles in coordinating the development of the entrepreneur ecosystem and MSMEs in 16 ministries and 50 agencies.
“Therefore, I have instructed for the permanent secretariat of the MPUPK to be established to coordinate the overlapping jurisdictions that have occurred over the years,” he said.
Ahmad Zahid said this in a statement on Monday (Feb 5) after launching the MSME Strategic Plan 2030 at Perdana Putra.
Also present was Entrepreneur and Co-operatives Development Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick.
Aimed at providing targeted steps to create a business landscape that allows MSMEs to develop sustainably, Zahid said the Strategic Plan will ensure the entrepreneurship industry continues to contribute to economic growth.
He said the MSME Strategic Plan 2030 contains six objectives and 13 strategies divided into three catalysts.
“The Success of the MSME Strategic Plan 2030 can be ensured by empowering and enhancing the knowledge of the industry players, creating an ecosystem that allows entrepreneurs to innovate, and creating an MSME-friendly business landscape.
“Under the MSME Strategic Plan 2030, the government will assist the companies in penetrating both the national and international markets aside from ensuring they will always have access to financial aid,” he added.
By 2025, the MSME Strategic Plan 2030 targets contributing 41% to the national gross domestic product (GDP), 50% to employment and 15% to exports, he said.
Five years after that, by 2030, he said Putrajaya expects the Strategic Plan to contribute 50% to the country’s GDP, 55% to employment and 30% to exports.
The main sectors featured under the strategic plan include agriculture (farming and aquaculture), manufacturing (food and beverage, chemical products, industrial products, sustainable wood-based furniture and metal), and service (public, professional, transport, wholesale and retail, tourism and, food and beverage).
Ahmad Zahid called on entrepreneurs to apply Digital Transformation and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles to remain relevant to future MSME trends, saying these would ensure business sustainability.
At the same time, he said the two principles would also allow local business to spread their wings into international markets.
“SME Corp Malaysia has published an ESG Quick Guide for MSME that identifies the basic criteria for the application of ESG practices by MSMEs.
“This quick guide includes eight simple steps for firms to understand the importance of ESG in their business, set objectives, identify ESG indicators relevant to their business, create a sustainability action plan and then use a simple template for ESG reporting.
“This guide contains 13 basic indicators that can be used by all MSMEs.
“The selection of indicators is based on the appropriateness and minimum requirements of MSME business operations across all sectors and sizes, including firms with enterprise status and micro enterprises,” Zahid added.
According to him, the guidebook also includes important indicators for business sustainability, such as employee benefits, culture, risk management and data protection which are often available in large firms but are less practised by MSMEs.
