SUBANG JAYA, July 13 — The Malaysian Small and Medium Entrepreneur (SME) sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to exceed 40 per cent and on track to achieve the target of 41 per cent of the GDP.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said the target set in the SME Masterplan 2012-2020 could be achieved if Malaysia were to maintain its SME development pace at 6.7 per cent.

"In the recent period between 2011 and 2015, the SME sector grew at average annual rate of 6.7 per cent, outperforming the overall average growth of economy of 5.3 per cent.

"Currently 97 per cent of business establishments in Malaysia are SMEs, which contributed 37 per cent to the country’s GDP, 65 per cent to employment, and nearly 18 per cent to exports, " he told reporters after launching the SME building fundraising here today.

Wee said Malaysia was targeting for SMEs to contribute 25 per cent to exports but with the prevailing economic performance and market condition, it was realistic to say that the SME could achieve 23 per cent of exports by 2020.

Malaysian SMEs need to continuously innovate and add value to their products to enable them to export more goods to guarantee higher income, as well as continue to explore e-commerce platform to reach out to a bigger market, said Wee.

He said government had spent about RM5.88 billion for 167 programmes to be implemented this year on SME-related development programmes in the quest to help achieve the targets.

He also urged SMEs to await announcements on the Digital Free Trade Zone’s range of programmes for SMEs by October this year as they were set out to improve the movement of goods.

Wee also noted that the Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform (LEAP), an initiative by Bursa Malaysia to enable SMEs to go for the third board listing to access to capital market, would help SMEs grow their business.

He said the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs (SAME) is targeting and looking for five best companies to bring them on to the LEAP platform by this year.

On the SME Association of Malaysia (SME Malaysia) building fundraising, its President, Datuk Michael Kang Hua Keong said the association was targeting to raise RM10 million in 22 months.

Established in 1995, he said the association has been operating on rented premises and had moved four times, hence the need to raise funds for its own building.

Since its inception, SME Malaysia has embarked on many programmed, including seminars, international conferences, business awards and hosted visits from foreign business partners and embassies with the aim of educating, elevating and providing exposure to its members, he said.

Kang said with own building the association, the association would be in a better position to support SMEs via a formal training academy based in a well-equipped and conducive building, as well as an information centre catering to exports and trade matters.

The association is inviting generous contributions in order to realise its dream of owning a building, he said, adding that with 650,000 SMEs in Malaysia, this could be made possible. — Bernama