PETALING JAYA, July 21 — Twenty-one small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the government’s High Impact Programme 2 (HIP2) have raked in nearly 200 per cent returns on investment in just four years.

PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Viraj Perera said the companies have generated over RM21 million in sales and contract revenue with just RM6.7 million from the government.

"These 21 companies are the first cohort of companies under HIP2 which had their innovations commercialised with PlaTCOM’s assistance.

"There are many more to come,” he told reporters at the launch of HIP2 Success Showcase 2017 at Genovasi Malaysia here yesterday.

Viraj said they will continue to monitor the companies’ sales and revenues for the next five years to see the impact of PlaTCOM’s intervention and how it contributes to the gross national income, among others.

He said they have signed up 114 companies under HIP2 programme over the past four years and are targeting 300 SMEs to be assisted through the programme with at least 150 businesses commercialised by 2020.

"We hope to see at least 150 businesses going into the market by then. Some of the remaining companies would still be ongoing projects because as we admit more companies into the programme, the volume will continue to grow,” he said.

Among the assistance provided by PlaTCOM are end-to-end Intellectual Property (IP) and legal solutions, training and courses, consultancy on halal regulatory and certification, and other support services.

While PlaTCOM hopes to achieve at least 70 per cent success rate, Viraj said the journey for a few companies were cut short due to various reasons including system failure.

"We admit some companies have dropped out of the programme. One involved technology failure, which is something to be expected in the phase of innovation and another where the market died overnight due to a change in government regulation. We also had some cases of partnership fallout,” he said.

Speaking at the launch, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the ministry would continue to promote the development of SMEs which he dubbed as the "backbone of the country”.

"We want SMEs to take centrestage. These 21 HIP2 companies, and the innovative leaders who created their unique selling points, that gave life to these companies, is a demonstration of Malaysia’s outstanding ability to compete,” he said.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the companies’ success would help stimulate the minds of other market players through new combinations of products and services with enhanced marketability and utility.

"The combined impact of innovating companies will help create a better future, as well as increase the wealth of the nation with new activities that stimulate the sectors in our economy,” she said.

Also present were Agensi Inovasi Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Mark Rozario and SME Corporation Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Hafsah Hashim.