KUCHING, March 26 — WarungKu, an eCommerce platform like GrabFood and Food Panda, that has been set up to lessen the burden of local entrepreneurs as well as to help place their food products online will be launched on April 10.

Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (Medac) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said this initiative came about after many existing online platforms began imposing very high service charges of up to 35 per cent, thus causing hardship to entrepreneurs.

"Apart from creating the platform, we also hope to provide riders to help launch the food delivery process, whereby SME Corp will produce about 5,000 riders nationwide this year,” he told reporters after holding a dialogue session with entrepreneurs of kek lapis (layered cake) today.

He said that judging by the increasing number of riders following the Covid-19 pandemic, apart from this e-commerce platform, the National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (Tekun Nasional) had also provided assistance of RM10,000 for loans to purchase of motorcycles and equipment.

"So, with all this assistance, I am very confident that the WarungKu e-commerce platform will get a good response from entrepreneurs and consumers nationwide,” he said. — Bernama