SIK, May 30 — To assist small traders, the government has introduced various initiatives such as the TEKUN Nasional Covid Business Recovery Scheme (CBRM), which has brought a ray of hope to people affected by the movement control order (MCO).
Among those benefitting from this scheme is single mother, Noor Hidayu Che Teh, 26, who earns a living by selling kuih muih at a roadside stall in Kampung Banggol Kiat here, whose income was affected during the MCO, to break the Covid-19 chain of infection in Malaysia.
The mother-of-two applied for the interest-free loan although she did not expect much from it.
“I was surprised when my application was approved. The loan is RM10,000 without any interest and I received RM2,000 of the amount on April 22,” she said when met by Bernama recently.
CBRM is a micro-financing scheme for entrepreneurs affected by the Covid-19 outbreak to help them recover and restart their existing businesses.
TEKUN Nasional acts as the facilitator for the scheme and RM200 million has been allocated to ease the burden of micro entrepreneurs.
Noor Hidayu, who has been in the business for almost four years together with her sister Norashidah, 35, also sells fried keropok lekor, nugget, rojak buah and a variety of drinks at their stall which opens daily from 2 pm to 7 pm.
During the MCO enforcement, she said she tried to continue her business using the online platform, but it was unsuccessful as the restricted movement made it difficult to deliver orders.
This left her with depleting funds which was insufficient to restart her business after the MCO was relaxed.
“During the MCO period, we could not go too far from our house area, so I did not dare to accept orders from customers who are staying further away. Hence, this RM2,000 loan will definitely make it easy for me to restart operating the stall,” she said.
She also plans to make good use of the remaining RM8,000, to improve the business or perhaps set up another stall. — Bernama
