KUCHING, Aug 29 — The Sarawak government will consider the state Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Ministry’s request for an additional grant to help women entrepreneurs affected by the enforcement of the movement control order (MCO).

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg said there were women entrepreneurs who had missed out on assistance provided by the state government as they were running home-based businesses and did not have any business licence issued by the local authority.

He said the assistance included the Sarawakku Sayang Special Aid (BKSS) 2.0 and the Prihatin Special Grant.

“A team at the State Secretary’s Office will screen the aid applications (for those who missed out) and their businesses will be licensed to make them eligible for the assistance,” he told reporters after officiating the Sarawak State Women’s Day Celebration at the Borneo Kuching Convention Centre here today.

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Also present was State Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family, and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.

Abang Johari said the state government had previously allocated a grant of RM2 million in the form of equipment to women entrepreneurs in Sarawak but when the MCO was implemented, it was turned into cash assistance.

Meanwhile, Fatimah said that some 1,000 women entrepreneurs would benefit from the RM2 million grant.

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She said as of July 30, a total of 10,921 applications for the grant had been received, hence the request for the Chief Minister to increase its allocation to assist more women entrepreneurs in the state.

Earlier, Abang Johari in his speech at the event said Sarawak would continue to enforce the Recovery movement control order (RMCO) to prevent new Covid-19 transmissions in the state.

As such, he said more initiatives would be announced and implemented by the state government to further empower women in Sarawak especially in this digital era. — Bernama