SHAH ALAM, Sept 30 — Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) has urged small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take advantage of the government’s RM300 million allocation for Mara under the Penjana SME Financing Scheme in order to ensure their business sustainability.
Mara deputy director-general (Entrepreneurship) Datuk Zulfikri Osman said Mara aims to help the SMEs which have been adversely affected by the effects from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We have received an allocation of RM300 million and it is currently being disbursed to the adversely affected SMEs.
“We have not set a limit as to the number of applicants for the fund, and we also did not impose strict requirements because we want to help the SMEs to revive their businesses,” he told reporters after the Mara-Aeon Prihatin Programme with SMEs here today.
He said entrepreneurs may apply for the Mara Penjana SME Financing Scheme online, but urged those who wish to have a better understanding of the scheme to visit the agency’s branches nationwide for a more detailed explanation.
Zulfikri said Mara will disburse the Penjana SME Financing according the sum needed by the entrepreneurs to revive their business, based on the evaluation of several aspects including the company’s financial statements, working capital, rental payments and employee’s wages.
Meanwhile, commenting on the Mara-Aeon collaboration, he said as a start, Aeon Malaysia had provided business space for 29 SME entrepreneurs under the agency at five of its malls.
“The collaboration started in June, and we can see that generally, the entrepreneurs involved have been able to revive their respective businesses with total sales of close to RM2 million,” he said, adding that the initiative is also part of Mara’s efforts to help the SMEs which had been affected by the pandemic. — Bernama
