JOHOR BARU: The government is committed to strengthening the small medium enterprises (SMEs) sector to drive economic growth and Malaysia’s development.
Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the SME sector was an important agenda for the country as it contributed significantly towards enhancing the gross domestic product (GDP).
“At present, the SME contribution is 35 per cent to the GDP and we want to increase this to 41 per cent by 2020. In this regard, we want to also make the SME agenda, a mainstream of the country’s development,” he added.
He told reporters this after jointly officiating the “Gerak Usahawan Johor” programme with Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin here today.
The programme was being held in conjunction with the National SME Week 2015.
At the event, the state government also launched the Johor SME Strategic Action Plan 2015-2020.
The plan is an initiative to drive the development of the sector in the state to the global stage.
According to Mustapa, SME development is always an important goal of the government and to shelve negative perception in the community, particularly among entrepreneurs.
This is because, there is a small group that feels that the government supposedly only helps the big companies and those that have multinational status to develop their business, compared to SME entrepreneurs, he said.
“This perception that we only help the ‘big taukes’ is not true. As such, we are organising the SME Week to show the serious attention both the Federal and state governments are giving towards the development of SMEs in the country,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Khaled in his speech said the state government wanted Johor entrepreneurs to succeed in the quest towards ensuring that economic growth is more sophisticated and competitive.
He said Johor needed new and dynamic economic growth and not just based on the construction and real estate sector, alongside the success of Iskandar Malaysia as well as the Pengerang oil and gas hub.
“In the key mission towards strengthening the competitiveness of Johor entrepreneurship, we will ensure that entrepreneurs and the SME sector are developed.
“It must be translated to what is in the strategy and plan launched, so that all policies related to entrepreneurship and SMEs are understood,” he added. –BERNAMA