Government will continue providing support for SMEs

This was the assurance given by the International, Trade and Industry minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamad to the growing SME industry in the country.

Mustapa said in doing so, the government hopes that SMEs will be able to gain new impetus in building their capacity, thus, catapult them into attaining global competitiveness and success.

"This year, SME growth has been forecasted to expand by 5 to 6 per cent.

"The truth, however, is that the business environment will continue to evolve and change.

"In view of this, the government has taken the necessary measures to ensure SMEs are not being adversely affected by the ongoing policy reforms under the New Economic Model (NEM), including the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)," he said during the 2013 Enterprise 50 Award presentation today.

Enterprise 50 is an annual award programme organised by the SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp.) and Deloitte Malaysia to celebrate and highlight the achievements of enterprising small and medium companies that are well positioned for the future.

The top 10 winners this year were Dewina Food Industries Sdn Bhd, Exis Tech Sdn Bhd, Furutec Electrical Sdn Bhd, Gading Kencana Sdn Bhd, Indkom Engineering Sdn Bhd, Lybase Sdn Bhd, My CO2 Sdn Bhd, Natural Health Farm Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd, Panchem Technologies Sdn Bhd and SYM World Innovation Sdn Bhd.

The Award programme, which started in 1996, marks its 17th year this year.

Each year, 50 winners are selected from amongst the nominations received and the evaluation is based on key financial and non-financial factors.

To date, a total of 1,726 companies participated and 550 companies have come out as winners.