Funding societies lauds government's initiatives to aid SMEs

Funding Societies Malaysia has lauded the government’s digital and small and medium enterprises (SMEs)-focused initiatives contained in the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) as announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last Friday.

Funding Societies co-founder and chief executive officer Wong Kah Meng said, as a peer-to-peer financing platform with the largest SME market share, the company was encouraged by the government’s three new thrusts anchoring the economic recovery plan in the new normal era.

The new thrusts are empowering people, propel businesses, and to stimulate the economy, wherein the key initiatives offer a variety of additional pre-emptive measures to support businesses significantly impacted by the global pandemic and the subsequent Movement Control Order, which include high numbers of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

"We welcome the initiatives announced such as Dana PENJANA Nasional, PENJANA SME Financing, PENJANA Microfinancing, and Bumiputera Relief Financing, among others, in providing more accessibility to financing for impacted SMEs, particularly those underserved by traditional financing institutions and helping them bridge through this difficult time.

"We laud the government for placing the utmost importance of driving the nation’s economic recovery through business digitalisation efforts," he said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, Wong said the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly changed the way the Malaysian economy operates, and digitalisation is ultimately the way to go in this new normal.

"We are proud to hear of such initiatives as MSME E-commerce Campaign, Technology Innovation Sandbox, along with other technical and digital adoption measures with the aim to empower local businesses through heightened business digitalisation.

"Despite the difficult time that we are experiencing, Funding Societies is positive that Malaysia will navigate through these unprecedented times swiftly, as together, we nurture our nation’s economic recovery.

"We are hopeful that this will then pave the way for us to be on track again to realise not only the nation’s ambition towards Industry 4.0, but also a more digitalised SME landscape in Malaysia for years to come," he added.

-- BERNAMA