KUALA NERANG, Feb 9 –An entrepreneurNCER programme has been introduced under the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) Integrated Human Capital Programme to assist micro-entrepreneurs, as well as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), to ensure the viability and sustainability of their businesses.
Under the entrepreneurNCER programme, micro-entrepreneurs and SMEs are offered financing schemes through strategic partnerships with Maybank and Agrobank, as well as given guidance on growing their respectivees.
One of the participants in the programme, Mohd Subhi Musa, 39, who runs a rubber collection centre here, said he was able to make good of the funding assistance as capital for his business by buying scrap rubber from smallholders in large quantities.
“Before joining the programme in 2019, I was only able to buy the scrap rubber at only between 30 to 33 tons a day, but after getting the funding assistance, I am able to buy more of up to 50 tons a day,” he said when met by Bernama.
Mohd Subhi, who opened the Rubber Collection Centre in 2011, said his ability to buy scrap rubber in large quantities also enabled more than 100 smallholders in the Padang Terap district to earn more income through their sale of the rubber.
“It also enable me to provide better price for the smallholders,” he said, adding that he now has 12 employees to assist him at the collection centre.
Another participant, Burhan Hassan, 50, who runs the Tire and Auto Service Centre, here, said the funding assistance provided under the programme had enabled him to improve and expand his business.
“Through the funding assistance , I was able to open another branch in Kepala Batas, near Alor Setar in 2021, hence providing job opportunities for he locals there,” he added.
Burhan, who started the business in 2006, said he now has three Tire and Auto Service Centres, including a second branch in Pokok Sena which was opened in 2018, and in total employed 14 workers at the three premises.
Meanwhile, NCER, in a statement, said a total of 8,927 micro, small and medium enterprises in Kedah had benefitted from the financing scheme under the entrepreneurNCER programme involving a total loan of RM101.8 million since 2019.
It also said another 22,500 micro, small and medium entrepreneurs in NCER are expected to benefit from the programme under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) with the involvement of CIMB and AFFIN Bank as new strategic partners of the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) beginning this year.
Sources: BERNAMA