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Dato' Hafsah, CEO of SMIDEC elaborates on the role of SME Corp
Kuala Lumpur, 28 June 2008 – At a talk held at MICCI, the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce Industry, Dato’ Hafsah Hashim, CEO of SMIDEC outlined the role of the new SME Corp. As of 2 January 2009, SMIDEC will be re-designated as SME Corp and will be a single dedicated agency to formulate strategies and coordinated implementation of SME programmes across all sectors and agencies.
According to Dato’ Hafsah, the move is timely to accelerate SME development to the next level and to strengthen SMEs and their contribution to the economy. SME Corp will act as a single point of contact with SMEs and facilitate interface with the private sector.
SMEs in Malaysia are classified into two broad categories, ie, the manufacturing, manufacturing related services and agro-based industry; and the services, primary agriculture, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. Under the first category, companies with annual sales turnover of less than RM25 million or with less than 150 full time employees are classified as SMEs. In the services, primary agriculture and ICT sector, companies with annual sales turnover of less than RM5 million or who have less than 50 employees are classified as SMEs.
Dato’ Hafsah pointed out that the operative word here is ‘or’. This means a company in the manufacturing category would still fall under the classification of SME even if its annual sales turnover is more than RM25 million but the company employs less than 150 full time employees. As long as a company fulfills one of the two boundaries of the definition of SME, whether in terms of annual sales turnover of full time employees, the company is considered an SME and therefore eligible for the various incentives and funds provided to SMEs. In addition, the company must be a Malaysian company with at least 60 percent Malaysian ownership.
Dato’ Hafsah also elaborated on the Matching Grant Schemes and Soft Loan Schemes implementd by SMIDEC. Under the Matching Grant Schemes, 50 per cent of the approved project cost is borne by the Government while the Soft Loan Schemes provide for loans at a low interest rate of 2 per cent. She highlighted that SMEs may also claim up to 80 per cent of training expenses at any of the 42 centres of learning in the country.
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