SMEs told to be innovative

Source From (The Malay Mail): http://www.mmail.com.my/story/smes-told-be-innovative

Published: on 06 July 2012
by Cynthia Blemin
Location:
PETALING JAYA

LOCAL small medium entrepreneurs (SMEs) should enhance the competitiveness of their products and services offered by way of innovation, said SME Corp Malaysia.

The country’s economic value chain can be pushed to higher level through innovation, said its chairman Datuk Dr Mohamed Al- Amin Abdul Majid, citing that SMEs represented 99.2% of the total active business establishments nationwide.

They contributed up to 32% to the GDP and employ 56% of the country’s total workforce.

“Innovative approaches and methodologies will enable the generation of fresh new ideas that can be turned into commercially-viable products and services,” he said at the 4th Malaysia SME Congress 2012 yesterday.

Innovation should not be limited to mere business operations, instead business models and solutions need to be adopted and practised, said Mohamed Al-Amin, in attendance of some 1,000 SME entrepreneurs including stakeholders from the community.

Meanwhile, Matrade chairman Datuk Mah Siew Keong said a total of 120 trade promotion programmes for this year, covering participation in international trade fairs and specialised marketing missions overseas in various industry sectors.

The seminars and workshops are aimed to enhance SMEs knowledge and awareness in entering the global market, he said, urging SMEs to register with Matrade to take advantage of its services.

Yesterday also marked the inaugural Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Day — to honour SMEs that represent the backbone of the economy.

Dedicating a day to the SMEs and celebrating the national SME day was the initiative of Malaysia SME Group chief executive officer Wayne Lim.

Lim hopes that the SME Day will become an iconic day to be celebrated regionally and globally. on the first Wednesday of July.