SME Corp's Efforts To Help SMEs Bear Fruit

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 (Bernama) -- SME Corp Malaysia's efforts to help the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) get better access to loan facility have borne fruit, said chief executive officer Datuk Hafsah Hashim.

Source from (Bernama): http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=956288
Published: Jun 16, 2013

She said the corporation worked closely with the Association of Banks in Malaysia and Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia, and via these engagements, it was able to reach out to the commercial and development banks.

"Through our work with them, we have standardised the loan application to help them apply for loans. If their loans were rejected by one bank, they could apply to another using the same form," she told Bernama in an interview.

Hafsah said through constant engagement with the banks, SME Corp had organised pitching sessions, whereby the agency would coach the SMEs before they meet the bankers.

"It works because the bankers would be able to see the companies from a different perspective and not just from the financial part.

"For example, when the banks know the companies had been 'rated' by the corporation, they would have better confidence in them," she said.

Hafsah said the pitching sessions and coaching exercises had boosted the SMEs' success rates in terms of loan applications, and this in turn had boosted their confidence.

She said Malaysia was ranked first in the World Bank's 'Doing Business Report' in terms of ease of getting credit for four consecutive years.

Meanwhile, she urged the SMEs to make use of the Internet and technology to stay competitive in the market.

"Today's landscape of doing business has changed.

"They must make use of the information and communications technology. They must be able to be innovative in order to be able to get higher value-added and be competitive," she said.

On the recent economic instability, Hafsah said the SMEs, of which 80 per cent are domestic base, were not exposed to the international market and typically when it came to an economic crisis like this, they were quite agile and able to actually turn around, change and adapt quickly to suit the global economic condition.

"Only 20 per cent of our SMEs are exposed to the global economy. If they go for trading or are export-based, then they are the ones who would be affected," she said.

-- BERNAMA