SME Corp Aims To See More E50 Winners Listed On Bursa Malaysia

PETALING JAYA, April 5 (Bernama) -- SME Corp Malaysia aims to see more Enterprise 50 (E50) winners listed on Bursa Malaysia in the future. SME Corp Chairman Datuk Ir Dr Mohamed Al Amin Abdul Majid said to date, a total of 60 companies have been listed on the local bourse, comprising 46 companies on the Main Market and 14 on the ACE Market.

Source from (Bernama): http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v7/bu/newsbusiness.php?id=939949
Published: April 07, 2013

Source from (Business Times): http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/E5013/Article/index_html
Published: April 07, 2013

Mohamed Al Amin said the E50 award programme is poised to help top small and medium enterprises (SMEs) enjoy greater market visibility to compete in the global arena.

"Over the years, the E50 award programme has been successful in promoting and showcasing competitive and resilient enterprises that are capable of facing global challenges in the true entrepreneurial spirit," he said when launching E50 Award Programme 2013, here, yesterday.

Also present were SME Corp chief executive officer Datuk Hafsah Hashim, Deloitte Malaysia executive director Dr Nordin Zain as well as representatives from E50 sponsor and partner organisations, including Media Prima and Business Times.

A total of 1,726 homegrown companies across industry sectors have taken part in the E50 programme since its inception in 1997. From the total, 550 companies have won the award, with some having clinched the awards more than once.

Meanwhile, Hafsah said the achievement is in line with SME Corp's target to have 15 per cent of SMEs listed on the local bourse by 2015.

"We are on track to achieve this target and we expect more E50 firms to go for initial public offerings given the favourable business and economic environment," she told Business Times on the sidelines of the event.

Starting last year, the participation for the programme is by invitation only. SMEs with an SME Competitiveness Rating for Enhancement or SCORE rating of four stars and above will receive an exclusive invitation by SME Corp to join the programme. Currently, there are 274 SMEs with four-star ratings.

Hafsah said the move is to encourage SMEs to improve their capability, efficiency and management.

"From this pool of 274 companies, we are looking for the top 50, not necessarily based on the SCORE rating but very much looking into how the companies position themselves for the future and bring themselves from one level to the next," she said.

The main objective of E50 is to recognise 50 Malaysian companies each year with high potential and well-positioned for the future, as well as to promote greater pursuit of excellence, she said.

Among the privileges of being an E50 winner is that the top 10 winners will be invited by SME Corp to take part in the Oxford Advanced Leadership Programme, in which the corporation will bear 70 per cent of the total cost.

Women entrepreneurs who make it into the league will be selected to attend the Female Entrepreneur Programme at the University of Oxford's Business School.