A springboard for greater successes

WHEN something is attempted and accomplished with success, it promises a night's repose. The first three weeks of June were extremely overwhelming but most productive for our SMEs, having participated at SMIDEX 2013, the Asean-Korea SME Conference and the Global Summit of Women, which were consecutively held in Kuala Lumpur.

Source from (Business Times): http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/SPRING/Article/index_html
Published: July 01, 2013

Weeks went by like the longest days of our working lives, at the end of which, everyone was at peace as the SMEs gained a bit more confidence, some new skills and many opportunities to collaborate and tap global potential. In short, a good night's repose for all.

As we woke up in the last week of June, we found ourselves at the anvil of the most awaited and exciting "SME Week 2013" which is an institutionalised annual event organised in the fourth week of June every year. Launched by Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2012, the "SME Week" is a pioneering initiative to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship and demonstrate the potential of our SMEs by showcasing their products and services to the public.

It is during this week that the entire nation "eat, live and breathe" SMEs! It is our endeavour that the whole entire SME Week will be focussed towards creating greater visibility to our consumers on the capabilities of our very own SMEs. At the same time, dispel the connotation that the quality of our local products are low, packaging unattractive and supplies inconsistent.

I shuffled my schedules to be at many places at the same time during the SME Week, trying my best to be on the ground with as many SMEs across the nation.

This year, the official launch was held in Kuala Lumpur by Datuk Hamim Samuri, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry. At the same time, the state-level launches were simultaneously held, including by Menteri Besar of Terengganu and Chief Minister of Sabah.

A total of 123 programmes and activities were organised throughout the SME Week, with the support of various related ministries and agencies, state governments, financial institutions, corporate bodies, hypermarkets and industry associations who in one way or another encouraged entrepreneursip and the development of SMEs.

Themed "Small Businesses, Big Ideas", SME Week 2013 had an interesting cross-section of programmes and activities ranging from SME Open Days, Pocket Talks, Information Fiesta, "Kiddopreneur", Business Advisory Services, Product Demos, Product Showcases, Exhibitions and Promotions including on syariah funds to Pasar Tani Mega.

The event had a most encouraging response from both the participating SMEs and members of the public who had taken part and benefited from the business assistance, support and advisory services, competitions that were made available on-site to help SMEs to grow and transform their businesses into wealth-creating enterprises.

Personally, beyond its tangible objectives, to me SME Week was all about celebrating the spirit of entrepreneurship nationwide, from the young to the elderly ones. It also provided a springboard to the majority of the business establishments, which are the micro enterprises of the country as they position and strategise themselves for greater success.

Together with other ministeries and agencies, assistance was provided to the micro enterprises to gain new confidence, acquire new skills of marketing and branding and adopt new best practices to promote public awareness on their commitment to deliver quality and attractive products and services.

To this, l would say that our objectives were successfully met as the micro enterprises found new grounds, new contacts and new linkages for their business development amd connectivity.

These micro-sized companies not only discovered their potentials, but importantly recognised our sincerity to reach out and support them to graduate into SMEs. Fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, SME Week proved itself yet again as an effective and efficient medium to educate, empower and encourage micro and small enterprises, to aspire and evolve as future "game-changers" of the nation.

As someone once said - "Everything is happening all the time, but if you don't put yourself in the path of it, you will miss it".

Hence, I call upon one and all, especially the micro businesses and SMEs, to benefit and leverage from annual events such as SMIDEX and the SME Week, and what they can offer - a springboard for greater successes!

Datuk Hafsah Hashim is the chief executive officer of Small and Medium Enterprises Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp Malaysia)