20th June, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR: More structured incentives should be given to enable Malaysian Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to grow bigger.
Chairman of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) Young Entrepreneurs Committee, Oon Weng Boon, said SMEs should be encouraged to grow in sectors where they are not well recognised such as Information Technology (IT) and services.
“We can learn from the success stories from Taiwan and Korea where SMEs have been successful due to the support and encouragement by the government,” he said at the ACCCIM Young Entrepreneurs Conference 2012.
In the current challenging times amid the economic problems in Europe and the US and slowing growth in China, he said, SMEs need to be more competitive but have to be cautious about expanding.
“In the long run, global economic problems will affect Malaysia’s economic growth and businesses,” he said.
SMEs, he said, face a challenging task to remain competitive and implementation of the minimum wage policy will make them less competitive as it increases production costs.
He said there should be some leniency in implementing the minimum wage policy for SMEs as they may not yet be strong enough to be competitive.
He said SMEs need to be more competitive and establish business networking with businesspeople in other countries.
The 35-member ACCCIM Young Entrepreneurs Committee, he said, is promoting networking among its members with youth chambers of other countries.
“In July, we are going to have a meeting with the Macau Youth chamber to build business relationships as it is important for Malaysian businessmen to have business linkages,” he said.
There are plans to build relationships and networking with youth chambers of Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Philippines, he added.