The Malaysian Government views the development of a strong and dynamic SME sector as an important economic agenda. A total of 550,704 business enterprises responded to a census undertaken in 2005. The results indicated that 99.2% of the business establishment in Malaysia are SMEs, of which 80% are micro enterprises. The census also showed that SMEs provided jobs for over 5.6 million workers and accounting for 56% of total employment. In spite of that, SMEs’ contribution to the economy is only 19% of total export value and 32% of gross domestic product.

Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia) is the Secretariat for the National SME Development Council. The Council had taken several key initiatives to promote the development of SMEs including strengthening the enabling infrastructure for SME development, building SMEs’ capacity and capabilities and improving the access to financing by SMEs.

Major Initiatives for SME Development
The 2007 National SME Development Blueprint has identified programmes that will be implemented. These include:

1. Programmes to build capacity and capabilities of SMEs – focusing on entrepreneur and human capital development, marketing and promotion, and provision of advisory services to SMEs;
2. Enhancing SMEs’ access to financing;
3. Strengthening the enabling infrastructure to further support the growth of SMEs e.g. through the provision of business premises, factories and workshops for SMEs in the rural areas, establishment of centres for product packaging, distribution and marketing.

Enhancing Awareness and Information Available to SMEs
The inaugural SME Annual Report 2005 was launched in August 2006. This report contained a comprehensive review on the status and performance of SMEs and highlights major programmes of the Government to promote SME development.

A virtual portal (www.smeinfo.com.my) was launched in January 2006. SMEs accessing this portal would be able to access information on Government programmes, financial products, training programmes and tips on how to start and manage a business. It also contains the SME Business Directory, a platform for SMEs to advertise and showcase their products. This year, new value added services will be introduced, that is, an SME Bulletin Board and the SME Financial Product Directory.

Establishment of the SME Business Adviser Network (SME-NET)
To enhance and strengthen the ability and quality of advisory services provided by the agencies and financial institutions, the SME-NET, a one-stop web-based directory in the SMEinfo Portal was established. Advisory services required by SMEs are in areas such as product development, technology adoption, business and financial management, marketing and promotion. The SME-NET connects SME business advisers and experts and highlights specific areas of expertise, thus enabling advisers to leverage on each other resulting in high quality and better delivery of advisory services to the SMEs.

Marketing and Promotion of SMEs’ Products and Services
An SME Marketing Committee, an inter-Ministry Committee chaired by the Ministry of International Trade & Industry, has been established to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy and implementation approach to effectively market SME’s products and services.

Source: Bank Negara Malaysia