KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 3,263 Indian women entrepreneurs have received financing amounting to RM30.34 million under the Prosperity, Empowerment and A New Normal for Indian Women (PENN) programme to enhance local market access as of November.
Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Datuk Seri R. Ramanan said that under the SPUMI (Indian Community Entrepreneur Development Scheme) Goes Big programme, 77 Indian women entrepreneurs were granted financing totalling RM3.1 million.
“Through the I-BAP (Business Accelerator Programme for Indian Small Business) to improve international market access, SME Corp has approved matching grants of RM1.5 million for 20 Indian community-owned companies, six of which are Indian women entrepreneurs, involving matching grants of RM350,00.
“As of November, 430 entrepreneurs have received approval for financing under BRIEF-i (Bank Rakyat Indian Entrepreneur Financing-i) from Bank Rakyat, amounting to RM38.98 million, including RM8.14 million for 145 Indian women entrepreneurs,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Negara today.
He was responding to a question from Senator Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari on the incentives provided by the government to assist micro-entrepreneurs, particularly Indian women, in accessing local and international markets.
To support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in expanding their market access abroad, Ramanan said the SME Corp’s SMEs Export Enhancement Programme is being implemented without any racial restrictions.
“From January to October, 114 entrepreneurs benefited from the programme, with nine receiving grant approvals totalling RM1.29 million. Another 105 participated in training and business clinics to prepare for export opportunities,” he said.
