MITI Allots RM30 Million Worth Of Grants For Young Entrepreneurs In 2018
DUNGUN, Feb 13 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is allocating business grants worth RM30 million through the Bumiputra Youth Entrepreneurial Development Programme (TUBE) for 2,000 young entrepreneurs nationwide this year.
Its Deputy Minister, Datuk Ahmad Maslan said of the amount, RM2.1 million would be allocated to youths from Terengganu.
He said various agencies under MITI had allocated RM8.1 million in grants to 316 companies ran by young entrepreneurs from Terengganu since 2014.
Ahmad expressed confidence that under the National Transformation Generation (TN50), young people would be more keen to pursue entrepreneurship as their primary source of income as the government would continue to provide assistance to support their business endeavours .
"Today I have the opportunity to visit two factories owned by young Bumiputera entrepreneurs here which produced curry puff, 'ropa' and 'keropok lekor' in five flavours.
"Their enthusiasm is impressive because these young entrepreneurs have the mental and physical strength that will surely augurs well for their business, coupled with strong support from the government," he told reporters after visiting a frozen food processing factory at the Pulau Serai cottage industry incubator centre here today.
SME Corporation (SME Corp) Terengganu Director Muhammad Ibrahim and Terengganu Entrepreneur Development Foundation Chief Executive Officer Rozali Salleh were present.
Meanwhile, Muhammad said the SME Corp's TUBE and Bumiputera Enterprise Enhancement Programme (BEEP) had helped create many new companies and empower the small and medium enterprise sector.
He said the programmes had helped many micro and small companies increase their production capacity and improve the quality of their products and services.
"A total of 284 young entrepreneurs from Terengganu had participated in the programmes since they were introduced in 2014, and their businesses are generating annual sales of RM5.3 million."
"In 2015, the first batch of Terengganu's TUBE participants, comprising 114 young entrepreneurs, recorded accumulated sales of RM3.2 million during their first year of operation," he said.
He added that the second group of 50 TUBE 2.0 participants in 2016 recorded RM1.7 million in accumulated sales, while the third group of TUBE 3.0 participants achieved RM500,000 sales.
-- BERNAMA
