KUCHING, Nov 30: Young entrepreneurs in Sarawak faces various challenges including insufficient number of premises and relatively high rental.
As such, the premises are usually located in unstrategic locations, while procedures and documentations required for licensing purposes are deemed complicated.
“These are some of the issues that were told to us when we held various town hall sessions organised under the Youth Entrepreneur Setup (YES) program.
“Other issues faced by youth entrepreneurs are assistance in start-up capital and equipments as well as to have more upskilling courses to empower them further,” said Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development (MYSED), Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, in his winding up speech in DUN sitting.
He added a total of 1,888 youths participated in the YES programme and it was intended to collect data on youth’s interest in business and issues they face.
Currently, YES have been carried out in five divisions of Sarawak including Miri, Sibu, Bintulu, Limbang and Sri Aman and will be expanding its services to other divisions and districts in 2023.
Besides the YES program, Karim said young entrepreneurs have participated in various benchmark visits on both national and international levels.
“We want them to participate in events that promotes the development of entrepreneurship among youths such as the Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture & Agrotourism (MAHA) 2022, Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) and Franchise International Malaysia (FIM) 2022.
“My ministry have also visited agencies that specialises in establishing start-up businesses such as Accelarate Global, Startup Malaysia and SME Corporation Malaysia. .
“Through these programmes, our young entrepreneurs would be able to accelerate the growth of their business, gain necessary knowledge and skills, networking with other start up founders while exploring collaborations in providing solutions, innocations and opportunities into existing business models,” added Karim.
Additionally, Karim revealed that MYSED is planning to establish the Youth Business Centre in Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
This centre will play a major role in providing business and entrepreneurship information platform in the specific sectors towards digital economy. – TVS
