Entrepreneur seeks to grow business with government support

DUNGUN: Mohd Alif Shazwan Harun, owner of Aliff Jaya Trading & Services, a company that produces keropok lekor at the rural industry incubator centre near Pulau Serai here, is confident of growing his business with the assistance and support of government-related entrepreneur agencies in Terengganu.
His small factory that began operations more than a year ago and is now capable of generating annual sales of RM100,000.
"However, I am confident of increasing sales to more than RM350,000 annually after obtaining the halal status and Food Safety is the Responsibility of the Industry (MeSTI) certification from the Health Ministry.
"To date, I have been helped by the Terengganu Entrepreneur Development Foundation (YPU) which provided me with factory space. Just recently, I received the good news that SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp) Terengganu had agreed to provide a grant to purchase a more advanced processing machine to enhance the factory's productivity," he added.
He told reporters this after a visit to the factory by SME Corp Terengganu Director, Muhammad Ibrahim recently.
The factory, which currently employs 17 workers, produces five types of keropok lekor flavours, namely original, black pepper, tandoori, curry and cheese.
The former Kolej Universiti Tati graduate said a unique feature of products from his factory is that they only use rock salt and mozarella cheese with no added MSG.
"We have successfully marketed frozen keropok lekor to a number of supermarkets in Terengganu and utilise the marketing agent method in Sungai Petani, Kedah, as well as Kuala Lumpur," Mohd Alif said.
Meanwhile, Muhammad said SME Corp was always proactive in ensuring small medium enterprises are more innovative and able to adapt to changes in the current market, to ensure the creation, growth and sustained ability to effectively compete.
"We are constantly monitoring the progress of these companies to ensure their products have the potential to be marketed. They need to also expand their networking, as well as cooperation with various parties, including research institutions, and universities to improve product quality.
"We are also from time to time watching their needs, not just from the aspect of machinery, but also other development programmes, including marketing promotion activities," he added. — Bernama