MELAKA: Small or informal entrepreneurs who are facing problems in getting access to capital because they have not registered their businesses with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), any professional body or the local authorities, are encouraged to immediately apply for the Informal Financing Scheme (Spin).
Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (pix) said the scheme under the National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (Tekun) would provide a maximum funding of RM5,000.
“Applicants will only need to submit a copy of their identity card, one month bank statement and utility bills.
“It is very simple and this application will be processed in less than seven days,“ she told reporters after a breaking fast ceremony with the media here, yesterday.
She said according to the ministry’s data, in 2019 about 1.2 million informal entrepreneurs were not registered while 900,000 others were registered.
This had made it difficult for the relevant agencies to implement programmes or channel the necessary assistance.
“When the Prihatin special grant was provided during the first wave of the Movement Control Order, only those who had registered with the Inland Revenue Board or SSM benefited
“There were not many from the informal sector, when in fact they form quite a big group and are mostly in the service sector,“ she said.
She added that as of the first quarter of 2021, RM12.9 million had been distributed to 2,154 applicants and there is still RM38 million left from the RM50 million allocation for this year.
“This is one of our efforts to help build up the informal entrepreneurs.
“These entrepreneurs don’t borrow much. They only need RM1,000 or RM2,000 for equipment or to repair their stalls and their working capital is low and that’s why we offer them loan of up to RM5,000,“ she said. -Bernama
