YB Datuk Ewon Benedick, Minister of Entrepreneurs & Cooperatives Development (KUSKOP)
The Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Cooperatives Development (KUSKOP) through its agency Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PERNAS) is targeting to fund RM2 million this year to develop 24 pre-franchisors and 240 pre-franchisees while RM2.5 million is for the implementation of human capital training through the Business In Transformation Program (BIT).
To date, a total of RM9.9 million has been distributed to qualified BIT entrepreneurs. Through this program, PERNAS has successfully produced 1,400 BIT pre-franchise entrepreneurs and provided job opportunities to over 2,800 people.
The BIT program is a program to transform small businesses towards franchising by stimulating the growth of new, unique, and viable economic business models. Since its introduction in 2013, a total of 140 companies from various sectors have registered in the BIT program.
YB Datuk Ewon Benedick, Minister of KUSKOP, also stated that the organization of this program is in line with KUSKOP’s 2023 Strategic Plan in providing a conducive ecosystem, increasing the resilience and competitiveness of entrepreneurs post-pandemic, in addition to strengthening the entrepreneurial service delivery system.
“I believe the franchise business is the best platform to produce more entrepreneurs from among SMEs and PERNAS continues to commit to helping them to transform their businesses so that they can be competitive with big brands and then expand to a global level.”
“The public has a perception that a franchise business requires a large amount of capital. Now, the community has the opportunity to venture into franchise business because there are various business packages, especially affordable pre-franchise that can be explored through the organization of the BITe 2023 program,” he added.
In addition to this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) exchange session was held between PERNAS, the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), and the presentation of BIT Awards to outstanding entrepreneurs.
