Grants and loans set up for Malaysian SMEs are underused

Survey finds awareness of such schemes to be low, or that applying for them is too cumbersome

Published Wed, Aug 23, 2017 · 09:50 PM

Kuala Lumpur

THE funding schemes put in place for Malaysia's small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are not being put to effective use because not enough people know about them, a survey has found.

The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry of Malaysia (Acccim), citing data compiled by the SME Corporation, said there are 94 loan schemes, eight grant schemes, eight venture capital funds and 14 guarantee schemes open to SMEs.

The total value of the schemes was not mentioned.

Acccim's poll among 808 business representatives in May and June found that only one in four had applied for funding through these schemes; the rest were either simply unaware of their existence (27 per cent) or had not …