REOPENING OF GKP A SECOND CHANCE FOR MICRO ENTREPRENEURS

TAWAU, Sept 23  -- The reopening of the Prihatin Special Grant (GKP) initiative announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today gives a second chance to micro entrepreneurs who did not receive the assistance before.

Nirwana Haris, 37, a chicken rice seller in Jalan Puyut, Lahad Datu, who lauded the announcement said she had failed in her application before, but the reopening of the initiative would enable her to make a new application.

“The prime minister’s announcement was indeed a relief. Now, I can make new application. I failed in my first application probably due to incomplete documents,” she told Bernama.

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Nirwana, who now has two workers, said if her application for the grant is approved, it would be a great help to her business which was affected following the implementation of the Movement Control Order to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“The help is indeed timely because the spike in the COVID-19 cases in Lahad Datu had forced business hours to be reduced to only until 6 pm from midnight previously, which affected our income,” she said.

A doorgift trader who wanted to be known only as Farah, 28, said she did not apply for the GKP before  because she was not aware of it but would do so now that the application has been reopened.

“I am grateful for this second chance from the government.  It is a relief for small traders like me because I have just started my business in early February.

“It was a challenging start because of the sudden enforcement of the MCO due to COVID-19,” she said.

When announcing the reopening of GKP applications from Oct 1 until Oct 31, Muhyiddin said the government had allocated RM600 million for the grant that would benefit more than 200,000 micro entrepreneurs.

-- BERNAMA