MEDAC FORMS COMMITTEE TO EMPOWER WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

KUALA LUMPUR, March 1  -- The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDAC) continues its commitment in pursuing the agenda of empowering women entrepreneurship through the establishment of the Women Entrepreneurship Steering Committee (JIKW).

Based on a census conducted by the Statistics Department of Malaysia in 2016, the percentage of registered women-owned enterprises stood at 20.6 per cent or 187,000 enterprises from a total of 907,065 registered enterprises in the country.

“This number needs to be increased for Malaysia to realise its aspiration as an Outstanding Entrepreneurship Nation by 2030,” MEDAC said in a statement on Monday.

MEDAC said this is a long-term effort and it has to be implemented continuously in line with the strategy under the National Entrepreneurship Policy 2030 (DKN 2030).

“Hence, MEDAC will continue with its approach to deal with target groups from time to time to get a clearer picture, as well as understand the situation and challenges faced by them so that the initiatives and programmes crafted are more flexible and sustainable,” it said.

According to MEDAC, JIKW is the platform that supports the agenda for entrepreneurship empowerment, particularly for cooperatives and women entrepreneurs from various categories, including hawkers.

“The JIKW platform can be seen to create a more integrated synergy where all parties can collaborate to find the best approach to ensure the initiatives or programmes designed can run smoothly and have a positive impact on the target group, namely women entrepreneurs.

“In this respect, hawkers would not be sidelined as their numbers are expanding following the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people turned to petty trading and small business as an alternative to generate income,” it said.

The committee convened its first meeting today, chaired by Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Minister Datuk Mas Ermieyati Shamsudin.

-- BERNAMA