MALAYSIA’S KOPA GROUP TO PENETRATE MORE COUNTRIES IN EUROPE, INCLUDING GERMANY

From D. Arul Rajoo

BERLIN, March 14 (Bernama) – Malaysia’s apparel manufacturer Kopa Group has taken the challenge to penetrate more markets in Europe, including Germany which is home to famous sports brands Adidas and Puma.

Its chief finance officer Nik Mohd Rizal Nik Ibrahim said despite being a relatively new player, the company is confident of venturing into bigger markets due to its quality products and fashionable designs for sports and corporate attires.

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“At the moment we have distributors in the United Kingdom, France, Indonesia, and Cambodia. We are hoping our presence here will bring us bigger exposure,” he said when met at the Malaysian booth of the SME Future Day 2024 here.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim delivered a keynote address at the country’s biggest SME event, organised by the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (BVMW).

The Kopa Group is one of the six Malaysian companies that participated in the expo, besides Marniq Bersatu Sdn Bhd, Primelux Energy Sdn Bhd, Ade Azhar Trading Sdn Bhd, Marrybrown and Old Town White Coffee.

According to Nik Mohd Rizal, the company, which has the capacity to produce 120,000 pieces of jerseys annually, received many enquiries during the expo, including from European countries and South America.

“One company from Bolivia was so impressed with our products and wanted to order one million pieces. We are going to have further discussion with them before we can wrap up this deal” he said, adding that its sports apparel is distributed under the KakiJersi name.

Mohd Rizal said the company’s headscarf (tudung), under the brand Belhams, is already being distributed in France, Indonesia and Cambodia, adding that they are hoping to find buyers in Germany, which has about 5.5 million Muslims.

Kopa Group has factories in the Batu Caves area.

Meanwhile, the group president and chief executive officer of SME Bank, Datuk Aria Putera Ismail, said the participation in the expo was one of the steps taken to assist Malaysian SMEs in penetrating international markets. “Our role is not only in providing loans but also training related to export and in looking for new markets. We have established a Business Exports Programme (BEP) for this,” he said.

Although given short notice to join the expo here, Aria Putera said the companies received positive responses from potential buyers. “This will certainly boost our SMEs in their effort to produce quality products and venture into new markets,” he added.

— BERNAMA