KUSKOP to Reduce Bureaucracy By Enhance Financing Mechanism - Ewon

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development (KUSKOP) will continue to strengthen financing mechanisms to facilitate entrepreneurs' access to funds, in line with the public sector's Bureaucratic Reform (RKB) agenda.

The Minister concerned, Datuk Ewon Benedick, said various improvements were implemented to ensure that the financing application process was faster, more efficient and entrepreneur-friendly.

He said among the initiatives taken was the improvement of the TEKUN Nasional application procedure which now only requires four documents from applicants.

"In addition, the power to approve applications under RM20,000 has also been delegated to the state level," he said when winding up the policy-level Supply (Budget) Bill 2026 for KUSKOP in the Dewan Rakyat today.

For Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), Ewon said financing applications are now approved within 16 working days from the date of application, while repayment facilities have also been enhanced through the Cashless Micro Credit Collection System (CMCCS) platform and Internet banking.

In addition, he said Bank Rakyat has increased the efficiency of the financing approval process with a maximum period of 14 days for financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and six working days for micro financing.

"Meanwhile, Perbadanan Nasional Bhd (Pernas) has developed the E2E S3P Financing System which is a digital platform to manage the entire financing process from application to approval," he said.

Regarding financing funds, including those related to digital entrepreneurship, that have been provided to women entrepreneurs, Ewon said that as of September this year, a total of 249,013 people have received AIM financing with an allocation of RM2.19 billion while TEKUN Nasional has involved 17,385 people with funds of RM332.9 million.

"From the aspect of the implementation of women's entrepreneurship programmes at the national level, based on the reporting of the SME Integrated Action Plan (SMEIPA), a total of 330,502 women entrepreneurs are targeted to benefit from a total of 42 programmes involving various ministries and agencies throughout this year," he said.

In an effort to strengthen the social enterprise (SE) ecosystem, he said the government has provided a National Social Matching Fund specifically for micro-entrepreneurs who are interested in venturing into the field, with co-investment funds provided under the Securities Commission through the Peer-to-peer Financing (P2P) platform of the Social Enterprise Scheme by MyCIF which offers financing of up to RM500,000.

“In addition, the Social Enterprise Financing Scheme by SME Bank is offered to Tunas SE, Basic SE and Accredited SE under KUSKOP with a minimum financing of RM100,000,” he said.

Regarding the proposal to provide tax incentives to corporate organisations that channel corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to registered SE entrepreneurs, Ewon said that to date no tax incentives have been given to corporate organisations that channel funds to social enterprises.

“For further coordination, this proposal needs to be studied by the Ministry of Finance because it involves financial implications for the country,” he said.

He also explained that reporting on SE-related programmes was presented regularly to stakeholders in the SE ecosystem in Malaysia through the Social Entrepreneurship Development Committee (SECOM) and could be accessed through the KUSKOP SE Portal.

-- BERNAMA