KOTA BAHARU, Nov 16 (Bernama) — Malaysia’s 643,000 small medium enterprise (SME) entrepreneurs have been urged to work towards penetrating the Asean market next year. Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamad in making this call said they should take full advantage of Malaysia assuming the chairmanship of Asean in 2015 to more actively market their products in the region. He also cautioned that if they failed to do so, they would lose out on an excellent opportunity to enhance their business and quality of life. “SME entrepreneurs must break into the Asean market as the domestic scenario is too small with just 30 million people. But Asean has a 620 million population and imagine if, we can just sell soya or chilli sauce or fish crackers (keropok). “By breaking into foreign markets, their business will surely grow,” he added. Mustapa told reporters this after officiating the Kelantan Halal Products Transformation Programme 2015 here...

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 (Bernama) — The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has targeted to increase the small and medium enterprise (SME) market growth from 6.3 to 9.3 per cent under the SME Master Plan 2012-2020. Its minister, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the SME Master Plan 2012-2020 was aimed at contributing at least 41 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020 from 33 per cent at present. He said the government would continue to expand financing options for SMEs by providing special funds and schemes either directly or through Bank Negara Malaysia. “I must stress that SMEs should strengthen their management skills, financial and learning capacities, and fully utilise the support given by the government,” he said at the launch of 27th Asian Credit Supplementation Institution Confederation (ACSIC) Conference 2014 from Nov 16 to 21 here Monday. His speech was read by MITI secretary-general Datuk Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria. Mustapa said under...