Tourism opening more doors to business: Tan
Published on: Sunday, July 31, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah has huge potentials for businesses because of its rich resources as well as its booming tourism industry.Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Raymond Tan said the tourism industry is opening more doors for the people interested to become entrepreneurs by offering unique products or their services."The Government has specific programmes for each segment to help our entrepreneurs upscale their businesses and help them grow faster," he said at the Shell Malaysia Livewire Bright Ideas Workshop, here, Saturday.
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Currently, he said there are numerous programmes organised by the Government to help entrepreneurs, especially young people who are interested to start their own businesses.Most of these programmes are financial programmes intended to help locals with good business ideas kick-start their projects."There are a total of 154 programmes from the Federal Government with a budget of more than RM7 billion. One only needs to identify the right programme for themselves, which agency they should engage with because almost all government ministries have their own SME programmes," he said.
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Tan, who is also Industrial Development Minister, also encouraged young people or any budding entrepreneur to come to his ministry's office if they are really serious about getting help for their businesses or projects."Help does not mean financial assistance only. It can mean other things as well such as advice, permits, licences, all these.
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I invite Sabahans, especially those with good projects in mind, to come and drop by my ministry if they need help," he said.Commenting on the programme organised by Shell, Tan said the Government is looking for more comprehensive programmes that track participants' progress, instead of giving them a one-off course or workshop and leave them to their own device."It is good that private companies are taking up the mantle of generating entrepreneurs. The Government needs commitment from operators as well as participants. Once an idea is mooted, and it is a good idea, it must be followed through despite its many obstacles."In the end, we don't want just one or two success stories. We want all these ideas to evolve into businesses," he said.The Shell Livewire is an entrepreneurial programme, introduced by Shell in 16 countries worldwide. Since 1982, the programme has trained more than 10 million budding entrepreneurs and supported over 9,000 businesses.Through the programme, participants gain useful entrepreneurial skills through the workshops and stand a chance to walk away with a RM10,000 seed grant and dedicated mentoring for a year through the syllabus."The Livewire programme creates a conducive environment for budding entrepreneurs to secure access to capital, wider market networks and knowledge from experienced entrepreneurs. The results of this programme have already been proven in the five entrepreneurs from the pilot in 2015," said Shell Malaysia Sabah General Manager Ian Lim.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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