Learn how to start a business, youngsters told
Published on: Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama) Chairman Tan Sri Badruddin Amiruldin said it is important for young people to learn how to be an entrepreneur and start a business to ensure they become not job seekers but business persons and future job creators."Today we are having this seminar for young entrepreneurs in the State so they understand what is business about and secondly, know about the various government assistance through agencies that they can apply for to assist them to be successful. "These include in the form of finance, advice and others," he said after officiating the 2017 State-level Business Plan Preparation for Grant Application and In Kind Contribution and My-Agrosis Young Agropreneur Micro Financing Programme briefing at a hotel, here, Tuesday.
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Speaking to some of the participants, Badruddin said he learnt that some of them have already started business on their own which is a good thing. "This shows these young people are an asset to the country and we will assist them to develop under a modern agricultural sector so that they can use the facilities available, including unused lands to grow crops and rear livestock."This will not only benefit the people but also assist the Government to reduce the import of food items and thus reduce the outflow of foreign exchange."We are currently importing billions of ringgit worth of food items and this is where business and employment opportunities can exist for local agropreneurs as they help reduce the level of food import."
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Badruddin said for example, if an agropreneur can produce 5-10 tonnes of vegetables or fruits, then the country can reduce that amount of import. "Doing so can also help to stabilise the prices of food items for consumers, thus benefiting them by not having to pay more for food items.
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"These are among the reasons why we need to assist young agropreneurs. With such workshop, we can teach them how to do business and receive government assistance. "For those who have started their own business, we can assist them in terms of advice, product quality, packaging and so on so that they can not only produced for the local and national market but also for export."A total of 150 young entrepreneurs in the State participated in the programme, which was launched by the Prime Minister in December 2015.A total of RM7.5 million was channelled by the Public and Private Partnership Unit (Ukas) to Fama for its implementation in 2016.Assistance in the form of: Non-interest-bearing financing with ceiling of RM10,000-RM50,000.As of August 2017, a total of 63 people have received the fund with a total of RM2,197,000.The 'In-Kind Contribution (IKC)' grant is an incentive provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry to promote the involvement of young people in agriculture, especially for start-up entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs who want to increase income generation.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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