Invest in business premises, bumis told

KOTA KINABALU: The time is right for bumiputera entrepreneurs to invest in business premises so that apart from doing businesses, they will also own assets.Industrial Development Assistant Minister Datuk Bolkiah Ismail said the government will provide assistance for bumiputera entrepreneurs to have their own business premises.

"We want bumiputera entrepreneurs to have their own permanent premises. We no longer want them to do their business from home.

"It is important for entrepreneurs to have their own assets especially those who are involved in restaurant businesses," he said during the closing of the Sabah Entrepreneurial Transformation Programme at Hyatt Regency Hotel here, Monday.

According to him, businessmen who indulged in the concept of renting business premises cannot sustain this for long.

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"Relocating to a cheaper business premises will result in losing your customers and you will have to start all over again," he explained.

Bolkiah also touched on the application for halal certificates especially by bumiputera entrepreneurs.

He said this is due to the absence of a special laboratory in the State and usually they had to submit their application to the peninsula, which could take years.

"We have already discussed this matter and I have also personally brought it up to Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif. We are doing our best to overcome this problem," he said.

"In fact, we have applied for a land in KKIP to set up a special laboratory so that halal certificates can be issued by Sabah Islamic Affairs Department (Jheains) themselves.

" Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (Sirim) has also suggested a 15 acre land for the building of the special laboratory," he said.

However, according to him, the matter is currently at an early planning stage and under the Economic Planning Unit.

Speaking of the programme, Bolkiah said that it started in 2012 and that they had successfully assisted a lot of bumiputera entrepreneurs in their business with some had even going into the international market.

According to him, related government agencies have been appointed to assist bumiputera entrepreneurs especially in terms of loans and allocations for them to own their own business premises.

However, he said the allocations were insufficient especially if the government plans to increase the ownership rates of bumiputera entrepreneurs from five per cent to 20 per cent to have their own business premises.

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Later, he also commented on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is capable of contributing in the nation's development.

"The people in the beginning will of course undergo a process of adaptation but in three to four years time, I believe the people will adapt to it especially after they have witnessed the country's rapid development," he said.

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