SANDAKAN: Perbadanan Nasional Bhd (PNS) is ready to assist those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in Sandakan, Sabah, to venture into franchise entrepreneurship.
PNS Chairman Datuk Zakaria Mohd Edris
(pic) expressed his concern about the residents of Sandakan, which has been a red zone since October and recorded 1,047 Covid-19 cases up to Tuesday, and said he was determined to focus on local entrepreneurship development, especially in Libaran, near here, where he is the Member of Parliament for the constituency.
“The importance of balancing the goal of protecting lives and preserving livelihoods needs to be emphasised, especially when faced with the pandemic.
“The bitter challenge of losing jobs and sources of income in this pandemic era provides an opportunity for residents to explore entrepreneurship and improve the standard of living by generating income through the franchise and pre-franchise business,” he said in a statement, Wednesday.
Zakaria said the focus on helping those affected by the pandemic was not limited strictly to the needs and local infrastructure facilities, but it also involved efforts to help those affected from an economic point of view.
“On Sept 21, PNS organised the Sabah BizFranchise Programme which brought together various franchise and pre-franchise agencies, and brands under one roof to provide opportunities for the community to gain knowledge and explore potential franchise business opportunities.
“Since 2017, PNS has provided financing of about RM4.23 million to franchise entrepreneurs in Sabah, and is also actively developing micro-entrepreneurs towards franchises through the Business In Transformation (BIT) programme,” he added.
He also said apart from business financing facilities, PNS also actively organised knowledge and awareness sharing programmes on entrepreneurship, especially about the franchise business.
According to Zakaria, through the PNS Franchise Institute, a series of Entrepreneurship Capability Development Programme (PPKK) had been held in Sabah, and the latest initiative took place in Sandakan this September.
The objective of these programmes is to provide various information on entrepreneurship to the public in the hope of developing more local entrepreneurs, he said.
PNS is an agency owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated with the mandate of leading the development of Malaysia’s franchise industry.
