Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s rural entrepreneurs hope the Federal Government will provide a bigger allocation in the Budget 2023 to be tabled this Oct 7 to help them create more products and increase productivity.
Mohd Jan Jamnu, 38, a person with disabilities (OKU), said additional funding could drive him to creating more products of high quality with his own brand name to meet the market demand.
The producer of “Bang Muq” sambal from Kunak district said financial aid from the Government could also help him raise productivity in the business which he started in 2020.
“We hope that in the upcoming budget, the Government will provide more funding for rural entrepreneurs for business development and increasing productivity, hence contributing to the progress of the rural communities,” he added.
In the 2022 Budget, the Government through the Rural Development Ministry had given an allocation of RM15.3 million for entrepreneurial activities in the rural areas.
Salwina Hanal, 43, too hopes for increased government funding as well as facilities such as machinery for products churned out by rural entrepreneurs as such support was vital for their business sustainability.
She has been making “sambal terung pipit” (pea eggplant chilli relish) under her own company, Mahkota Puteri Enterprise since 2017.
“For example, through rural digitalisation programme, I am able to promote my product more widely, especially through Desamall@KPLB with the agency involved,” she said, adding that her product could be found at supermarkets and Petronas stations’ retail shops in Sabah.
Meanwhile, “sambal lengkuas” (torch ginger) producer, Yasimi Brenda Abbigail Masing, 47, from Pitas, wants the Government to focus more on rural women entrepreneurs so that they would not be marginalised.
She said as rural entrepreneurs, among the problems they faced was the lateness in obtaining important information related to business such as the funding provided by the Government in assisting them.
“Previously, I was living in a rural area, hence information on entrepreneurship were received very late. Thus, I had to relocate to the urban area to obtain such information fast and then channel it to other entrepreneurs in the rural areas,” she said.
