KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group
Holdings Bhd has announced three winners of the inaugural CIMB ESG-SME Pitch Challenge, underscoring the group’s commitment to supporting sustainability-focused small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The Pitch Challenge attracted more than 50 SMEs across ASEAN, mainly from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, and is part of CIMB Group’s flagship The Cooler Earth Sustainability Summit 2022 held in September.
It was organised in collaboration with pitchIN, the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN), and PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia (PwC).
CIMB chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad said the CIMB ESG-SME Pitch Challenge was well received as a platform to empower sustainability-focused SMEs from across ASEAN.
"In addition to generating increased visibility and greater interest among investors, we hope the SMEs were also able to benefit from the insights and mentorship from our panel of judges and experts in the process.
"We look forward to continuing catalysing growth among these SMEs and creating opportunities for them in line with our ambition to become an ASEAN sustainability leader by 2024,” he said in a statement today.
The winners iHandal Energy Solutions, BoomGrow and Yindii received RM30,000, RM20,000 and RM10,000 cash prizes respectively after going through preparatory workshops and virtual pitches to a panel of judges.
With an RM100 million commitment, CIMB is offering financing through a low-carbon transition facility (LCTF) as part of the LCTF financing scheme established by Bank Negara Malaysia to encourage and empower businesses to adopt low carbon and sustainable practices for business resilience.
Through CIMB’s LCTF, businesses including SMEs will benefit from collateral-free financing of up to RM10 million with an affordable repayment period of up to 10 years at a low-interest rate of up to 5 per cent per annum. - Bernama
