Perak State Entrepreneurs Secretariat (STeP) has rolled out over 50 development programmes this year aimed at supporting entrepreneurs.
Perak women, family, social welfare, cooperatives and entrepreneur development committee chairman Datuk Salbiah Mohamed said the programmes covered mentoring, business coaching, artificial intelligence (AI), digitalisation training and financial literacy, particularly in product costing and pricing.
She said these initiatives, conducted in collaboration with several government agencies and non-governmental organisations, benefited over 10,000 entrepreneurs to date.
“The support needed by these entrepreneurs goes beyond financial aid like grants or loans.
“They also require guidance, training, market access and other resources to increase sales and strengthen branding,” she said during the Perak State Assembly sitting at Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan in Ipoh yesterday.
She was replying to Nadziruddin Mohamed Bandi (PN-Changkat Jong), who asked about the initiatives to help small entrepreneurs cope with economic pressures without having to depend entirely on assistance from the government.
Salbiah said STeP’s annual target was to assist at least 1,000 micro entrepreneurs in Perak.
She added that many small traders were still unaware of this.
“We urge assemblymen to share this information with entrepreneurs and encourage registration via the STeP system at step.perak.my/sme/ or through STeP’s phone and social media channels.”
Meanwhile, Perak housing and local government committee chairman Sandrea Ng Shy Ching said recent flooding at Taman Bestari in Kamunting was attributed to prolonged heavy rain.
Rainfall, she said, had exceeded the capacity of the main drain at Taman Kamunting Jaya resuling in water inundating the surrounding residential areas.
“Taiping Municipal Council (MPT) confirmed that complaints were received and short-term measures have been taken, including cleaning the drainage system.
“MPT also proposed long-term solutions to address the issue, including constructing a new drainage line to handle additional water flow.
“The estimated cost for this project is RM500,000 and a funding application has been submitted to the Housing and Local Government Ministry,” she said.
Ng was responding to a question from Mohamad Fakhruddin Abdul Aziz (PN- Kamunting) on the cause of recurring floods at Taman Bestari in Kamunting.
