PETALING JAYA: TERAJU has partnered with Bursa Malaysia to accelerate the listing of high-potential bumiputra companies, targeting mid-tier firms with strong fundamentals that are ready to expand into capital markets.
The collaboration, formalised through a strategic cooperation memorandum, is anchored on TERAJU’s newly-launched programme called XCELERATE, which aims to identify and prepare bumiputra companies with strong growth prospects for public listing.
Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said the government aims to shift bumiputra participation from quantity-driven involvement to quality-driven growth, driven by productivity, income expansion and a stronger presence in high-value industries.
He said the contribution of bumiputra companies to Malaysia’s gross domestic product remains at a moderate level at 8.1%, compared with the target of 15% under the Bumiputra Economic Transformation Plan 2035 (PuTERA35).
“The statistics call for bolder and more targeted measures to strengthen bumiputra participation in high-value sectors, strategic value chains and technology-intensive industries,” he said during the launch of the TERAJU Aspirasi Outreach 2026 here yesterday.
As of Dec 2025, he said the bumiputra population in Malaysia had reached around 21.8 million, or 63.6% of the total population.
“This makes the bumiputra not only a key component of the country’s demographic structure, but also an important driver of Malaysia’s workforce and economic resilience,” he added.
The TERAJU Aspirasi Outreach programme aims to broaden bumiputra companies’ access to financing and other facilitation initiatives under the PuTERA35 framework.
Aside from XCELERATE, three new initiatives were also launched during the programme, namely ASCEND, ENHANCE and the Bumiputra Strategic Acquisition Fund.
These initiatives aim to strengthen company operations, governance and leadership, improve capital market readiness, and support strategic growth efforts such as mergers and acquisitions and pre-initial public offering (IPO) preparations.
TERAJU chief executive officer Junady Nawawi said the agency’s focus has evolved towards developing high-growth, high-value bumiputra firms that are market-confident and investment-ready.
“Our focus is on strengthening leadership, governance, scalability and capital market readiness to ensure that bumiputra companies are not only growing in size, but are ready to advance further.
“The focus is no longer limited to the number of companies or the amount of assistance, but on the ability of these companies to create value, attract investment and compete sustainably,” he said.
Junady said that TERAJU’s financing performance last year had laid a strong foundation for a more aggressive value-creation phase this year.
Through the Bumiputra Expansion and Catalyst Fund, he said that RM1.07bil was disbursed to more than 500 companies, while RM158mil in working capital was channelled to 276 firms under the Islamic Working Capital Financing Programme.
“In total, more than 800 bumiputra companies received direct financing support, with 418 firms benefiting from facilitation programmes, surpassing the agency’s annual RM1bil target.”
