KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian SMEs could soon have a shop window on Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao, under a pilot initiative explored to help local businesses stand up to foreign-owned competitors, says Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin.
The idea came out of a ministry delegation’s visit to the Alibaba Centre in Guangzhou on Sept 3, led by minister Steven Sim.
The trip had initially been billed around helping SMEs enter Alibaba’s business-to-business platform. The pilot now being explored targets the group’s consumer platforms in China.
The ministry is also looking at using Daraz to reach markets in South Asia, Mohamad Alamin said.
Closer to home, SME Corp is due to sign a memorandum of understanding with Lazada Malaysia on Oct 15 at the E50 conference to help local SMEs sell more online.
Mohamad Alamin was replying to Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Fong had asked how far foreign-owned businesses were hurting local SMEs, and what the government was doing to give them priority in premises, financing, procurement, licensing and markets.
Mohamad Alamin said the ministry kept watch on the pressures facing local SMEs, including competition from foreign-owned firms.
Malaysia runs an open economy with a wide network of free trade agreements, and foreign investors and entrepreneurs can do business here as long as they follow the law, he said.
Nearly RM10bil in financing has gone to about 270,000 entrepreneurs as of August, with another RM11.5mil set aside for vendor development.
To help SMEs sell abroad this year, SME Corp approved RM2.5mil for eight businesses under PKS@Akses, while SME Bank’s Business Export Programme 3.0 provided RM2.3mil to 18 companies.
A separate RM6mil programme to take halal entrepreneurs international has helped 200 of them.
On premises, UDA Holdings Bhd has a RM18.5mil Malaysian Entrepreneur Hub and has developed 200 Tamu Desa sites in Sabah and Sarawak since 2024.
Licensing is also being made easier, with 45 types of licences now available online through the Business Licensing Electronic Support System.
