29 ASNAF ENTREPRENEURS IN MELAKA TO GET BUSINESS GRANTS WORTH RM435,000 - SME CORP

ALOR GAJAH, Nov 29 (Bernama) -- 29 asnaf entrepreneurs registered under the Melaka Islamic Religious Council (MAIM) will receive business grant benefits amounting to RM435,000 under the Tunas Perintis Usahawan Programme. 

SME Corporation Malaysia (SME Corp) chief executive officer Rizal Nainy said the programme is a strategic collaboration between SME Corp, an agency under the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development, and MAIM. 

"Participants who successfully present their business plans are eligible to receive a business start-up grant of up to RM15,000 per participant.

"All participants are then required to report their business status periodically to ensure that their business performance is constantly monitored and improved over time," he said in a statement here today.

Commenting further, Rizal said that the MAIM’s programme is also a continuation of initiatives implemented by SME Corp and several religious councils.  

He said the initiatives are the Baitulmal Tunas Usahawan Programme (TUB) for the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council and the Penang Tunas Usahawan Zakat Programme (TUZPP) for the Penang State Islamic Religious Council. 

“The TUB and TUZPP programmes have trained 183 asnaf entrepreneurs who have successfully recorded a total sales value of RM6.13 million for both programmes. 

“The training-based programme is specifically designed to meet the needs of asnaf participants and inspired by the Tunas Usahawan Belia Bumiputera (TUBE) Programme, an existing programme under SME Corp which has successfully produced many youth entrepreneurs,” he said. 

He said that to date, the TUBE programme has trained 8,543 youths, with business grants totalling RM125.84 million. 

As a note, asnaf refers to those eligible to receive zakat assistance collected from Muslims. 

-- BERNAMA