This vis­ion­ary pro­gramme, under the aegis of the Post-Covid Devel­op­ment Strategy (PCDS 2030), aims to elev­ate the state’s busi­nesses by fos­ter­ing tal­ent, nur­tur­ing skills, and stim­u­lat­ing innov­a­tion.

Under the guid­ing hand of the Sarawak Entre­pren­eurs Asso­ci­ation (SEA) pres­id­ent Nizam Khalyd expressed grat­it­ude for the invalu­able sup­port exten­ded by the Sarawak Gov­ern­ment through Biz­Fund. This ini­ti­at­ive has proven to be a game-changer for SMEs and micro-entre­pren­eurs, breath­ing fresh life into their oper­a­tions while enabling them to weather the pan­demic’s eco­nomic tur­bu­lence.

The Biz­Fund has emerged as a beacon of hope for the local busi­ness com­munity. The pro­gramme offers spe­cial­ised capa­city-build­ing ini­ti­at­ives that empower entre­pren­eurs with the know­ledge and skills needed to nav­ig­ate the evolving busi­ness land­scape effect­ively. It addresses cru­cial chal­lenges such as the scarcity of train­ing resources and oppor­tun­it­ies, fos­ter­ing prac­tical and hands-on learn­ing exper­i­ences that trans­late dir­ectly into tan­gible improve­ments in daily oper­a­tions.

Nur­tur­ing Entre­pren­eur­ial Growth

Under the ban­ner of SBF’s col­lab­or­a­tion with SEA, these pro­grammes have reached over 300 entre­pren­eurs across Sarawak through ten cohorts in vari­ous regions, includ­ing Sibu, Mukah, Sibuti, Lim­bang, Bekenu, Sri Aman and Kapit.

This col­lab­or­at­ive effort includes the ‘Cost­ing & Busi­ness Pri­cing Strategies’ pro­gramme, con­duc­ted in col­lab­or­a­tion with Kop­er­asi Belia Inovatif Sarawak (KOBIS) and cer­ti­fied by the pres­ti­gi­ous Uni­versiti Tekno­logi Malay­sia (UTM). This intens­ive train­ing ini­ti­at­ive has been noth­ing short of trans­form­at­ive, equip­ping entre­pren­eurs with essen­tial skills needed to elev­ate their busi­nesses’ fin­an­cial acu­men.

Par­ti­cipants gain a pro­found under­stand­ing of cost man­age­ment and pri­cing strategies, enabling them to make informed decisions that sig­ni­fic­antly impact their busi­ness prof­it­ab­il­ity. The pro­gramme empowers entre­pren­eurs to identify cost drivers, dis­tin­guish between vari­able and fixed costs, and con­duct cost-volume-profit ana­lysis. Fur­ther­more, it delves into the intric­a­cies of pri­cing strategies, allow­ing par­ti­cipants to nav­ig­ate com­pet­it­ive land­scapes and cre­ate com­pel­ling value pro­pos­i­tions, thus bet­ter serving their cus­tom­ers and enhan­cing their bot­tom line.

Another test­a­ment to the strength of this col­lab­or­at­ive effort is the ‘Pro­ductiv­ity Man­age­ment and Busi­ness Optim­isa­tion through Mobile Apps’ pro­gramme. This ini­ti­at­ive, in part­ner­ship with the Sarawak Digital Entre­pren­eur Com­munity Cooper­at­ive (SARADEC), is cer­ti­fied by Uni­versiti Geo­matika Malay­sia (UGM).

Delivered over two intens­ive days and sup­ple­men­ted by a one-month online guid­ance pro­gramme, this train­ing empowers entre­pren­eurs with cut­ting-edge skills in mobile app usage for pro­ductiv­ity enhance­ment and busi­ness optim­isa­tion. In an increas­ingly digital world, these skills are invalu­able, allow­ing entre­pren­eurs to stream­line oper­a­tions, con­nect with cus­tom­ers more effect­ively, and boost their busi­nesses’ over­all effi­ciency.

SEA Pres­id­ent Nizam Khalyd emphas­ised that Biz­Fund and SBF’s unwaver­ing sup­port have posi­tioned Sarawak’s busi­ness com­munity on a tra­ject­ory of growth, resi­li­ence, and com­pet­it­ive­ness.

As the region inches closer to real­ising the PCDS 2030 vis­ion of becom­ing a developed state driven by tal­ent, skills, and innov­a­tion, the impact of these pro­grammes becomes increas­ingly evid­ent.

The suc­cess of Biz­Fund and its asso­ci­ated pro­grammes under­scores the power of col­lab­or­a­tion between gov­ern­ment, industry bod­ies, and the entre­pren­eur­ial com­munity. As Sarawak con­tin­ues to strive for eco­nomic recov­ery and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, such ini­ti­at­ives will play a pivotal role in ensur­ing that local busi­nesses thrive and con­trib­ute to the state’s broader eco­nomic goals.

For more inform­a­tion on these trans­form­at­ive pro­grammes and how they can bene­fit your busi­ness, inter­ested indi­vidu­als are encour­aged to reach out to the Sarawak Entre­pren­eurs Asso­ci­ation at www.joisea.org. Sarawak’s future of eco­nomic growth and prosper­ity begins with empowered entre­pren­eurs, and SEA is com­mit­ted to be the booster force behind this trans­form­a­tion.