KUCHING: Registration for the Chief Minister’s Industry Excellence Award (CMIEA) 2019 is now open until Sept 17.

Entering its second edition after making it debut in 2017, the CMIEA 2019 was launched yesterday by Assistant Minister of Entrepreneur and Small, Medium Enterprise (SME) Development Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais.

Naroden was representing Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, who is also Minister of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development, and Second Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources.

The event is jointly organised by the state government, Sarawak Business Federation (SBF) and Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC). In his speech read by Naroden, Awang Tengah said the CMIEA is a corporate recognition programme that aims to give honour and recognition to outstanding businesses in the state.
He hopes that more SMEs will participate in the programme.

“The state government is proud to be associated with such a prestigious and successful awards programme and as SMEs constitute 98.5 per cent of business establishments in Malaysia as well as in Sarawak, I hope more SMEs will participate in CMIEA 2019,” Awang Tengah said. According to him, 20 companies were given recognition in the CMIEA 2017.

He said it is good to note that the CMIEA was adopted from the national level Industry Excellence Award organised by MPC, adding that the award was introduced in 1991 by the government to encourage businesses to enhance their management practices, eventually leading to improvement in the quality of products and services. Awang Tengah also hoped that SMEs upgrade the ways of doing businesses and adopt new technologies in every aspect of business in line with the government’s aspiration for the state to embrace Industry 4.0.

“Malaysia is a young country and so is Sarawak where at least 45 per cent of our population is made up of younger and intellectual generation. “So to progress, we must have top class intellectuals and this intellectual capital is the future currency,” he stressed.

He said he would like to see every non-governmental business organisation including SBF, Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Sarawak Bumiputera Chamber of Commerce (DUBS) and other business organisations support government’s policies and aspiration, particularly the state government led by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg for the state to go digital and become a leader in digitalisation in the region.

Present were SBF president Datuk Abang Abdul Karim Tun Openg, Deputy State Secretary Datu Dr Sabariah Putit and permanent secretary to Ministry of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development Datu Liaw Soon Eng. Interested Participants to please contact SBF Secretariat at 082-237 148. The closing date on 17th September 2019.