IPOH, Oct 19 — The Perak government has announced the ‘Bantuan Perak Sejahtera Usahawan Kraftangan Perak’ of RM182,000 for 91 handicraft entrepreneurs who have not received aid from any agency before.
Menteri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad said the one-off aid of RM2,000 for each of the recipients, hopefully could help these entrepreneurs revive their handicraft business after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Also, as a sign of the state government’s support for their products, I have asked all the state’s agencies and government-linked companies (GLCs) to use the products of Perak’s handicraft entrepreneurs as their official souvenirs.”
He said this today at a news conference after visiting 11 entrepreneurs in various categories, with the majority of them having benefited from the programmes and aid provided by the state government.
Saarani said the Perak State Entrepreneurs Secretariat (STeP) would be coordinating the list of handicraft products to be supplied to the agencies and GLCs which hopefully, could help reactivate the promotion of such products by the state’s entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, he said efforts at promoting the concept of business digitalisation among entrepreneurs already had a positive impact, especially in the marketing of products.
“Sales that had previously dropped has now risen again and in fact, some have seen an increase in income during the movement control period,” he added.
Saarani said the Perak government through the State Economic Planning Unit, STeP and Institut Darul Ridzuan would continue to find ways to empower entrepreneurs, especially in reviving their businesses after the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said the state government had announced various Economic Stimulus Packages amounting to RM46.5 million, particularly to assist the micro, small and medium enterprises in wading through difficult times following the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the country.
“Among these were the one-off special aid of RM300 each for 41,730 hawkers and petty traders registered with the local authorities, with an allocation of RM12.5 million and the Perak Entrepreneur Grant (GeRUP) amounting to RM1.85 million for 619 recipients.
“Also, a total of RM30,000 in compensation payment was made to traders affected by the cancellation of the Aidilfitri bazaars this year and rental exemption for 10,264 stalls under the local authoprities, involving a total sum of RM1.6 million.
“Meanwhile, a moratorium on repayment of loans from Tabung Usahawan Yayasan Perak (Perak Foundation Entrepreneur Fund) and micro loans from Yayasan Bina Upaya was given to 743 borrowers,” he added.
