KUALA LUMPUR: Bumiputeras who want to become successful entrepreneurs have only got themselves to blame if they fail. That was the gist of the "Terajui Minda Anda" (steer your minds) video presented by Teraju yesterday.
The five-minute video features some "sensitive" scenes that may hurt the feelings of some Bumiputeras or Malays, but it is really the case of what can be described best by the Malay proverb: "Whoever eats the chillies will feel the heat".
But Teraju, a unit under the Prime Minister's Department set up specifically to lead, coordinate and drive the Bumiputera economic participation, is determined to live up to its name.
Five months after its inception, Teraju yesterday launched its first programme to champion the development of high-performing Bumiputerasmall and medium enterprises (SMEs) under what it called the Teras programme - a programme specifically tailored to develop the BumiputeraSME community to be one that is progressive, efficient and competitive.
Teraju chief executive officer (CEO) Husni Salleh said the Teras programme will select 1,100 Bumiputera SMEs from top 100 medium companies and top 1000 small/micro companies to be groomed into the next generation of world-class entrepreneurs across all 12 national key economic areas (NKEAs) under the country's Economic Transformation Programme.
"They will be given between two and three years to achieve target milestones, like, maybe 20 per cent growth in revenue or business. If they don't achieve that, they will be out of the programme and we will select another SME," Husni told Business Times when met after the launch of the programme here yesterday.
Teraju will be the platform for Bumiputera SMEs to become bigger, respectable entities, and the acceleration of their growth will be via several enablers like funding, talent development and participation in the entry point projects.
To that end, Teraju will help them with easier access and communication to several public and private sectors' business networks, especially those related to government-linked companies (GLCs). The first GLC chosen yesterday was Tenaga Nasional Bhd which signed a memorandum of undestanding (MOU) with the Malaysian Energy Entrepreneur Association to develop more successful entrepreneurs.
Husni said Teraju will do its best to match the opportunities available in the 12 NKEAs to the businesses of the SMEs.
The selection of the companies will be made using clearly defined criteria and the process will be very transparent, said Husni, adding that following the steps of Pemandu, Teraju too will make frequent updates.
The companies are still being identified and when they are selected, they will go through an entrepreneur programme which will be monitored by Teraju to ensure that they will eventually become independent and "graduate" from the programme.
SME participants, met by Business Times at the Teraju two-day "Driving Bumi Agenda" event, lauded the programme. They, however, conceded that they are still in the dark over details.
Husni said this was not a surprise because of the novelty of Teraju and the programme itself.
However, Teraju officials said the unit will conduct a special briefing today with SMEs to explain its special selection criteria, as well as the opportunities and advantages.
Energy Impulse Sdn Bhd managing director Faiza Sufi Zakaria said this programme if succeeds, could replicate the success of South Korea, which has successfully turned many of its companies into global brands.
His company, under the flagship of the Northern Corridor Development Region, produces and distributes herbal tea under the Misai Kuching brand. Only four years old, it has recently penetrated the Singapore and China markets.
Malay Chambers of Commerce president Datuk Syed Amin Al Jeffrey said he is pleased with the government's continuous efforts to helpBumiputera companies.
"There are good Bumiputera companies out there with good growth prospects, but they lack the networking avenues and marketing expertise. So this is indeed a good move to help them out and make them global players," he said.
