SMALL and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been facing problems such as financing, talent management, risk management, market access and market penetration.

Hence, it is no surprise that recently the SMI Association of Malaysia had called for the setting up of a SME ministry.

SMI Association of Malaysia national president Chua Tiam Wee says the new ministry will be a key platform to focus on solving SME problems and define their growth areas.

“The Indian government has set up the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to assist SMEs in India. This is something that the Malaysian Government can study,” he says.

The new ministry should be empowered to help SMEs in every industry, he says, adding that the role of SMECorp that was set up last year was more on coordination. “Currently, although we have a SME Development Council, we only meet about twice a year.”

According to the latest annual report of the Indian ministry, its role is to assist the different states in India in efforts to encourage entrepreneurship, employment and livelihood opportunities and enhance the competitiveness of SMEs.

The programmes undertaken by the Indian ministry seek to facilitate or provide services such as an adequate flow of credit from financial institutions, support for technology and modernisation and integrated infrastructural facilities.

It is also tasked with providing SMEs with modern testing facilities and quality certification, access to modern management practices and carrying out programmes for entrepreneurship development and skill upgradation.

Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zhong) president Tan Sri Pheng Yin Huah also welcomes the call to set up a SME ministry as SMEs play an essential role in the economic growth of a nation.

“The new ministry can assist SMEs directly in a more effective way and encourage SMEs to grow further,” he says, adding that current government agencies like SMECorp and Small and Medium Industries Development Corp can be grouped under the ministry.

He says the ministry must be proactive in approaching SMEs in understanding their problems and solve them together.

However, boutique strategic consulting outfit RSM Strategic Business Advisors senior advisor Dr Umasuthan Kaloo has a different stand. He feels that there is no need for another ministry to help SMEs.

“If a SME ministry were to be set up, it will only add to the superstructure of government checks and controls which is already suffocating the tens of thousands of micro and small enterprises trying to survive in a hostile environment where licences and permits seem to be more important than quality, delivery, access to markets and a level playing field,” he says.

Kaloo, who is also the author of Managing Small Enterprises, adds that the existing agencies are more than enough to cover all the public sector support needs of SMEs for the moment. In fact, he is suggesting that they should be cut back.

Meanwhile, an entrepreneur from a local SME says: “There is no need to set up a SME ministry if we don’t know what it can do for SMEs as we already have government agencies in place that are assisting SMEs. The problem is whether the current agencies are efficient enough.”