PUTRAJAYA: Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has proposed a bumiputra economic development policy to drive and empower their enterprises holistically.
He said the empowerment of bumiputra enterprises needs to be driven to a higher and global level to ensure their ownership and dominance in the economy can be realised and for the entrepreneurs to benefit on a larger scale.
"Since the first Bumiputera Economic Congress was held, many traders have benefited from the government's efforts in encouraging and stimulating bumiputra to engage in business.
"There is no doubt that many successful and outstanding entrepreneurs have been born since 1965," he told Bernama in conjunction with the 2024 Congress scheduled from Feb 29 until March 2.
The first Congress, held on June 7, 1965, and opened by Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, among others, led to the establishment of the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), which has become a special entity to map the direction and progress of the Malays and bumiputra in all fields, especially the economically, educationally and socially.
Ahmad Zahid said as of last January, 29.8 per cent or 357,863 of the total number of registered Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (PMKS) were owned by bumiputra.
He also expressed the need for the development of a dashboard for bumiputra entrepreneurs to identify structured and targeted programmes that can be utilised to enhance the capabilities of their companies.
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The dashboard also ensures that a company does not receive the same assistance from various agencies, he said.
The 2024 Congress is held with the main objective of empowering the Bumiputra agenda in ten national economic groups.
It is one of the important agendas of the Madani government to revamp and boost the socio-economic development of bumiputra as a whole so that they can thrive progressively and innovatively. - Bernama