SEREMBAN (Jan 10): SME Corp Malaysia plans to expand the Tunas Usahawan Belia Bumiputera Programme (TUBE)'s programme content, which is entering its sixth edition this year.

Chief executive officer Noor Azmi Mat Said said the plan included introducing content related to Islamic commercial transactions (muamalat) and spiritual development to help youth entrepreneurs in facing challenges.

“We find that youth entrepreneurs face a lot of emotional challenges so we want to help them in dealing with the stress.

“We also hope to get additional allocation to increase the number of TUBE entrepreneurs to 3,000 this year against the initial allocation which was for only 500 participants,” he told a press conference after the launch of an events venue called "Laman Puteh" here today.  

Noor Azmi said SME Corp received 55,000 applications to participate in the upcoming sixth edition of the TUBE programme.

“The programme has been identified as one of the most impactful entrepreneurship programme which has increased the number of youth entrepreneurs.

“By consistently monitoring the TUBE participants, we were able to identify the companies’ potential and current developments,” he said, adding that SME Corp had awarded grants totalling RM96 million to 4,422 youth entrepreneurs under the TUBE programme.

On another note, Noor Azmi said SME Corp was committed in ensuring that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute 41 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product by 2020, up from the current 37.1 per cent.

“We want SMEs to contribute more significantly to the nation’s economic growth, revenue and prosperity, hence assuming a vital role as a contributor and driver of the country’s development,” he said.

He added that SMEs would be encouraged to explore new technologies in order to discover new or non-traditional methods to create products, markets and new ways to conduct business, thus boosting innovation, competitiveness and productivity.