THE Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperation (MEDAC) is advising entrepreneurs as well as small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to take proactive measures while facing the COVID-19 outbreak, in order to keep their businesses alive.
Such measures include adapting their companies to the new norms of life and empower the businesses with the implementation of digitalisation, enabling them to make use of professional strategies.
It would also prove beneficial to prepare themselves and their businesses with the knowledge provided by government agencies. These updates will enable them to have an idea on what measures they need to take to keep the business going.
SMEs are also advised to retain customer information and data, maintain good relationships with the customers and keep a good reputation of the products and brand of the company. This will allow the customers to remember the brand even after movement restrictions are lifted.
MEDAC also pointed out that there was an inaccuracy in a news report that was published by Malaysiakini on Nov 11.
While the report stated that over 30,000 SME companies have ceased operations since the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) in March, statistics from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) showed that the total number of companies and businesses that stopped operating from Mar 18 to June 9 was at 9,675.
From June 10 to the month of September, the number reached approximately 22,794 companies.
“This number indicates the amount of companies that had to close down during the period between March and September. And it is not only restricted to SME companies, but it covers all types of companies that are registered under SSM,” MEDAC said in a statement released today.
However, based on another data from SSM, between Apr 1 and July 19, 2020, a total of 82,555 new businesses have registered with SSM.
This shows that the pandemic does not prevent business owners from establishing a presence in the market as they are adhering to the current trends and needs by using e-commerce platforms as their marketing medium to supply products and services. – Nov 13, 2020
