CYBERJAYA: Bumiputera Agenda Steering Unit (Teraju) will provide up to RM1 bilion of funds to scale up 1,000 Bumiputera companies in emerging and high-growth sectors by 2030.
Teraju chief executive officer Junady Nawawi said the agency will act as a super scaler for the Bumiputera companies, including start-ups to mid-sized companies, through a more sustainable and targeted approach.
He said the fund is expected to be raised this year through collaborations with financial institutions, with Teraju targeting to collect RM5 from every RM1 provided by it to recipients.
"As a super-scaler of Bumiputera companies, we will focus on small and medium firms and turn them into bigger firms and value creators such as exporters and public listed companies.
"We want to turn the unbankable into the bankable and the bankable into the investable," Junady said at the Scaling Up Bumiputera Value Creation event here today.
The event was also attended by Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli, who announced the realignment of three Bumiputera-mandated agencies involving Teraju, Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas) and Yayasan Peneraju (Peneraju).
Junady said Teraju's aim of scaling up Bumiputera companies will be achieved by fostering new market links, sourcing new funding and potentially engaging in mergers and acquisitions.
Meanwhile, Rafizi said Teraju's realigned plan will no longer focus on giving out grants to Bumiputeras to start businesses. Recipients now have to pay the money back.
According to him, the new approach is part of an overall plan to create a sustainable ecosystem for Bumiputera companies to thrive without being dependent on government funding.
He added that the realignment of the three Bumiputera-mandated agencies is one of the government's measures to have more resilient Bumiputera companies that can be turned into public-listed companies, he said.
"Over the next five to six years, we envision the private sector become an active participant within this ecosystem, which includes investments not only from banks but also from non-Bumiputeras," he said.