KUALA LUMPUR: Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), the leading agency responsible for the socio-economic development of the Bumiputera, has launched its MARA Strategic Plan 2021-2025 which will incorporate efforts to adapt to new-age challenges.
Its chairman, Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun said the Pelan Strategik MARA or PSM comprised four main thrusts, namely, plans and strategies to develop a dynamic entrepreneurial Bumiputera community, empower strategic investments (centred on entrepreneurship, education and services), produce holistic human resources and strengthening the delivery system and governance.
She said the strategic plan, entitled 'Upholding trust, facing the challenges of the future', is focused on accelerating economic growth and bridging the gap between communities.
It also serves as a driving force to mobilise efforts in meeting the current and future expectations of the Bumiputera community.
"MARA has restructured its direction to include new core dimensions, strategies and programme outcomes taking into account current economic challenges and political scenarios in the country.
"The plan emphasises four key thrusts and 17 strategies covering all sectors as well as 22 outcome indicators.
"These thrusts cover the entire operation of MARA which will be implemented in line with the government's Shared Prosperity Vision 2030," she said after launching the PSM on Monday.
Azizah said the plan was formulated in line with national policies and aspirations to ensure the Bumiputera community would be able to face current challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It emphasises the responsibilities and the strategic actions that ought to be taken to ensure MARA's goals are achieved, she said.
"The year 2021 is a continuation of the bitter challenges of 2020, with our country facing a challenging economic situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has caused businesses to suffer losses. Teaching and learning were also affected.
"Hence, PSM includes new dimensions of strategies and programme outcomes by taking into account the current economic challenges and political scenario.
"More holistic and sustainable solutions to empower the Bumiputera economy in the future need to be implemented especially given the impact of the major economic disruption following the Covid-19 health crisis."
She said the plan was a continuation of the establishment's efforts to produce and strengthen a high-performance work culture, as well as enable Bumiputera empowerment as per the direction set in the next five years.
MARA, she said, has played a significant role for over five decades in empowering the Bumiputera community through socio-economic development, especially in the fields of entrepreneurship, education and investment.
Efforts to lead towards building a Bumiputera Commercial and Industrial Community will be integrated, from producing competitive human capital, empowering the entrepreneurial community and strengthening equity, thus contributing to the country's economic growth.
Azizah noted that Bumiputera economic development was MARA's main agenda to ensure that the community was placed in the right position to reduce the economic gap between races.
The PSM focuses on the creation of a conducive and holistic ecosystem by developing four new core strategies covering entrepreneurship, education, investment and services.
The first thrust is to develop a dynamic entrepreneurial community by identifying five strategies to churn sustainable entrepreneurs, boost business capacity based on strategic industries, develop competent new entrepreneurs, create industry-leading entrepreneurs and foster conducive entrepreneurship.
The second thrust aims to contribute towards creating holistic human resources through the implementation of high-impact programmes to produce competent, quality human capital, and meet the needs of the industry as well as cultivate entrepreneurship among students.
"The four strategies to achieve this are: improving student mastery in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, strengthening Technical and Vocational Education Training, increasing Bumiputera involvement in high-impact fields and leading inclusive sponsorship of Bumiputera education," she said.
The third thrust seeks to empower strategic investment based on entrepreneurship, investment and services.
Azizah said the investment sector focuses on economic involvement in strengthening the organisation's key activities through four strategies, namely exploring potential investment opportunities in strategic industries, strengthening non-financial asset initiatives, contributing to the sustainability of Mara's activities and strengthening the network of relations between urban and rural areas.
The fourth thrust aims to strengthen the delivery system and governance to ensure that the services provided by MARA are efficient, transparent and effective.
The four strategies will help to strengthen the professionalism and integrity of human capital, leverage technology in services, cultivate new norms and prioritise 'Amanah Rakyat' as the organisation's identity, she said.
"MARA will always be committed and relevant as an economic driver and producer of quality human capital, thus making the establishment a superior and trusted organisation to uplift the nation."
She noted that MARA has provided facilities to the target group through entrepreneurship and education programmes while supported by investment activities.
This effort, she said is driven by the management services sector which runs MARA's operations locally and abroad.
"As of December 2020, MARA has a total of 573 administration centres with a total 18,876 staff. Since 1966, MARA has provided business financing facilities to 256,777 entrepreneurs and 836,347 entrepreneurs have been equipped with knowledge and skills through the MARA Entrepreneurship Training Programme.
"Meanwhile, the Education Sector has provided an integrated and comprehensive study programme from secondary to tertiary level to produce first-class human capital. From 2015 to 2020, Mara has contributed 276,965 graduates to the workforce with marketability of 92.7 per cent.
"MARA's higher education programmes offer degree, semi-professional and pre-university study programmes which are the main choice of Bumiputera students. To date, there are 21 clusters with 65 higher education programmes, and 421,384 students have benefited from the education loan facility."
The creation of the MARA investment sector, she said, aimed to support and complement the MARA ecosystem, namely entrepreneurship and education.
"Currently, MARA has 16 active subsidiaries, one corporation, one limited guarantee company and two associates involved in various selected industry sectors.
"The MARA Investment Sector has boosted activities in several focus areas such as financial services and strategic investments, property and hospitality management, services and training, aerospace industry, engineering, construction and facilities management."