KUALA LUMPUR: The participation of women entrepreneurs in this year's Enterprise 50 (E50) Award increased by almost 100 per cent, said SME Corp Malaysia, an agency under the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry.
SME Corp chief executive officer Rizal Nainy said 21 out of the 50 companies selected as E50 winners were led by female entrepreneurs, compared with only 11 in 2019.
"After SME Corp conducted five roadshows across Malaysia, the participation of women entrepreneurs in the E50 programme increased between 98 per cent and 100 per cent compared with 2019," he told the media at the E50 Award's special conference here today.
The E50 Award was not held in 2020 or last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rizal said this year's event saw 213 participants, the most since 1997.
"Only 63 companies were able to complete the stringent selection process for consideration as the top 50 companies. Ten of the winners were from the manufacturing and services sectors."
Rizal said two special awards — the Best Woman Entrepreneur E50 and the Best Exporter E50 — would also be announced at the awards tonight.
"This is the first time SME Corp is giving an award to exporters to recognise the contributions of SMEs to the country's gross domestic product, especially in the post-Covid-19 era."
He said only companies with four and five stars under the SME Competitiveness Rating for Enhancement (SCORE) were eligible for the E50 Award programme.
Since 1997, the E50 Award has been a prestigious event recognising business and entrepreneurial achievements.