SUNGAI BULOH: The government, through Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), today announced a special allocation of RM50 million aimed at empowering women micro-entrepreneurs from the Indian community in the country.
The allocation, provided in the form of micro-loans under AIM's Prosperity Empowerment and a New Normal (for Indian Women) programme or PENN, is expected to benefit over 10,000 Indian women entrepreneurs from the Indian community, including 7,100 new entrepreneurs.
Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk R. Ramanan is confident that AIM, through the rolling out of PENN, will help the country to create more women entrepreneurs from the Indian community, who will, in turn, contribute towards accelerating the country's economic growth.
"The special allocation provided by AIM is to realise Prime Minister's (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) aspiration, who wanted to ensure that no one is left behind in the national development agenda.
"This programme represents another government effort to uplift, empower, and prosper Indian women in Malaysia, aligning with the principles of the Malaysia Madani concept," said Ramanan in his speech at the announcement of the special allocation for Sahabat Usahawan India entrepreneurs in Bandar Sri Damansara today.
Present were AIM Board of Trustees chairman Datuk Seri Syed Hussian Aljunid, his deputy Mohd Najib Mohd Noor and AIM managing director Mohamed Shamir Abdul Aziz.
Under the programme, interested applicants can apply for micro-loans of up to RM30,000 at 124 AIM branches starting this Monday (April 15).
"This programme is a meaningful gift for all of us, in conjunction with the Tamil New Year, which we celebrate every April 14, which is tomorrow.
"I urge all of you to seize this opportunity by applying for the programme. Make it your capital to start a business. Starting small, over time it will become a business that you could be proud of," he said.
On a related matter, Ramanan said AIM has successfully lifted over four million households out of poverty and maintained a non-performing loan rate of only 0.09 per cent last year.
Such achievement, he said, has earned it praise from various quarters, especially Anwar, who subsequently urged all government agencies involved in poverty eradication efforts to learn from AIM's success stories.
"In our effort to assist the government in eradicating poverty and increasing household incomes in the country, AIM has designed various incentives and programmes tailored to current circumstances," he said.
Earlier in his speech, Syed Hussain said the special allocation under PENN will inject new spirits among Indian entrepreneurs who are small and medium traders among the B40 income households.
"Since its establishment, it has been proven that AIM has helped almost one million women entrepreneurs in the country, irrespective of race and religion. AIM is open to all," he said.