KUALA LUMPUR, 8 December – Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad (CGC) has organised a half-day Entry to Hypermarket workshop today as one of its initiatives under its Developmental Programme in assisting the SMEs to overcome the challenges faced in gaining access to local and international markets. This workshop was organised in collaboration with Steinbeis Malaysia Foundation, an initiative of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia.

CGC has been facilitating SMEs’ access to financing through its guarantee and direct financing facilities as its core functions. Presently, CGC has also expanded its role from a credit guarantee provider and financier to a developmental partner through its Developmental Programme to further enhance its services and add value to the SMEs.

The CGC Developmental Programme, introduced in May 2016, is aimed at assisting SMEs to gain access to both local and international markets. Through this developmental programme, CGC is undertaking several initiatives such as today’s workshop which is a mentoring program where our strategic partners with expertise in relevant fields will work hand-in-hand to prepare, guide and link the SMEs to access major local distribution channels and overseas markets.

“We are aware that making in-roads into local and international markets has always been a major challenge for our SMEs. We also know that most of them lack knowledge and the opportunity to market their products. In view of this, we have introduced our Developmental Programme to equip the SMEs with the information and knowledge required as well as to create the opportunity for greater market access and achieve higher level of success in their business,” said CGC’s President / CEO, Datuk Mohd Zamree Mohd Ishak.

“What we are hoping to achieve through this programme is to lay the foundation for the SMEs with proper advisory services and guidance. With active participation of the passionate and committed SMEs, we are positive that we are able to achieve our objective in serving and creating value for them,” added Zamree.

“To further demonstrate our commitment to this developmental programme, CGC selected three (3) of its successful customers to participate in the 13th China-ASEAN Expo which was held in Nanning, China in September 2016. The Expo served as an important learning experience and platform for the SMEs to gain international exposure in showcasing and marketing their products,” he added. “Subsequent to the Expo, CGC had also organized a workshop on digital marketing on 15th October and provided the opportunity for participants to display and promote their products and services.”

As this is an ongoing initiative, CGC is planning to have more developmental programmes to cater to the various needs of the SMEs in other regions as well to assist them to gain local and international market access.

The workshop which was held at Bangunan CGC in Kelana Jaya saw the participation of more than 30 SMEs from the food and beverage (F&B) sector. As part of the knowledge sharing session with the participants, four (4) speakers were invited whereby two (2) of them were from Malaysia’s leading retail hypermarkets.

CGC’s Chairman, Dato’ Agil Natt and Executive Director of Steinbeis Malaysia Foundation, Dr. Abdul Reezal Abdul Latif were also present to lend support to this initiative.

As an intermediary dedicated to SME development, CGC remains committed to improving its SME outreach through its various programmes and initiatives undertaken to be able to serve the needs of SMEs through financial and other advisory support services more effectively.

To date, CGC has availed over 442,000 guarantees and financing to SMEs valued over RM61.5 billion. In 2016, CGC targets to provide 8,650 guarantees and financing to SMEs amounting to RM4.0 billion.