CGC 26TH FI/DFI & SME AWARDS 2020
CGC’s 26th FI/DFI & SME Awards 2020 held virtually and was officiated by YB Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul bin Tengku Abdul Aziz, Minister of Finance, & attended by senior management of leading Financial Institutions (FIs) & Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) as well as CGC’s exemplary Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) customers. This annual awards ceremony recognises CGC’s MSME customers with excellent credit track records & business success. CGC also recognised its strategic FIs and DFIs partners for their significant role in providing a valuable contribution towards MSME financing & development. In total, 31 awards were presented to FIs, DFIs and SMEs. This includes a special award category introduced in 2021, the Merdeka Awards. 9 awards were presented to CGC MSME customers, recognising those with multi-racial partners, reflecting the strength of Malaysia’s diversity & unity. Tengku Zafrul in his Special Message pointed out the importance of entrepreneurship. "It is for this reason that our policies in Budget 2022 are aimed at creating the right ecosystem for MSMEs to thrive – not only in terms of financing but also from initiatives that support, for example, the development of Technical and Vocational Education & Training (or TVET) skills. In Budget 2022, we have set aside 6.6 billion ringgits for TVET alone. Even our allocations for sectors such as tourism, agro-industry, & the creative industries are centred on nurturing entrepreneurship.” CGC Chairman Dato’ Mohammed Hussein in his welcome speech highlighted that there will be new growth areas, such as the gig economy. He said, “Under the National Recovery Plan, one particular skill gap that CGC, and maybe some FIs need to work on is in respect of the gig economy i.e. how good are we in supporting the gig economy – in terms of evaluating new proposals and in structuring our financial products to meet their needs? Whilst some FIs are further ahead in the learning curve than others, I think it is fair to say that there is still some learning to do.” He further added that going forward, the gig economy will be a major growth sector.