Over RM550m loans distributed to 22,000 Indian entrepreneurs under SEED

(The Rakyat Post) – The government’s Special Secretariat for the Empowerment of Indian Entrepreneurs (SEED) has assisted over 22,000 Indian entrepreneurs in securing loans of more than RM550 million in just two years after its establishment.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in a written statement in SEED’s second annual report, stated that the secretariat formed to provide economic empowerment to the nation’s Indian community had also through its training series, successfully trained some 3,500 Indian entrepreneurs.

“The SEED Secretariat has also been able to manoeuvre the Indian community away from the traditional sunset industries towards the high growth sectors and areas of focus by the government under the NKEAs.

“I continue to encourage this effort as this will ensure the Indians will also be part of the trajectory for a high income nation that we strive to be by 2020.”

MIC President Datuk Seri G. Palanivel, in the same report, wrote that SEED had helped open up better business opportunities by funding facilities and entrepreneurship education.

The financial loan distributed to the entrepreneurs has been carried out through several financing schemes such as TEKUN Nasional, Amanah Iktihar Malaysia, MIDF and SME CORP, among others.

The Secretariat was established on Aug 1, 2012 and is a unit under the Indian Community ETP Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department.