KUALA LUMPUR, 21 May 2014 –  150 SMEs, mostly the recipients of National Mark of Malaysian Brand, 1-InnoCERT and winners of E50 attended the Branding Seminar 2014 organised by SME Corp. Malaysia today. The main objective of the Seminar is to create awareness among SME companies on the importance of branding, as well as to share the many other key elements contributing to the success of a brand such as branding strategy and intellectual property.

The one-day Seminar today is the first initiative under the SME Business Advisory Panel (SBAP) and involved brand expert from University of Oxford. SBAP was the brainchild of the Y.A.B. Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia and it was announced during the 14th National SME Development Council (NSDC) Meeting. The main role of SBAP is to provide insights and views on SME development in Malaysia.

This Seminar was graced by YBhg. Dato’ Hafsah Hashim, CEO of SME Corp. Malaysia and involved a few agencies such as Malaysia Debt Ventures (MDV) and EXIM Bank and also a public listed company, Prestariang Bhd. The highlight of the seminar was the presentation by Dr. Paul Temporal, a leading global expert on brand creation, development and management from Temporal Brand Consulting, University of Oxford. Entitled “A Winning Brand Strategy”, he has shared success stories and information on how to elevate brand value. The event was also attended by government officials and representatives from trade associations.

Apart from the presentation by Dr. Paul, a representative from MDV has shared about the potential of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) as an additional source of collateral to obtain funding and to spur more investments for companies. The representative from EXIM Bank has provided information on credit facilities to finance and support exports and imports of goods, services and overseas projects. The presentation included information on banking and credit insurance schemes from EXIM Bank. Prestariang Berhad, a company who is already listed in Bursa Malaysia was also present to share their listing experience. They also provided a glimpse into life as a public listed company.

The participants of the seminar also took the opportunity to get an in-depth information regarding SMEs branding development programmes during brand value clinic sessions which was jointly organised by SME Corp. Malaysia, MyIPO, MDV dan juga EXIM Bank.

YBhg. Dato’ Hafsah Hashim in her speech during the seminar highlighted that all participants to use the Branding Seminar as a platform to gain information, exchange ideas, knowledge and experience on brand value and also branding initiatives, while exploring excellent business networking opportunities at the same time.

“The Government also conducts other programmes aimed at assisting SMEs to increase the reach, breadth, width and depth of their current businesses. In this regard, MITI through SME Corp. Malaysia is collaborating with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Royal Malaysian Customs to conduct awareness programme throughout the country this year on the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will take effect on 1 April 2015”, added Dato’ Hafsah.

For more information please contact Mr. Faiz R Sutarji at 03-2775 6014 or email – faizramzi@smecorp.gov.my ,
Ms. Sarahana Mohamad at 03-2775 6225 or email – sarahana@smecorp.gov.my.

PERBADANAN PERUSAHAAN KECIL DAN SEDERHANA MALAYSIA (SME CORP. MALAYSIA)
Level 6, SME 1, Block B, Platinum Sentral,
Jalan Stesen Sentral 2, Kuala Lumpur Sentral,
50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Telephone: 603-2775 6000
Fax: 603-2775 6001
Website: http://www.smecorp.gov.my
E-mail: info@smecorp.gov.my

SME Corp. Malaysia

SME Corp. Malaysia is a Central Coordinating Agency that formulates overall policies and strategies for SMEs and coordinates the implementation of SME Development Programmes across all related Ministries and Agencies.

It acts as the central point of reference for research and data dissemination on SMEs, as well as, provides advisory services for SMEs in Malaysia. SME Corp. Malaysia also assumes the role of the Secretariat to the National SME Development Council (NSDC) which is chaired by YAB Prime Minister of Malaysia.