PUTRAJAYA, Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Bhd (SME Bank) aims to achieve RM50 million value for the business matching session between 120 local entrepreneurs and 24 buyers from 12 countries under the SME Bank Xcess 2024 programme. Its acting group president and chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Hardee Ibrahim said the local entrepreneurs selected to participate in the programme were from the food and beverage, manufacturing, services, and oil and gas industries. He said that the 24 buyers were from countries such as Brazil, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, India, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. 'All local entrepreneurs who participate in this programme have been screened earlier together with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation as we want to ensure that the products or services offered fulfil international requirements,' he told the media after the SME Bank Xcess 2024 Programme Launch event here today. The lau nch was officiated by Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick and was also attended by the bank's group chairman Datuk Muslim Hussain. Mohammad Hardee said the Xcess initiative aims to help local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) expand their reach internationally and penetrate the global market. Meanwhile, in his speech, Ewon lauded the bank's Xcess initiative which would support the government's commitment to encourage and strengthen the role of the SME sector in the country's economic progress. 'This programme opens up opportunities to interact and discuss with investors, marketers, and agencies, and this will help in terms of capacity building, introduction to market conditions and needs, and learning from entrepreneurs who have been successful in markets abroad. 'I also hope that the SME Bank Xcess 2024 programme will be used as a platform to create strategic cooperation and networking between SME entrepreneurs and the government as well as its agencies,' he said. SM E Bank Xcess is a programme dedicated to fostering growth and value creation within the SME ecosystem, extending beyond just financing services. In the past three years, the Xcess initiative has attracted more than 140,000 SME participants, both virtually and in-person, and facilitated over 1,700 business meetings with the support of 142 strategic partners. Source: BERNAMA News Agency
