various incentives to entice the investor community. Kellogg, a major food manufacturer from the US, is planning to build a halal facility in Malaysia, having followed the footsteps of Nestle and Hershey, two major international manufacturers which have recently expanded their businesses in the country.
The Malaysian Government remains committed towards ensuring the components within the halal ecosystem will continue to evolve, thus providing opportunities for businesses to expand and excel further while addressing areas of concern confronting the industry.
Q: What are the challenges encountered by SMEs in their quest to be suppliers of multinational corporations( MNCs) engaged in halal-certified products? How can SMEs circumvent arising complications?
a) The opportunities for SMEs in Malaysia are huge in the halal industry. However, only 30 % of Malaysian halal exports generated by SMEs. The challenges faced in this industry are( i) capacity to produce on large scale( except for MNCs), and( ii) marketing and promotion at international level. b) Advices for Malaysian SMEs venturing into the halal industry:
• To optimise capacity / production of halal products by partnership;
• To get assistance from HDC and other relevant government agencies, and
• To enhance marketing and product branding especially for international market.
c) Programmes prepared by HDC to assist Malaysian SMEs: Halal is an important agenda in Malaysia’ s New Economic Model( NEM) and it is in line with the Economic Transformation Programme( ETP). For Malaysia, the value proposition of halal is in the fact that it is as much driven by the bigger corporations as it is by the SMEs.
Malaysian SMEs are involved in the whole spectrum of halal products and services ranging from food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and personal care to herbal products, packaging and household products. Some of the efforts by HDC to help overcome these challenges include:
• Facilitating Halal Understanding and Certification Training: Our training programmes are aimed at educating SMEs to understand and explore halal opportunities in segments of economic value, businesses, industry engagement and job employment. Such training programme covers best practices within the halal industry for both food and non-food as well as services such as halal logistic, Islamic finance, etc.
• Capacity Building:
❏ Consolidate our efforts of awareness creation with wider entrepreneurial public and securing more SMEs for participating in the halal industry;
❏ Grooming new individuals / companies in mentorship programmes with successful halal champions / halalfocused companies under the Halal Business Transformation Programme( HBT), and
❏ Work more closely with multinationals and overseas players for halal collaboration & enhancement programmes vis-à-vis fast moving consumer goods( FMCG) and other household and lifestyle products that are most marketable.
• Investment Attraction: Tax allowances for tenants and owners of halal parks.
• Global Halal Support Centre: Set up three years ago, HDC’ s Global Halal Support Centre has recorded 12.5 million visitors from 122 countries visiting its portal sites for various halal-related information. Its i-kiosk is just as popular – having attracted 152,000 visitors while its halal apps recorded 55,000 downloads worldwide.
ISSUE 2: 2016 | ASEAN COMMUNITY OF ENTREPRENEURS 25