Back row (from left): General Committee Members理事: Chiu Kai Mun 赵启文, David Jong 戎伟德, Timothy Liew 廖庆坤, Christopher Ng 伍光耀, Dr Celvin Tan 陈伟杰博士, Cefinny Teh JP 郑锦佩, Derrick Tan 陈荣坚, Maresa Ng 黄慧明and Tan Yong Keat 陈勇傑
The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia, or SAMENTA, Malaysia’s oldest and largest association of SMEs, is committed to helping SMEs to digitalise, automate and meet ESG standards.
Datuk William Ng, SAMENTA National President, said that the top challenges for SMEs are labour shortage, low productivity, rising costs, and compliance issues related to new ESG standards.
“To overcome these key issues, we need to encourage more SMEs to digitalise and automate to cut our reliance on workers and reduce costs. Many SMEs are already aware of the importance of digitalisation, but lack the know-how and resources to digitalise effectively.
“We have been working with various government agencies to help SMEs digitalise and automate effectively, and this year, we will continue to focus on doing so,” Ng added.
“With the introduction of more stringent ESG standards, and carbon-related policies such as CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism), our SMEs will need to be able to measure their carbon output as well as report on their environmental, social and governance policies and improvements, to remain competitive.
“We are already receiving report of SMEs being shut out of the supply chain because this, so this is highly critical. SAMENTA is helping SMEs to better understand these constantly evolving requirements and do their best to meet them,” Ng said.
Ng was commenting at the end of the association’s annual general meeting, which saw a new team being sworn in for the 2023 – 2026 term to lead Malaysia’s largest SME association.
Besides Ng, other office bearers include Calvin Kwan who is the new Deputy President, Yeoh Seng Hooi and Fan Kah Seong who were retained as a Secretary General and National Treasurer respectively.
There was a changing of the guard at regional level, with Ryan Lee and Edwin Ng taking over as chairman of the Southern and Central regions respectively.
“This team consists of new and old faces, and is committed to continuing SAMENTA’s mission to be the voice of SMEs in the country,” said Ng.
SAMENTA General Committee 2023 – 2026
| National President | Datuk William Ng |
| Deputy National President / Northern Region Chairman | Calvin Kwan |
| Immediate Past President | Well Kam |
| Secretary General | Yeoh Seng Hooi |
| National Treasurer | Fan Kah Seong |
| Vice President / Central Region Chairman | Edwin Ng |
| Vice President / Southern Region Chairman | Ryan Lee |
| Melaka State Chairman | Dato’ Vong Woon Chin |
| General Committee Members | Dr Celvin Tan |
| Cefinny Teh JP | |
| Derrick Tan | |
| Michael Goh | |
| Maresa Ng | |
| Tan Yong Keat | |
| Timothy Liew | |
| Christopher Ng | |
| Chiu Kai Mun | |
| David Jong |
