Malaysia’s oldest association for small and medium enterprises, SAMENTA, will be celebrating its 35th anniversary on 18 March 2022 with an anniversary dinner and SME100 awards night to be graced by His Excellency Tuan Yang Terutama Tun Dato’ Seri Utama Ahmad Fuzi bin Haji Abdul Razak, Governor of Penang.
SAMENTA was established in 1986 in Penang and has grown into the largest SME association in the country, with some 3,000 members, and independent chapters covering the north, south and central regions of Malaysia.
The SME100 Fast Moving Companies Awards, co-organised by SAMENTA and Business Media International, was last held in Penang a decade ago in 2012 to commemorate SAMENTA’s 25th anniversary. Beyond Penang, SME100 is organised annually in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia, which makes this the first and only awards that help to bridge successful entrepreneurs across Asean.
“As we celebrate our 35th anniversary, we are truly honoured and blessed to share the happy occasion with all SMEs. Our activities in the past 35 years have made us the most experienced SME association in the country. With all the challenges that SMEs are going through at this moment, it is our mission to continue to inspire and support them in their by providing a strong, solid platform for recognition, networking and continuous growth,” says Calvin Kwan, chairman, SAMENTA northern region.
“SMEs, including the microenterprises, have played an important role in fostering growth, employment, and income, and have been integral to spur Malaysia’s economic transformation process. There is no denying that SMEs are the real bloodline of many economies”, Kwan added.
“Organised since 2009, the SME100 is a truly regional award with local chapters in four countries across ASEAN. We envisaged that through SME100, we are able to help more entrepreneurs from Penang and the Northern Corridor achieve greater success through our unique business matching platform, learning partnership with HELP University, and ‘Road to IPO’ program with partners like Baker Tilly, CTOS and Affin Bank”, says Datuk William Ng, chairman, SAMENTA central region and managing director of Business Media International.
Also present at the press briefing to announce SAMENTA’s 35th Anniversary Gala Dinner and the SME100 Awards 2022 were Datuk Haji Abdul Halim Hussain, Penang state exco for trade, industry and entrepreneur development and Kam Lian Looi, president of SAMENTA.
Participation in the SME100 SAMENTA 35th Anniversary Edition is now opened, and interested SMEs can visit www.sme100.asia or email info@samenta.org.my for more information.
