By Zareef Muzammil
SHAH ALAM, May 18 — Yayasan Hijrah Selangor (Hijrah Selangor) has given out funding amounting to RM965,000 for its i-Bisnes financing scheme as of April this year.
Its promotion executive Mohd Ridhwan Asmara said the financial assistance had benefited a total of 2,229 entrepreneurs in the state who applied for loans of between RM1,000 to RM50,000 to expand their businesses.
According to him, the scheme received an encouraging response due to the low-interest rate offered at four per cent for financing below RM30,000, while RM31,000 and above (eight per cent).
“In addition, it is open to all business activities such as retail, food, services, transportation, online business, livestock, fisheries and agriculture,” he said when contacted.
In the meantime, he explained that a total of 19 applications were rejected after visits by their funding officer discovered it being dubious business activities which do not exist.
“We remind entrepreneurs who want to apply for any financing scheme provided by Hijrah Selangor to comply with the conditions set.
“We also call on entrepreneurs who have the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) registration or a local authority (PBT) business license to apply for this scheme because the conditions are simple, fast and not burdensome,” he said, adding that they targeted a total of 5,997 entrepreneurs to benefit from the scheme this year.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari when tabling the 2022 Selangor Budget on November 26 last year announced several improvements in the Hijrah Selangor financing scheme this year.
He announced an RM120 million fund to provide financing to entrepreneurs besides creating new schemes that provide loans of up to RM100,000 to grow businesses.
The seven financing schemes offered by Hijrah Selangor are i-Bisnes, Zero to Hero, Niaga Darul Ehsan (NaDI), Go Digital, i-Lestari, i-Agro and i-Bermusim.
