By Danial Dzulkifly
SHAH ALAM, March 20 — State entrepreneurship fund Yayasan Hijrah Selangor has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) to provide counselling services to distressed borrowers.
The strategic collaboration between the two organisations via a debt management programme aims to assist entrepreneurs in Selangor, to streamline their debt payments and ensure good financial management.
Hijrah Selangor chief executive officer Datuk Mearia Hamzah said the first phase of the partnership will see AKPK handle approximately 1,000 delinquent accounts with a total debt of RM12 million owed to the state subsidiary.
“Apart from debt management, AKPK will also provide financial education through workshops, webinars, and learning portals for Hijrah Selangor entrepreneurs.
“By providing financial and accounting tools or SME toolkits, we hope to improve their skill sets towards adopting digital solutions.
“AKPK will also provide financial literacy training modules for accreditation purposes, especially in terms of financial and credit management,” she said in her speech before the MoU signing at the State Secretariat Building today.
The MoU is part of Hijrah Selangor’s 2024-2028 business turnaround plan, which aims for the organisation to achieve sustainability and operational excellence.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.
In a press conference, he revealed that Hijrah Selangor’s non-performing loans largely stemmed from two previous state government initiatives dating back to 2009.
“The delinquent loans are not just from when Hijrah Selangor was established but also from the previous Selangor Microcredit Scheme (Skimsel) and Urban Poor Microcredit Scheme (Mimbar).
“So far, approximately 80 per cent of borrowers are keeping up with payments, while another 20 to 25 per cent are facing problems.
“Among the challenges were due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With this collaboration (with AKPK), we aim to assist them (defaulters) in avoiding bankruptcy by providing quality consultation,” Amirudin said.
Yayasan Hijrah, established in 2015, has approved 88,653 financing facilities to 59,508 borrowers amounting to RM797 million.
