Yayasan Sabah helps local SMEs to penetrate international markets via GLOPEC

 By Olivia Miwil - January 27, 2022 @ 3:10pm

Yayasan Sabah director Datuk Seri Gulamhaidar Khan visiting a booth displaying products by one of the 15 GLOPEC entrepreneurs. - Pic courtesy of Yayasan Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: Yayasan Sabah continues to empower the B40 and M40 groups via various initiatives, said its director Datuk Seri Gulamhaidar Khan.

One of them is the Global Entrepreneur One Stop Centre (GLOPEC) programme, which is a collaboration with Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (TERAJU) to boost further efforts in empowering Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) entrepreneurs and pave the way for global industrial market opportunities.

"We will continue to support the state government through its Sabah Maju Jaya Development Plan that focuses on development and the people's wellbeing," he said during the signing ceremony of offer letters to 15 entrepreneurs to be part of GLOPEC at the Menara Tun Mustapha here.

He said Yayasan Sabah group was ready to help the SME entrepreneurs to the international level, urging the chosen entrepreneurs to make the most out of the programme to drive their success.

Ghulam said the programme was a business opportunity that entrepreneurs could not afford to pass up and to seize them in a market with a yearly trading value of millions of ringgit.

GLOPEC, which was launched on Sept 9 last year, is now exporting entrepreneurs' products to the United Kingdom and China.

However, he said due to the emergence of the new Covid-19 variant, it had delayed the export process to the United Kingdom up to six months to ensure the products fulfilled the said country's policy guidelines.

Things are also tough for products heading to China since the Republic closed its trade borders including Chengdu starting November last year.

"Nonetheless, these obstacles will not stop us from taking proactive measures to execute this programme.

"I would like to inform you that an exhibition dubbed as 'Taste of Sabah' involving demonstration and food tasting for GLOPEC entrepreneurs has been ongoing at Kensington, United Kingdom, since December last year until this March.

"GLOPEC programme has also managed to get a new market in the Middle east when a Letter of Intent was signed between GLOPEC and Alfa Mart at the Dubai Expo on Dec 23 2021."