Managing Finances well – a prerequisite for being bankable

Participants at the Micro Business Awareness Program at Kapar ( Jan 23, 2011)

The Special Implementation Taskforce on the Indian Community has undertaken two micro business awareness programs. The first was in Perai on December 18, 2010 and the second in Kapar on Jan 23, 2011. The participating agencies at the first was BSN and AgroBank and in the second we also invited AKPK which the Bank Negara Credit Counseling and Debt Management Agency.

These institutions provided financial education on the availability of micro loans as well as how to effectively manage finances in running a micro and small business.

Profile of Malaysian Micro Indian Enterprises

The Taskforce secretariat reviewed the micro business background of 22 people who came for our session in Perai and we discovered some interesting findings.

We found:-

• 91% of respondents are in micro business and remaining 9% are small businesses
• Only 8 out of 22 or 36% have business permits
• 73% of the respondents are in services, 18% in agriculture, 9% in manufacturing
• 32% indicated that they did not apply for financing schemes as they were not aware, 32% indicated not aware of financing procedures, 9% felt that applications will be rejected, another 9% felt that the application process is difficult
• Based on the comments received most respondents require – Advisory & handholding services from the government, financial assistance and more aggressive awareness campaign on financing avenues, processes and requirements.

Taskforce & AKPK

Taskforce secretariat is exploring the possibility of close collaboration with AKPK as they have awareness programs, materials and Tamil speaking resource persons on financial and debt management talks and counseling services.

In a recent discussion with Mr Nor Akmar Yaakub and Mohamad Khalil of AKPK with Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria, Taskforce is exploring running financial advice clinics at 30 towns in nine states from March to June 2011.

Mr Segaran, a Senior Credit Counsellor from AKPK speaking
at the Kapar Awareness program (Jan 23, 2011)

At the Kapar Micro awareness program Mr Segran from AKPK was one of the speakers. AKPK facilitators will also be part of the third awareness program in Seremban on Feb 12, 2011 when our next program will be hosted by local leaders from Seremban.

AKPK has a number of useful financial advice books. These are useful tools on financial management. The officials provided a few sample copies for the Taskforce review and they are extremely useful and available in all the major Malaysian languages.

Recently AKPK released Power, Managing your debts effectively (2011). This book is part of AKPK’s Financial Capacity Program aimed at “equipping young adults and first time borrowers with important skills in money and debt management”. It aims “to show how to manage your debts effectively and make informed financial decisions”. The ultimate objective is to empower people “to take control of your finances and avoid making wrong decisions that could rest in years of financial pain”

AKPK Manager Mohamad Khalil and officer
with copies of Power and Money Sense

According to AKPK, there area a variety of topics covered in POWER. For example:-

• How to manage your cash flow which will help you understand your financial position better
• Basics of borrowing
• Wise use of credit cards
• Advice on buying a car and house
• How to live with manageable debts

Their earlier publication is entitled Money Sense, Getting smart with your money (2008). According to AKPK more than 50% of those who sought their counsel indicated “that they got into financial trouble because they had low understanding of basic financial literacy”. Money sense aims to teach skills on how to manage ones money and achieve financial goals. It teaches people on how to be in control of ones finances. Furthermore, it “illustrates how important it is to always be financial prepared for life uncertainties”

For further information please see http://www.akpk.org.my/ or call 1800 88 2575