KUALA LUMPUR : 25 October 2017 – Centre for Entrepreneur Development and Research Sdn. Bhd. (CEDAR), a subsidiary of SME Bank Group and Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) of the Republic of Botswana signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) paving the way for both parties to improve their SME program offerings based on better understanding of the international market environment.  Approximately, 670,000 formal SME entrepreneurs in the Southern African Development Country (SADC) Region and 910,000 SME entrepreneurs in Malaysia are expected to benefit from this collaboration.

Dato’ Razman Mohd Noor, Chief Operating Officer, Operations & Group Corporate Management of SME Bank said, “Through this MoU, we are expecting both parties to facilitate active knowledge transfers and exchanging services and resources thus enabling SME entrepreneurs in both countries to explore the opportunities in going abroad.”

Under the experience and knowledge sharing thrust, both parties’ aims to share information on the developmental impact, business sustainability models and reporting, lending and equity investment policies and framework as well as other industry related best practices.  This will also help SMEs to understand the international market between Malaysia and Southern Africa and how they can effectively tap into these markets.

Besides focusing on the development of the SMEs, this MoU will also pave the way for SME Bank, CEDAR and CEDA to look into capacity building of the staff.  It is important to ensure the readiness and capability of the staff not only to enable them to provide the best services but also to equip the staff in due diligence and financing appraisal, deal structuring and monitoring of Debt and Equity portfolio.

CEDA was established to address the need for coherent and holistic support for the development of small, medium and large scale enterprises in the SADC Region.  The agency offers funding for capital expenditure, stock or working capital in new and existing business.

CEDAR, being an organization that provides developmental programmes for SMEs, offers various coaching and training programmes that are tailored to the needs of the businesses and previously had signed two bilateral Memorandums of Understanding.  As at to date, CEDAR has trained more than 31,000 entrepreneurs.

The MoU between CEDAR and CEDA was formalized and signed by Mohammad Husain Mohd Dawoed, Chief Operating Officer of CEDAR and Thabo Prince Thamane, Chief Executive Officer of CEDA.  Present as witness was Dato’ Razman Mohd Noor, the Chief Operating Officer, Operations & Group Corporate Management of SME Bank while CEDA were represented by Tirelo Leshetla, Director, Human Capital and Tiroyamodimo Kayawe, Head Projects and Product Development.