PENAMPANG: Sabah Credit Corporation (SCC) held a casual evening dialogue session with members of the Sabah Young Business & Industry Leaders Association (SYBIL) in Donggongon on Wednesday.
The event was a courtesy visit organized by SCC to introduce the 13 SYBIL members present.
Each member is a business owner or professional from various industries in Sabah.
The SYBIL delegation was led by its Treasurer, Kevin Lee, along with President Ar. James Wong, Vice President Datuk Roger Chin, and other association executive committee members.
Also present were SCC Chairman Datuk Seri Yee Moh Chai, SEAC Members Datuk John Lo and Siaw Kok Chee, Financial Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sabah.
Chief Executive Officer of SCC, George Taitim, drew the attention of business associations to the strengths and weaknesses of the current financial situation in Sabah, and how SCC plays its role as a state financial institution in providing financial services to the Sabah community.
“SCC is quite unique in the sense that we are not under BAFIA, but exist under state control to provide financial assistance services to the people of Sabah as a financial institution, but this does not mean that we do not have strict regulatory compliance,” said George in a statement today.
The Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 (BAFIA) is a governing act that covers the laws and regulations of all institutions involved in banking and financial services in Malaysia.
Some unique factors of SCC are that they are the only financial institution in Sabah that can take Native Title (NT) land as collateral for financing, something that other financial institutions like banks are unable to do.
Meanwhile, Kevin Lee from SYBIL also briefed SCC and other guests on the food safety agenda undertaken by SYBIL involving SYBIL’s cooperation with the Biotechnology Department of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
He said several programs including the Black Soldier Fly Breeding Program, Tissue Culture Development & Cold Chain Distribution Programs would help enhance Sabah’s food safety sector, improve industry efficiency, and provide new sources of income from R&D development.
“SYBIL and SCC can also address the financial support issues faced by many in the start-up community in Sabah, acknowledging the lack of financial institutions that provide support impacting new and emerging industries such as start-up companies, and for those in rural communities,” he said.
The dialogue resulted in collaboration opportunities for SCC and SYBIL to consider cooperation in developing existing financing schemes by SCC for start-up companies in Sabah, besides SYBIL working with SCC to expand its business network towards financial schemes under SCC.
SCC has implemented programs for Sabah start-up companies with a financing group of RM8 million, and promises a maximum of RM50,000 for each applicant to receive financial assistance in loans for use by new companies under the program.
