National Franchise Development Ecosystem centralised in MEDC

26 March 2024

By Nabalu News Journalist

KUALA LUMPUR: The National Franchise Development ecosystem is centralised in the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative (MEDC).

Its Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick said this centralisation will streamline the responsibilities of the MEDC, including the registration, development, and promotion of franchises both within and outside the country. Additionally, the ministry now oversees training programmes conducted by both the Franchise and PERNAS.

In his closing speech in Parliament yesterday, he elaborated that the Malaysia Franchise Association also acts as a stakeholder and is part of the franchise ecosystem. They will also implement part of these franchise programmes, especially for exhibitions and participation in franchise trade missions abroad.

They will also implement some of these franchise programmes, especially for exhibitions and participation in franchise trade missions abroad. Regarding the allocation of RM783,700 under B26, it is used to finance the relocation allowances of officers and staff involved in franchise registration and management that were previously under the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs. The purpose of this allocation is to transfer these tasks to the Ministry.

Meanwhile, on the allocation of RM2 million, under P26, he stated that these funds are used to implement four programmes, namely International Franchise Exhibitions, whether physical or online, business matching, reimbursement of export costs for intellectual property registration, franchise agreement costs abroad, and market research costs. These programmes also involve international training preparations.

While the current programmes, such as the Entrepreneur Training programme, mentoring initiatives, and capacity-building efforts for franchisee entrepreneurs nationwide, will be maintained by PERNAS, with additional programmes in place.

“Presently, we have the Business in Transformation programme, a pre-franchise scheme, a master franchisee scheme, and franchisor and franchisee financing options. These are among the existing programmes under PERNAS that will be executed this year,” he said.

It is essential that, following the assumption of this new responsibility, there should be some clarity, Ewon stressed adding that there is currently no franchise policy at the Ministry of Domestic Trade.

“Efforts are underway to develop this policy, with the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative working on our own policy. We will review the two drafts that have been prepared and are likely to launch them in the near future after necessary improvements.”

“I also appreciate the suggestion from esteemed members to provide their input in writing to the Ministry for consideration,” he stated.