The current COVID-19 outbreak and the Movement Control order have affected many small businesses in Malaysia. According to Axiata, most micro-SMEs fall mostly within the B40 segment of society and they will face mounting difficulties to keep their business going. Axiata Group Berhad together with its subsidiaries Celcom, Edotco and Axiata Digital have announced a RM150 million cash fund to provide financial assistance to micro-SMEs. This includes the initial contribution of RM20 million from the Ministry of Finance.
Axiata will offer Shariah-compliant micro-financing through Axiata Digital’s Aspirasi platform. Micro-SMEs can apply between RM1,000 to RM10,000 with a monthly interest rate as low as 0.5%. There’s no repayment required for the first 6 months in line with Bank Negara Malaysia’s recently announced moratorium.
The application process is done through Aspirasi’s online platform and micro-SMEs will only need to go through a quick 3-minute application process. If the financing is approved, the funds will be released to their bank accounts in 48 hours. Axiata says this helps to ease applications during the MCO and to ensure that funds can be given quickly and efficiently to businesses in need with minimal human intervention.
Axiata believes that this will benefit an estimated 150,000 micro-SMEs within the Boost, Aspirasi and Celcom ecosystem as well as other ecosystems such as eCommerce and FMCG partners as well as users from other telcos and eWallets.
According to their Aspirasi Assist page, applicants must be a Malaysian aged 18 and above, who is also a registered merchant on the Boost platform, own a Syariah compliant business and have a healthy credit score.
If you’re interested to apply, just head to aspirasi.co.
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