PNB: Enhancing the potential of small businesses through franchising

Helping to grow and expand the businesses of the more than 500,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia is a tall order, let alone the limited funding support from financial institutions because of their limited capacity to meet the set banking criteria.

Realizing the potential of SMEs in the overall economic and social development of the country, the Perbadanan National Berhad (PNB) has embarked on a program called “Business in Transformation” (BIT) in 2013. The overall objective of BIT is to identify potential small trade businesses and assist them in modernizing their business by upgrading them in terms of image, presentation and standard of service so that they remain competitive.

It is the aspiration of the program to create a better way for small traders to offer their services and products; assist current small scale business operators and transform them through modern business concept via franchising; enable small scale business operators to be more competitive; enable them to generate higher income via more efficient business models; and opening up opportunities and inclusiveness of a more affordable franchise like business concepts while increasing the earnings of the low income earners.

BIT also provides training and consultancy programs to pre-franchisors who will be guided to prepare brief S.O.P., training manuals, pre-franchise agreement related to the business and IP of the whole business system towards franchising; training will be provided to pre-franchisor to improve franchise knowledge, branding, marketing, accounting, human resources, operations; monitoring performance of the pre-franchisor and pre-franchisee; constant guidance and assistance to expand the business; continues coaching and advisory to the pre-franchisor; consultants will evaluate the progress and provide recommendations for the future development of the pre-franchisor; and those qualified will be incubated under the PPFT (Pembangunan Produk Francais Tempatan), DBPF (Dana Bantuan Pembangunan Francais) or own funding to register at ROF as franchisor.

Since the inception of this program, PNS has already enrolled 62 companies into the program, creating 946 new entrepreneurs under them with over 2,000 employees through pre-franchisee business opportunities offered by the pre-franchisor.

PNS’ BIT program won the 2016 ADFIAP Outstanding Development Project Awards under the SME Development Category.