Mobilepreneur@KKLW programme can be expensive failure

Mobilepreneur@KKLW  programme can be expensive failure

It maybe very exciting for some people that something is positively done for the young people or youth in Sabah as the Ministry of Rural and Regional Development (KKLW) has allocated 291 motorcycles for young entrepreneurs in Sabah for its Mobile Entrepreneur Programme (Mobilepreneur@KKLW) under Budget 2017 as per news on February 14, 2018.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, said 155 units of the motorcycle was provided through Giatmara while the remaining 136 units by Felcra Training and Consultancy.

The Mobilepreneur@KKLW programme is an initiative to assist young people from rural areas to start their own business with minimal capital without having to set up or rent a business premises.

Ismail Sabri said Mobilepreneur@KKLW began in 2016 when the Rural Transformation Programme was launched.

The Sabah sector was launched by the Chief Minister of Sabah in the presence of the Minister Ismail Sabri in Kota Kinabalu.

The news further added that Ismail Sabri said the cost of assisting these young entrepreneurs were RM10,000 per person, which included RM5,000 for the motorcycle, RM4,000 for equipment and RM1,000 for training.

He added that the recipients would be monitored for six months where they would undergo training in financial and administrative management to ensure their business run smoothly.

He said the recipients provided services such as electrical, automotive and air-conditioning repairs, tailoring or beauty services.

We are not told if these selected youth were already successful in the said businesses as identified.

I only wish that these youths would have greater success stories to tell soon in their respective fields especially in the rural area.

I am wondering why they are only provided with motor cycles and not some pickup trucks although we have some very bad patches of rural roads in the hinterland of Sabah but not so bad in most rural towns.  

Some of such services would require to bring some ladders along to perform their services.  How would motor cycles do that without endangering the youth? Maybe there are now collapsible reliable heavy duty ladders? Some of such services also require helper/ assistant. Hence additional costs of operation would be needed at the start.

Without proper equipping, how would paying customers be well serviced?

Also I wish the youth well in their performance without mentoring of senior skilled masters. 

I am also wondering how would such youthful entrepreneurs be generating adequate business from day 1 they go out to the rural areas ?  There appears to be no allocation of mobilisation funds to implement their projects with some fixed or varying overheads like fuels and other travel expenditure?

I also hope there is no overlooked scenario in their effort to achieve entrepreneurship that there can be unsuspecting or unexpected setbacks like what I was told when I was with the Consumers Association of Sabah or better known as CASH as deputy president for a few years.

I had received verbal reports that some technicians/mechanics also a self employed in the motor trades in Kota Kinabalu that some of them could strip part of the cars engines (maybe new to them) and unable to fit them back after socalled “repair”.  There was no mentor to come to their aid in such situations and someone else had to fix it later. What would happen in a rural setting if such things do happen?  Would the consumers be badly short changed ?

Another regular situation is that some technicians in well dressed in certain company’s working uniform would come to some homes in Kota Kinabalu to claim that they can check the home gas facilities for FOC.  If the homes allow them to come in in good faith, they may come in to strip the gas equipment and leave them stripped.  Then such “persons” would demand a fee to return them to the original condition. Would the home owners oblige without complaint in situ?

Life cannot be all rosy and a few “rotten” apples can spoil the system no matter how good was the intention to start with.  Can this happen to Mobilepreneur@KKLW  programme?

No haste in view of General Elections 2018/ GE14?   Hopefully not another “scam” in the pipeline for such national expenditure?

Any failure for whatever reasons would be good lessons for all to learn (not first and last time) but we would be in better ground to be prepared with suitable back up or support services to avoid any disaster for Mobilepreneur@KKLW  programme as it is too expensive to fail. 

Joshua Y C Kong 21/2/2018