Support women entrepreneurs through Budget 2027 by helping businesses raise production and reach more customers, a Malaysian association has urged. Persatuan Usahawan Wawasan Wanita Malaysia honorary advisor Datin Dr Hartini Osman said financing, training and business development assistance should help women move beyond keeping operations afloat.
Hartini told Bernama that effective support should let businesses increase output and seek buyers locally and across ASEAN. She illustrated the goal with an entrepreneur who packs 100 products manually each day and could reach 1,000 packs daily with suitable assistance. The Budget 2027 recommendations call for support tied to business growth.
Support Women Entrepreneurs With Room to Grow
Hartini described the desired movement as “the survival to scale-up.” Her example focused on production capacity: assistance should help an entrepreneur move from manual packing of 100 products a day to output of 1,000 packs daily.
She said support should span financing, leadership development, entrepreneurship training and business development. Wider market access also matters, she said, because businesses need opportunities to sell beyond Malaysia. The aim she described includes reaching ASEAN markets.
That combination links skills and funding with the practical ability to produce and sell more. It also puts market access alongside production capacity in assessing whether a business can expand. Hartini’s recommendations place those needs within a broader discussion about skills beyond grants for women entrepreneurs. Related coverage has also examined financing support for Afghan women entrepreneurs.
Review Existing Assistance and Reach More Women
Budget 2027 includes RM1 million for the Kasih Ibu Tunggal programme, also called KasihnITa, to empower single mothers toward greater wellbeing and independence. The KIRANA programme, whose full name is Program Kemahiran Penjanaan Pendapatan, provides training, equipment grants and digital marketing guidance.
Hartini said agencies should assess the progress of people already receiving assistance, particularly single mothers, and identify what could strengthen or expand their businesses. She framed the review around whether recipients had managed to survive in business and what they needed to improve it.
She also called for closer coordination among agencies that support women, especially single mothers. Reviewing programmes together, she said, could help agencies avoid overlapping assistance and identify needs at different stages of business development. Hartini said the focus should include people who had not yet had a chance to benefit.
The approach connects programme reviews with decisions about who remains unreached and what kind of help fits each business stage. Grit Daily has also covered a support ecosystem for women business owners, a separate example of assistance beyond an initial grant.
Coordinate Skills, Funding and Market Access
Hartini highlighted cooperation between government agencies and non-governmental organisations as part of economic empowerment programmes. She urged government bodies to engage openly with entrepreneurs and organisations to understand their challenges and work on practical solutions.
She said NGOs should focus on their respective strengths, while government support helps build their capacity to assist entrepreneurs. Her comments called for collaboration while recognizing that public agencies and nonprofit groups have different roles.
Hartini, who is also G100 global president for 2026, expressed hope that support covering financing, skills development, business expansion and market access would help more women progress from local to global markets. The next step she outlined is to coordinate existing assistance, identify entrepreneurs who remain unreached and connect business needs with support that can expand production and sales.
