KUALA LUMPUR – Aspiring entrepreneurs should think twice before pouring their savings into a business, Entrepreneurial Development and Cooperatives Minister Steven Sim has warned, saying having RM10,000 in hand does not automatically mean they are ready to become business owners.
Sim said those looking to start a business should first assess whether they had enough capital to sustain themselves while the business gets off the ground, rather than expecting immediate profits.
Speaking in the latest episode of Trik Lama, a podcast co-hosted by Big Boom Media Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Zainul Arifin, Group Editor-in-Chief Terence Fernandez and Group Executive Director Datuk “Rocky” Ahiruddin Attan, Sim said the low barrier to starting a business could sometimes encourage people to enter the market without adequate preparation.
“If you have RM10,000, maybe you take a step back for a while,” he said.
Sim stressed that his advice should not be interpreted as the government discouraging Malaysians from becoming entrepreneurs, but rather as a call for better planning before committing their savings.
“The threshold to start a business in Malaysia, let us be very frank, it is very easy. You go register a company, you’re a CEO.
“Sometimes the joke is that you put up a table in front of your house, you sell some kuih, you’re already a businessman. So the threshold of starting a business is very low.
“So everybody rushes into doing business. I think if you don’t have a sustainable plan, I always say the gold standard would be, you must make sure at least you have a year of capital.”
Sim said new entrepreneurs should consider whether they could survive for at least six months to a year without generating significant income from their businesses.
“You don’t expect today I start a shop, today I want profit, I make money. Because the imagination is that I put RM10,000, I open a shop, and immediately I make money within the first month.
“No. Sometimes you have to, even if you don’t make money, you have got your overheads. So one year, you might ask yourself, that’s my gold standard.
“One year or at least six months, can you sustain for six months if the money doesn’t come in yet? And then learn about the market, the competition.”
He cited the example of a young man who lost RM30,000 after investing in a cafe before eventually choosing to work as a barista to learn the trade from the ground up.
“I thought that was very wise of him,” Sim said.
“So when I say don’t go into business, what I mean is this, take a step back. My usual quote is that when everyone is busy rushing into something, the most revolutionary thing to do is not to do it.
“Take a step back, think about it, strategise. Otherwise you’re just going to burn your money.”
Sim stressed that the government was not discouraging entrepreneurship, pointing out that Malaysia had a wide range of financing and support programmes available to businesses.
“We are an enterprising nation, right? Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sabah, Sarawak, a lot of these enterprising people,” he said.
“And once you are ready, because the question is, when will you be ever ready? But when you are ready, the government is there.”
He said the government currently has more than 140 financing schemes available to entrepreneurs, while the Entrepreneurial Development and Cooperatives Ministry (KUSKOP) had allocated at least RM100 million this year to train 100,000 entrepreneurs.
“It’s not just about the money. Money is important, but it’s also about capacity building,” he said.
Sim said entrepreneurs also needed to strengthen their businesses so they could take advantage of financing and investment opportunities available in the market.
“I talk to a lot of private bankers. I talk to private equity guys. They said, ‘We want to invest. We want to put money aside. We want to give you financing.’
“But then, this business document is not there,” he said.
He also highlighted the challenges faced by family-owned SMEs, which make up a significant part of Malaysia’s business landscape.
“We have not looked enough into the strength of family-owned SMEs. There’s a lot in Malaysia.
“But then there are also gaps. ‘Oh, I want to invest. Potential.’
“But then the way the decision-making is made is at the dinner table — father, CEO; mother, CFO; son, COO,” he said.
Sim said the government’s strategy was ultimately focused on ensuring more resources reached businesses while making it easier and cheaper for them to operate.
“When I came in, one of the first things I did was to appeal to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and to the Finance Ministry to increase allocation for SMEs,” he said.
“As it is in the Budget 2026, SME allocation is already at its highest, RM50 billion. But within the last six months, the government has increased another RM10 billion, from RM50 billion to now RM60 billion.”
“There is money on the table. I think that if there’s a takeaway from what I’m doing this year, it’s more money on the table, more money in the market, higher efficiency, lower cost of doing business.
“These are the three broad directions that we are heading.” – August 18, 2026