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Box 4.4 Going Export (GoEx) programme, Malaysia
Malaysia's Going Export (GoEx) programme is part of the Small Medium Enterprises (SME) Master
Plan 2012-2020, intended to drive SMEs to the next level of growth through higher productivity and
innovation. Go Ex will build on existing initiatives to provide end-to-end export facilitation through
structured planning and technical advisory. The programme aims to build over time a pool of
practitioner experts who can help provide value-added services for exporters.
The Programme will be in the form of a matching grant to assist export-ready SMEs to venture abroad.
The grant will finance the development and execution of an export sales plan (ESP) that is co-created
with the help of practitioner experts. The matching grant on a reimbursement basis is only provided
when the SME is at the last steps on the ESP. This will ensure only genuine SMEs that are serious to
export will participate in the programme.
The assistance will include:
• Customised assistance on steps to export provided by practitioner experts;
• Facilitate access to market intelligence on details on the targeted market by linking to experts;
• Link exporters with potential overseas forums and customers; and
• Advisory to identify quality requirements and alignment with any Mutual Recognition
This Programme will be temporary, until such time when a pool of capable local private service
providers or practitioner experts is developed. The Government will gradually phase out the financing
aspect while maintaining the soft-support aspect, making this an exemplary of public-private
partnership model. The programme is also expected to increase the number of SME exporters in the
country and to raise their contribution of total exports from 19% currently to 25% by 2020 (APEC
average: 30% of exports).
Source: Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia.
4.2.3.2 Skills development
Access to information may not by itself translate into real commercial opportunities, if entrepreneurs
and SME managers lack the capacity to elaborate this information strategically, build on it to develop
competitive products or services and elaborate sustainable export business strategies.