Based on the feedback he has received, Siambun said many Sabahans aged between 42 and 50 are eager to venture into small business despite currently having a full-time job.
“Some of them have been working between 20 and 25 years with a company and while they do enjoy the annual salary increment, they worry about how they are going to face another 25 years during retirement because they have no other skills or knowledge apart from what they do now,” Siambun said in a statement.
“Some of them are facing stress perhaps because of new and young management who are perhaps a little more aggressive and many of these employees are ready to move on but they have no where to go nor possess other skills.”
Siambun, who is also Moyog assemblyman, said the economy is always about innovation and being aggressive.
The government, Siambun said, should prepare these mature employees towards becoming their own boss.
“For a start, the government should be aware that this pool of workers is the most important human capital asset for the state.
“Normally, those aged between 40 and 50 would display certain prudent entrepreneurship traits,” he said, suggesting a new body set up by the government could guide them and provide skills training to start various types of small business.
“The opportunities are practically endless in areas such as food, agriculture, poultry, construction and many more”.
The opposition assemblyman also suggested the government help with financing for these group of entrepreneur hopefuls.
“Depending on the knowledge, passion, ability to repay and commitment on the part of the participants, the body could also grant microcredit between RM3,000 and RM10,000 to kick start their small business projects which must be repaid within a certain time period,” Siambun said.
“After fully repaying the initial microcredit, the government can then opt to give further credit to the participants who can prove sound knowledge of their business and markets.”
Siambun believed having such a scheme could significantly create a large pool of entrepreneurs especially among the indigenous people in Sabah, while providing more jobs in the state.
“Some of these participants will consider going full-time in their new small business ventures and resign from their current jobs, which in turn will create openings to be filled by a younger workforce.
“And if these participants are successful in their venture, their business will grow larger and they will in turn provide more employment to Sabahans.”
This plan, according to Siambun, could also provide a safety net for many Sabahans who are exposed to voluntary separation schemes and retrenchment.
“We have seen how many Sabahans are being retrenched from Malaysia Airports Berhad, Yayasan Sabah’s subsidiaries, Sabah Forest Sdn Bhd and even banks. They are then left to their own devices despite having been in these organisations for more than 10 years,” he said.
“Preemptive measures to secure their interest will be easy, cheap and profitable to the state.”
Siambun believes such a plan will not affect the performance of the participants at their current workplace.
“The idea is to nurture and assist this pool of employees to start their own small business from scratch and not to push them into the business world immediately,” he said.
“It may take the participants at least two to three years to fully understand their business and only then, they should contemplate going full-time.
“But whatever it is, we should prioritise this group because their success rate would be higher,” he said.