Speaker: YB Senator Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, Finance Minister II
Location: Securities Commission Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Delivered: 16 March 2026
Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Mohammad Faiz Azmi, Chairman, Securities Commission Malaysia,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh and Salam Malaysia MADANI.
I want to begin with a number that does not often make the headlines. Eighty-nine percent. That is the share of MyCIF investments in 2025 that went to micro and small businesses.
These are the social enterprises scaling solutions for underserved communities, the agritech founders piloting innovations in our agricultural heartlands, and the entrepreneurs building digital businesses from every corner of Malaysia. They are the people this programme was designed to reach, and it is reaching them.
We talk often about Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) as the backbone of our economy, and the numbers confirm it. They employ nearly half our workforce. They contribute close to 40 percent of GDP. But what makes MSMEs truly important is something more personal than any statistic.
Behind every MSME is a family that has put its savings, its time, and its hopes into something they believe in. Our job in government is to make sure they are not alone in that journey.
That is precisely what MyCIF was built to do. Since its launch in 2019, this fund has operated on a principle I believe deeply in: The government should invest with the rakyat, not just for them.
Many of you in this room know exactly how MyCIF works because you are the ones making it work. The platform operators, the investors, the fund managers. You understand the model: the crowd puts their money behind a business, the government matches that confidence, and when returns come in, they are reinvested into other MSMEs. It is a cycle that sustains itself.
The results speak for themselves. This model stretches government resources further than traditional grants ever could, with built-in market accountability at every stage. And importantly, private investors, many of them ordinary Malaysians, get to be part of the MSME growth journey themselves.
When the rakyat leads and the government backs them, public money works harder, reaches further, and delivers more.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to share that the government will allocate an additional RM20 million to MyCIF, on top of the RM30 million announced in Budget 2026, bringing the total allocation this year to RM50 million. This reflects our confidence in the model and our commitment to scaling what has proven effective.
That additional investment allows us to do more. We are expanding MyCIF to address challenges that are already shaping our future. With the launch of the new Silver Economy Scheme, we will direct investments into MSMEs developing services and innovative solutions for an ageing population, from remote elderly care to assisted living to retirement planning.
Malaysia’s demographic transition is well underway, and I want our entrepreneurs to lead the way in building the care, health, and lifestyle solutions that our senior citizens will need.
We are also expanding the Food Security Scheme to support agritech startups, whether in precision farming, sustainable aquaculture, or supply chain technology. Food security is national security, and the entrepreneurs working on this deserve our full backing.
We are also introducing a profit-sharing arrangement to bring venture capital and private equity-led deals onto ECF platforms. This is a significant structural shift. Professionally sourced and vetted deals will now be accessible to a much wider pool of investors. Gobi Partners and OSK Ventures have committed to partner ECF platforms this year, and I encourage other fund managers in this room to explore similar partnerships. We are widening the circle of opportunity so that more Malaysians can share in the upside of our growth story.
Ladies and gentlemen,
One of the hardest truths in enterprise development is what many call the Valley of Death: the stage where early funding runs out before a business can sustain itself. Many promising Malaysian companies have stalled at this point, not for lack of talent or ambition, but because the bridge to the next round of capital simply did not exist.
MyCIF has now partnered with GEAR-uP to build that bridge. Through this collaboration, MyCIF investees gain a clearer pathway to follow-on funding from venture capital and private equity under Government-Linked Investment Company programmes, including Jelawang Capital and Dana Perintis.
By facilitating these vital follow-on investments, we ensure that national funds are deployed effectively to nurture companies through their most vulnerable stage. We want to build a seamless growth pipeline from first funding all the way to regional and global competitiveness.
This model is gaining traction beyond MyCIF itself. The co-investment approach has already been adopted for the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 Strategic Co-Investment Fund (NIMP CoSIF), and I am encouraged to see other ministries now exploring similar structures for their own priority areas. When a model works, it should be replicated and scaled.
MyCIF does not operate in isolation. Under the Fourth MADANI Budget, the government has committed RM50 billion in loan and guarantee facilities for 2026 to support local entrepreneurs, including RM2.5 billion to TEKUN and Bank Simpanan Nasional for microfinancing.
We have introduced a 50 percent additional tax deduction for AI and cybersecurity training, because our MSMEs must be equipped to compete in a digital-first world. And through initiatives such as the Green Investment Tax Allowance and targeted grants, we are supporting the green transition that global supply chains increasingly demand.
MyCIF sits within this broader architecture as a critical enabler, connecting early-stage enterprises to capital, to markets, and ultimately to their full potential. And it works because of the ecosystem in this room: the platforms, the investors, the agencies, and the companies who turn policy into real outcomes for real businesses.
As more of these companies mature, it is equally important that they continue to access capital for their next stage of growth.
With that in mind, I am pleased to announce that the Securities Commission Malaysia together with Bursa Malaysia is strengthening the LEAP Market value proposition. By facilitating the transition of Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) companies with a proven fundraising track record towards a LEAP listing, it will not only enhance their visibility but provide a seamless pathway between the private and public markets.
In addition, the SC will also streamline the transfer from the LEAP Market to the ACE Market by removing the exit offer requirement, thereby providing greater certainty and reducing costs. Ultimately, this will strengthen the overall funding escalator by positioning ECF as a stepping stone for MSMEs before progressing to a public listing. This key initiative is expected to be implemented by the second half of this year.
I have always believed that the best measure of a country’s economic policy is whether it reaches the people who need it most. Announcements from Putrajaya mean very little if they do not translate into capital in the hands of a first-time founder or working capital for a family business looking to go digital. That is the test we must hold ourselves to, and that is the test MyCIF continues to pass.
The strength of MyCIF is that it trusts Malaysians to identify good ideas, and then ensures public resources are there to support them. That is how you build a resilient economy: by standing alongside the people who are building it every day.
It is my great pleasure to officially open the MyCIF Engagement Day.
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) was established on 1 March 1993 under the Securities Commission Act 1993 (SCA). We are a self-funded statutory body entrusted with the responsibility to regulate and develop the Malaysian capital market.
