| Syazwani Hj Rosli |
THE Deputy Minister of Finance, Dato Paduka Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, presided yesterday over the launching of ‘Kontena Park’ at the Anggerek Desa Technology Park (ADTP), in his capacity as the Deputy Chairman of DARe (Darussalam Enterprise).
With the aim of being an affordable venue for new start-ups, the Kontena Park features five container-style facilities that are currently housing up to seven businesses, complete with an alfresco seating area for diners.
In his welcoming remarks, Javed Ahmad, the Chief Executive Officer of DARe, expressed his appreciation to the Board members of DARe for providing the facilities as a start-up area for new local micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“In addition to providing them with the space, we at DARe want to be involved and see how we can help them grow their businesses, whether by participating in our capacity-building programmes or introducing them to the micro-financing scheme,” he said.
He added, “Over the next few months we will monitor the progress of our local vendors at the Kontena Park, to see what other initiatives need to be developed to help them grow. This will help us understand the landscape of what our local MSMEs need.”
Dato Paduka Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Finance and Deputy Chairman of DARe with Javed Ahmad, Chief Executive Officer of DARe during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. – PHOTOS: BAHYIAH BAKIR
The Deputy Minister of Finance sampling Hybrid BN’s freshly brewed coffee
Under the names of Hybrid BN, Chef Kebab, Bigboi’s Grill, Kyna BN, Butik Delima, Suraya House of Hijab and Ana Memento, the seven vendors comprise four entrepreneurs peddling foodstuff such as coffee, ice-cream, burgers and grilled meat; and three retailers selling their own brand of apparels.
Norhafizah binti Haji Rashid, the appointed Kontena Park operator and founder of Big BWN Cookout, told the Weekend Bulletin, “The facility, being the first of its kind in the country, is expected to become a popular place for locals, where customers can enjoy a variety of local products in one place.
“Over the next few months, we will be looking at organising networking and promotional activities focused on creating more opportunities for local MSMEs.”
The launching event concluded with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was followed by a food-sampling session and a short tour of the facilities.
Among the event attendees were members of the DARe Board, along with its heads of departments.
The Kontena Park is located at Simpang 32-37, in Kampong Anggerek Desa, next to the multi-storey car park behind the iCentre.
The operational hours during the month of Ramadhan, will be from 10am to 6pm for retail vendors and 9pm to 1am for food vendors.
After Ramadhan, the Kontena Park will operate from 7am to 10pm, with a break from noon to 2pm on Fridays.
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