He said Mara would introduce more special programmes focusing on improving the competency level (of graduates) that is required by the industries.

“Mara will support the industry players to improve their businesses, and in return, we also need the support of the industry players to enable us to provide the right human capital,” he told a press conference after attending a workshop on ‘oil and gas industry player collaborations with Mara’ at IKM Bintulu yesterday.

Thirty-five representatives from 29 oil and gas companies here attended the workshop.

Zulfikri is here for a three-day working visit to Sarawak. He will be in  Miri today (Dec 6), and in Limbang on Friday.

Sarawak Mara director Dr Azmi Amat Murjan, IKM Bintulu director Dr Mohd Nawawi Omar and representatives from the industry players were also present at the press conference.

“I am happy to meet our entrepreneurs in the oil and gas industry, and as you may know, Mara is providing a complete ecosystem to help the industry players,” he said.

The ecosystem is divided into three aspects – human capital,  business, and support facilities.

IKM Bintulu offers special training designed to support the oil and gas industry in Bintulu, and Mara is committed to help local entrepreneurs to develop and expand their businesses.

In the field of business, he said Mara provided numerous facilities to improve the business quality by providing grant to small companies in getting certified.

“For the support facilities, it is more to loans and Mara has the Express Contract Financing Scheme (SpiKE) especially for small entreprises,” he said.

Zulfikri added that Mara had disbursed about RM30 million to finance Sarawak entrepreneurs this year, compared to RM18 million last year.

“Mara is committed to work together with the industry players to assist their businesses and uplift the oil and gas industry in Malaysia to the next level.

“IKM Bintulu is the best avenue for them to get the right human capital for their operations,” he added.