KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 (Bernama) — Shapers Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the organiser of Halal Fiesta Malaysia (Halfest), will focus on business matching programmes for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at the fiesta in September next year.

Chief Executive Officer Mohd Shukri Abdullah said the company would invite leading retailing chains in Malaysia like Giant and Tesco to the yearly event to support the SMEs by buying their products.

“We don’t want the SMEs to just market their products in their hometowns or in their home states. Instead, we would like to see the products to be accessible in supermarkets nationwide,” Mohd Shukri told a media conference after announcing Halfest 2013 sales revenue.

He said that of the 53 per cent of SMEs that participated in the Halfest 2013 hosted in October, the company received RM13.7 million in sales revenue from some 200 SMEs out of the 500 that participated.

The exhibitors were dominated by food and beverages companies followed by cosmetics and healthcare and also Muslim clothing, he added.

Ahmad Shukri said the revenue recorded was slightly lower than the RM20 million in 2012 due to the change of location from the Putra World Trade Centre to the Mines Exhibition Centre in Seri Kembangan.

“We want to help minimise the traffic in town. Therefore we have shifted to another place, and we will continue to hold Halfest at the Mines,” he added.

He also said that for next year, the company will try to reach out to as many visitors as possible through social media and newspaper and television advertisements.

Halfest 2013 received 63,000 visitors compared to 67,000 visitors in 2012.

*This article was published by Bernama. Read the original article here.