KOTA KINABALU: Entrepreneurs in Sabah, especially those who have just ‘scored’ their first contract must resist the temptation to show off and become extravagant.Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said they should instead reinvest the mobilisation fee or initial payment into their company so that they could improve and expand.

Masidi said he had come across many entrepreneurs and contractors who would splurge soon after receiving their initial payment.

“They would buy luxurious vehicles such as four-wheel- drives, go on long holidays abroad and generally splurge the money received when they could have instead used it to pay off their suppliers, workers or sub-contractors etc,” he said when officiating at the ‘Tunas Mekar’ programme organised by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and the Sabah Federal Development Office Thursday.

By doing so, he said, they would not be in debt when business was not good.

He said it was time for them to change their attitude.

Masidi advised the 14 UiTM graduates who were participating in the programme to fight the temptation to be extravagant and to show off before they became successful.

“Be thrifty and with self-discipline, you will succeed,” the minister said.

He also reminded the participants not to get involved in any ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme because it would only lead to their downfall.

“Start from the bottom and you will not go wrong,” Masidi said.

According to him, a recent study showed that UiTM’s graduates were always in demand and most would not have to wait more than six months after graduation to get a job.

“In fact engineers who graduated from UiTM are the most sought after people and some are even booked before graduation,” he said.

The ‘Tunas Mekar’ programme, which was launched in 2005, is a mentoring programme between university graduates and entrepreneurs who will assist the former to set up a business in the small and medium industry.

This year, the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) under the Prime Minister’s Department was allocated RM7 million through the Second Stimulus Package to undertake the ‘Tunas Mekar’ programme.

Participants under the programme will learn from their one-year practical with their mentors and use the experience to establish their own business.

The 14 graduates, the first in Sabah to take up the ‘Tunas Mekar’ programme, receive a monthly allowance during the one-year stint.