The newly launched Heritage Valley Kuala Lumpur is a lifestyle destination every gentleman should visit

In the heart of Jalan Doraisamy, a once quiet stretch of Kuala Lumpur has found new purpose. Heritage Valley Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian Entrepreneur Hub (MEH) initiative by UDA Holdings Berhad, was officially launched this month, marking a rare instance where policy, capital and community converge on a single 1.71 acre site with clear intent: to give the city's small and micro entrepreneurs a place at the centre of the capital, not its margins.

The numbers speak plainly. Since August 2025, Heritage Valley has generated more than RM4.6 million in cumulative sales and reached over 500 entrepreneurs and vendors. Twenty six tenants now operate permanently across kiosks and retail lots, with early average monthly sales of RM8,000 to RM10,000 per vendor. By 2026, the hub aims to benefit more than 700 entrepreneurs, with fourteen additional pop up units bringing the total to forty lots and a combined annual sales target exceeding RM6.5 million.

But the figures, as UDA Group CEO Dato' Sri Ahmad Fuaad Kenali noted at the launch, are not really the point. Success here, he said, is measured less by occupancy and more by whether the space builds lasting opportunity and connects communities to businesses that can endure.

YB Steven Sim Chee Keong (centre), together with the guests of honour, cuts the cake to celebrate the official launch of Heritage Valley Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.

That philosophy found its clearest voice in Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives YB Steven Sim Chee Keong, who used the occasion to frame a national mission he has named Hebatkan Perniagaan Malaysia, "Make Malaysian Businesses Great." Reflecting on his earlier portfolio overseeing workers' welfare, the Minister spoke candidly about now turning his attention to the country's employers, its SMEs and its micro enterprises, the very people who create those jobs.

He pointed to precedents already reshaping Kuala Lumpur's urban fabric: The Campus in Ampang, APW in Bangsar, The Hub in Petaling Jaya, REXKL, and Zhongshan Building in Kampung Attap, spaces once abandoned or ageing, now reborn as lifestyle hubs where young Malaysians gather, build and trade. Heritage Valley, he said, joins that lineage, but with a deliberate policy hand behind it: keeping rental rates accessible even as the businesses within it are encouraged to grow. His own shorthand for the ambition drew warm laughter from the room: rents pegged to B40 affordability, ambitions pegged to T20 achievement.

L: YB Mr. Steven Sim Chee Keong engages warmly with visitors of Heritage Valley Kuala Lumpur during the site visit session.

R: YB Mr. Steven Sim Chee Keong (centre) visits one of the premises after officiating the Heritage Valley Kuala Lumpur launch ceremony.

The Minister was equally direct about scale. Under KUSKOP, RM15 billion has been earmarked for entrepreneurs nationwide this year, with RM9 billion already disbursed to nearly 250,000 recipients within the first seven months, more than RM3.4 billion of it reaching first time recipients of government funding. Recent Merdeka announcements added further support, including expanded fuel quotas, an additional RM1 billion in microcredit financing and RM200 million in equipment grants for small businesses.

For Heritage Valley itself, the vision extends well beyond its current footprint. The Minister confirmed plans to expand the model to more cities nationwide, in partnership with private operators such as Luxe Acre Sdn Bhd, which has already invested RM3.3 million alongside UDA's RM6.4 million in development cost. Sister projects are already active at Morten Walk in Melaka and Santai Camp in Johor Bahru, with new hubs under construction in Kimanis and Kundasang, Sabah. Across all MEH projects nationwide, more than 611 entrepreneurs and vendors have benefited to date, with combined sales surpassing RM7.75 million.

YB Mr. Steven Sim Chee Keong (fifth from right) poses for a commemorative photo with the top leadership of KUSKOP and its agencies. From left: YBrs. Ms. Siti Azlin Ahmad Dauta, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Co-operative Societies Commission; YBrs. Mr. Rizal Dato' Nainy, Chief Executive Officer, SME Corp Malaysia; YBrs. Tuan Haji Rahman Mohd Din, Deputy Secretary-General (Policy and Monitoring), KUSKOP; YBrs. Mr. Samad Majid Zain Abdul Majid, Chief Executive Officer, SME Bank; YBhg. Tan Sri Mohd Annuar Zaini, Chairman, UDA Holdings Berhad; YBhg. Dato' Sri Khairul Dzaimee, Secretary-General, KUSKOP; YBhg. Datuk Saidatu Akhma Hassan, Deputy Secretary-General (Entrepreneurship Development), KUSKOP; YBhg. Dato' Sri Ahmad Fuaad Kenali, Chief Executive Officer, UDA Holdings Berhad; and YBrs. Mr. Mohamad Shiblie Abg Sapuan, Chief Executive Officer, TEKUN Nasional.

What distinguishes Heritage Valley from a conventional retail development is its explicit civic intent. The Minister called for the hub to be used as a stage for regular programming, monthly events, cross agency activations, anything that draws footfall and gives the entrepreneurs within it a reason to be found. Since its soft opening, events such as Santai Maa, Secondlife Market, Slay Maa, Curators Lab and Kuala Lumpur Bike Week have already drawn more than 100,000 visitors to the site, evidence that culture and commerce, placed side by side, can lift each other.

For a publication built around the idea that character, not credentials, defines a gentleman, Heritage Valley offers a fitting case study in noblesse oblige at civic scale: a government agency and a private operator choosing to lower the barrier to the city centre rather than let it rise unchecked, so that the next generation of Malaysian entrepreneurs can build their names where the city can see them.