Photo shows a Facebook page, set up by the winning group of the ‘Branding and Innovation Challenge’ run during the training jointly run by Swinburne Sarawak and MEF Academy.
KUCHING: Swinburne Institute of Technology Sarawak Campus, in collaboration with the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) Academy, recently conducted a three-day training session for 21 women entrepreneurs from diverse business sectors.
The training, under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) programme, aimed to help the women entrepreneurs ‘sharpen up’ their business models and align their brands with the targeted markets. In this regard, they established their social media presence and used digital tools to extend their market reach via social media platforms.
According to Swinburne Sarawak’s lecturer in entrepreneurship and programme trainer Gabriel Wee, in Malaysia, about 20 per cent of over 650,000 registered entrepreneurs comprise women. Noting quite many of them were successful in their respective businesses, he said their actual potential remained fully untapped.
“However, with the right skills and knowledge, women entrepreneurs can create, expand and sustain their entrepreneurial activities.
“Some researches have suggested that women can fuel Asia’s growth in post-Covid economy.
“Unfortunately, women are more likely than men to lose their jobs at the lower end of the market due to the mostly service-based nature of their work. Some have begun to venture into entrepreneurship to replace their lost incomes.
“It is our hope that the skills and knowledge picked up from the training would better prepare them for the workforce should they wish to return,” said Wee.
Meanwhile, Swinburne executive courses director and coordinator of the training programme Dr Ling Chui Ching said the joint organisers were pleased to be able to conduct the training after it had to be put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that all sessions were run with strict adherence to the set standard operating procedures (SOP).
“We received a lot of assistance from the Women and Family Department of Sarawak as they were keen to empower our women to excel in their enterprise,” said Ling.
The university would be conducting another two rounds of the training next year – namely in January and February.
For more details, send emails to Ling via ccling@swinburne.edu.my.
For more information about Swinburne Sarawak, go to www.swinburne.edu.my or its Facebook page (@swinburnesarawak), Instagram (@swinburnesarawak), Twitter (@Swinburne_Swk) or YouTube channel (Swinburne Sarawak).
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