KUCHING, Feb 19 — A total of 1,850 participants have attended the ‘Bangkit@KPWKM MyKasih Kapital’ since its launching in the state by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development Ministry (KPWKM).

Its minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the programme has reached its target audience with about 1,000 women participants from Kuching and another 850 women from Sibu and Miri.

"This programme is inspired to bring women to rise from difficulties by generating income through entrepreneurship,” she said at the launching of the ‘Keusahawanan Wanita Bangkit@KPWKM’ for Kuching City women entrepreneurs at Dewan Majma’ Tunku Abd Halim Muadzam Shah here yesterday.

"The programme provides incentives to women to start generating income with small capital in the field of e-commerce and small business that are not included under the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Cooperative Development (Kuskop), Tekun and Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (Aim).

"I would like to call on the participants of this programme to help other women, perhaps by providing job opportunities or by sharing knowledge with one another,” Nancy said.

Adding on, she remarked that a total of 16,620 women have benefited from the help of ‘MyKasih Kapital’ and run their businesses since it was first launched.

She also disclosed that the same programme will be conducted for the Dayak women before the celebration of Gawai Dayak this year.

Nancy, who is also the chairperson of Yayasan Kebajikan Negara (YKN), said the ‘WanitaBangkit@KPWKM’ initiative aims to empower women across the country, especially women who have lost their income and are the main breadwinners or single mothers, to become financially independent.

"This initiative is also implemented using the approach of guidance and counselling, as well as psychoeducation from the Registered Counsellor of the Local Social Support Centre for women to be resilient and to start a new life due to loss of income due to the effects of Covid-19 pandemic, divorce, physical or emotional abuse and increased cost of living.

"In addition, the main purpose of mentoring through YKN is to empower the economy of target groups, especially women, by optimising the potential of individuals based on their skills so that they do not continue to depend entirely on government assistance,” she said.

‘Bangkit@KPWKM MyKasih Kapital’ Women’s Entrepreneurship program is a pilot program for women who want to start generating income through small businesses from home or e-commerce.

Participants will be monitored by YKN for six months and business development will be assessed for the appropriate participants referred to relevant government agencies such as Institut Keusahawanan Negara Berhad (Insken), Tekun, Aim and others, to get help with entrepreneurial schemes to expand their business market.

"These initiatives are in line with Unity government’s Madani Malaysia concept inspired by the Prime Minister to ensure that target groups, especially women, are not marginalised in the current national economic development.

"Participants who followed the course and received business capital assistance from MyKasih Kapital have started small businesses such as selling cooked food, frozen food, selling beauty products, clothes and some of them started businesses by becoming dropship agents and only need to work from home.

"Out of 14,770 participants, 90 per cent have increased their income from RM500 to RM1,000 per month, while 10 per cent have had an increase of up to RM3,000 per month,” Nancy said, based on the monitoring conducted by her ministry after six months of its launching.

After ‘Bangkit@KPWKM MyKasih Kapital’ Women’s Entrepreneurship programme in Sarawak, Nancy’s next state to promote this initiative will be Selangor.

Also present at the event were Deputy Minister for Utilities and Communications Datuk Abdul Rahman Junaidi; KPWKM secretary general Datuk Maziah Che Yusof; and YKN chief executive officer Nordina Haron. — Borneo Post