KUCHING – 20 members of Persatuan Usahawan Wawasan Wanita Sarawak (Saranita) recently joined a three-day upskilling programme organised by Swinburne and funded by Pelan Jana Semula Ekonomi Negara (PENJANA) Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF).
The programme is part of the HRDF new economic recovery initiative to enhance entrepreneurship skills and increase income in various industries by providing reskilling and upskilling trainings.
Saranita was established in 2010 with the objective is to assist Bumiputera women entrepreneurs to develop their business acumen and enhance their networking skills. All of the programme participants are budding entrepreneurs involved in providing various products and services such as handicrafts, healthcare, tailoring and catering.
During the three-day intensive training programme, the participants had the opportunity to learn how to start and manage a business, improve their business with innovative ideas, capture their potential customers, and use digital tools and social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp effectively to attract more customers. They were also trained to leverage on online marketplace platform Jana’preneur developed by the Human Resource Development Cooperation.
Overall, the participants were put through a series of knowledge workshop and technical tasks to achieve the programme’s objectives such as to generate and apply innovative ideas to improve their products, services and processes; to develop a business model to create value out of the new ideas generated; to plan and strategise their businesses in alignment with the digital marketing channel; to develop branding and content writing skills; as well as to establish and optimise their social media platforms to impress, inform and converting more prospects into customers.
Swinburne’s Professional Course Coordinator Dr Ling Chui Ching was pleased with the participants’ enthusiasm although the course was delivered online.
“The participants’ level of engagement was beyond our expectation. They asked many practical questions and completed their activities diligently. These women entrepreneurs were really in good spirit.
The course was tailored to suit the needs of these entrepreneurs. The committee members of Saranita had given a lot of input to ensure that the programme conducted specifically addressed the participants’ needs,” Dr Ling said.
Meanwhile, President of Saranita Puan Hajah Hairuni @ Jamilah Shukri commented that the programme was effective and suited the needs of the women entrepreneurs. She added that as many businesses are going digital in this day and age, these entrepreneurs cannot afford to be left out and conform to the old-fashioned ways of doing business.
In December last year, Swinburne conducted a similar event for 21 women entrepreneurs under the same PENJANA programme in collaboration with the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) Academy.
For more information about Swinburne Sarawak, visit its website www.swinburne.edu.my, Facebook page (@swinburnesarawak), Instagram (@swinburnesarawak), Twitter page (@Swinburne_Swk) or YouTube channel (Swinburne Sarawak).