Initiated in 2018, Sarawak Women Aspiration Group (SWAG) is a collaborative project between Sarawak Women and Family Department (JWKS) and Building Connections for Enterprising Women Research group from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus.
Created to connect and support the aspirations of women in Sarawak through entrepreneurship, the project focuses on recognising the contributions of enterprising women towards women empowerment, as well as the overall well-being of households and communities in the State.
Since its implementation, several round-tables, workshops and training programmes were organised to encourage and improve coordination and relevance of community and institutional support for enterprising women to accelerate and sustain entrepreneurial start-ups and scale-ups in Sarawak.
SWAG also received an allocation of RM15 million from the Sarawak Government to set up and manage a one-stop centre in Samarahan which would become an incubator that provided various forms of facilities for women to develop their entrepreneurial skills.
These included skills in finance, accounting, marketing and product development that would enable aspiring women entrepreneurs to offer products and services of international standards.
In line with Sarawak’s digital economy agenda, these women are also trained in information technology (IT) to have the knowledge and skills in developing their own business websites.
Through this centre, the Government, through the Ministry of Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family and Childhood Development (KWKPK) hoped to achieve its objective of enabling women to increase their own and their family’s income.
A Key in the Overall Socio-Economic Development Agenda
Empowering women to be involved in economic activities, by using technology, is a means to allow them to play their part in advancing Sarawak’s socio-economic development.
“Economic activities are not confined to Sarawak market but beyond Sarawak’s shores. As such, we are now in the process of transforming our economy based on technology so that more women can take part in it,” said Chief Minister YAB Datuk Patinggi Dr Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg during the launch of Sarawak Women X Global Innovative Entrepreneurship in Kuching in March 2020.
“I believe our women and Sarawakians as a whole have the capacity to enable them to involve themselves in economic activities based on technology,” he added.
He believed that online businesses based on technology could transform the future of women, and therefore gave his assurance that the State Government is prepared to train them in the use of the latest technology such as artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
There have been major efforts by the Government through KWKPK to assist Sarawakian women to gain empowerment and improve their socio-economic status through entrepreneurship.
Among which is the setting up of Wisma Wanita Training Centre (WWTC) by the ministry through JWKS in 2014, which has since trained over 13,000 participants in courses such as Creative Sewing, Beauty and Spa, and Cooking.
In 2019, the Government approved an increase in the grant for training women entrepreneurs to RM2 million from RM1 million to support more enterprising women.
Additionally, to ensure that women entrepreneurs can grow their online business, JWKS launched ePreneurs, an economic mobile application under the department’s E-Wanita website.
A digital initiative by Sarawak Multimedia Authority and powered and designed by SOCOE Sdn Bhd, ePreneurs aims to become a hub for registered JWKS entrepreneurs to sell their products and services online.
First featured in RAKAN Sarawak July-September 2020 printed issue
