Bid to create Sabah young women millionaires

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Women's Advisory Council (MPWS) plans to create two to three millionaires among 18 to 35 year-old women entrepreneurs by 2021.

MPWS chairperson Datuk Dr Tarsiah T Z Taman said more than 200 women had applied and 40 had been selected to be part of its pilot iconic project, Creating Millionaires Among Women Entrepreneurs (CreaM@YWE).

She said these game changers or CreaMers would be groomed to reach a RM1 million business sales turnover by at least tapping into some 60 billion consumers in the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

Tarsiah added that by turning job seekers into job creators, this will help address unemployment issues and retain talents among millennials in Sabah.

"Now in Sabah it is so hard to find a job. You have to wait for a death to occur or retirement," she said in jest.

The 2017 retired Dr Tarsiah, formerly KKIP Sdn Bhd CEO, pointed out that KKIP itself had a target of 20,000 jobs by 2020 but so far 7,000 had been created as the industry had not expanded that much in Sabah.

"Job creation is so minimal; we do not have MNCs (multi-national companies) in Sabah. Foreign investment is very limited. If there are some coming in, they create labour and construction jobs at the junior level, among others," she said.

"The millennials, they are the ones who become the game changers. We depend on you guys to become the game changers.

"We have about 40 already selected. We are issuing our letters of appointment because we want them to be full time (participants of CreaM@YWE)," added Tarsiah.

The MPWS chairperson said the iconic project, officially launched by Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman on September 23 last year, would develop entrepreneurs in the micro enterprises to at least small and medium enterprises.

She said the module, focused on project sustainability, is expected to be finalized by February 22 and roll out by March, 2018.

For the first intake, women are selected mostly from the Kota Kinabalu or West Coast region as most training and mentorship will be conducted here.

This year will focus on 'hands-holding' sessions, which include workshop training, introduction and refresher into entrepreneurship requirements, and mentorship programs.

Tarsiah said once the project is successfully implemented, it will potentially be duplicated in other regions within Sabah such as Sandakan and Tawau, subject to funding.

She added that among future CreaM@YWE potentials are the remainder of 200 applicants.