Teman 1AZAM NCWO-UKM: a triple helix approach to alleviate women in poverty

Abstract

This paper discusses the Teman 1AZAM NCWO-UKM project. This project started in 2011 and it involves 70 women, who were selected from low-income families in the Klang Valley. The project was developed using a triple-helix approach which involves three organisations: (a) the Faculty of Economics & Management, UKM, (b) the National Council of Woman Organisations of Malaysia (NCWO), and (c) the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development. The project was initiated and developed with the mission to promote women's entrepreneurship and support single-mothers and women from low-income families participate in income- generating activities. The main objective of the project is to build the capacity of women through trainings in small business and entrepreneurship development (finance, accounting, legal, book-keeping, marketing) and seed funding. The project involves a three pronged approach. First, it involves entrepreneurship and business development training and coaching. The participants had to undergo three different types of activities. (a) Participants had to undergo two-day basic entrepreneurship course at UKM. (b) Academics and students from the Faculty of Economics and Management, provide ongoing business training and coaching to the participants. (c) Academics from the Faculty of Science and Technology, UKM provides technological knowledge and technical advise on food production. UNIPEQ Sdn.Bhd., provides training and certification on food handling and quality. Second, the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development provides the grant to NCWO. Part of this grant was channeled by NCWO to UKM to finance the training and coaching activities, and as seed-funding to purchase equipments for the participants. Third, NCWO collaborates with UKM in this project by identifying the women from low-income families. Also, NCWO brought into the project their vast experiences in empowering women and advocacy. The measurable outcomes of the project are: the project has directly benefited 70 women from low-income and women single-headed families (i.e 300 family members) through increase in soft-skills, empowerment household income, business knowledge, and market visibility. Besides the women and their families, these project had benefited UKM academics and students by providing them with hands-on experience and knowledge. UKM academics are in the process of documenting and publishing their experiences in a book, journals, and proceedings in international conferences. This project has enabled UKM to forge and strengthen its network with the Ministry (Women Business Development Unit, SME Corp.,Technology Park Malaysia), business associations, NGOs the community, and international organizations (Yunus Social Business Centre at Kyushu University, Japan; Kyushu University Business School; Singapore-Harvard Business School Network). The challenges of the project are: (a) building a sustainable academic and training programs to ensure the participants will survive and grow after the one-year project ends, (b) finding partners from the public and private sectors to provide continuous support of the programs, (c) garner support from the faculty to support this non-academic project, (d) design a tailored-made training programs to meet the specific needs of the participants, (e) establishing and maintaining the brand-name, and (e) to educate the participants to treat the project as a long-term income generating activity, and not as a short-cut to the Government's one-off handouts.