Social Enterprises Help Refugee Artisans Expand Market Reach

It was past midnight, and the small terrace house in Sentul was silent, other than the whirr of a sewing machine.

Shahim Mohamed Sharif, a 35-year-old mother of three and refugee from Myanmar, sat hunched at the worktable set in a corner of the living room. She wanted to finish embroidering the neckline of the kurta tunic (Indian traditional dress) that a client had ordered. 

“After eating (dinner at 9 pm), if I have work, I work according to the workload; if it's urgent, I work late into the night,” she told Bernama. “When I work a lot, my lower back hurts a little, but I don’t have any other illnesses.”

Before she and her husband fled to Malaysia in 2013, Shahim was a tailor in Yangon. Upon arriving in Malaysia, she continued working as a tailor, earning as little as RM10 for a dress, while her husband did odd jobs. 

As a refugee, Shahim is barred from formal employment and its benefits. To survive, she is part of the large informal economy in Malaysia, providing at-home tailoring services to anyone willing to pay cash. Her customers are mainly other migrants and refugees. 

What she needs is a way to earn a second income outside her home. The conventional online platforms are not an option as they require sellers to have bank accounts, which is impossible for Shahim due to her status. Refugees, like undocumented migrants, cannot open a bank account.

Over the years, activists and economists have called for refugees to be given the right to work, which would help provide them with the means to pay for their needs, solve the country’s labour shortage, and reduce government spending on healthcare, enforcement and detention. While that right has not yet come to pass, several social enterprises – private businesses with a social and/or environmental mission – are attempting to fill in the gap by providing refugee artisans with online and offline market access.

Earth Heir gift shop. --fotoBERNAMA (2026) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

STEPPING IN 

Despite their mission statement, social enterprises are not non-governmental organisations that depend on donations. While they are driven to have a positive social and environmental impact, social enterprises are for-profit organisations. 

There are 649 social enterprises registered in Malaysia, far below the government’s target of 5,000 by 2025.

One of them is Earth Heir, which helps produce and showcase handcrafted items by less-privileged communities. It is also part of a collective, working with more than 35 social enterprises, NGOs and individual artisans.

Earth Heir founder Sasibai Kimis told Bernama that the company hopes to attract buyers looking for unique products and help these communities earn an income, adding that she does not see a dichotomy between capitalism and social good.

“It's not like, if I help other people, I get less. All the things that we’re trying to do are to try to grow the pie for everybody,” she said.

Operating out of the first floor of a shoplot next to Central Market here, Earth Heir runs a gift shop, showcasing handmade products of local and refugee artisans who are part of the collective. Each item has a blurb, explaining the artisan’s background and the motifs featured in the artwork. The items are also available for purchase on the company’s website.

Everyone working with Earth Heir signs an agreement that provides them with legal protections and guarantees of payment for their work. The organisation receives 30 percent of the proceeds from each item sold. Like many other social enterprises in the collective, Earth Heir takes orders from companies and government agencies to make handcrafted corporate gifts, ranging from laptop covers to keychains. 

Additionally, the organisation provides artisans with training and mentorship, and also hosts market access events, where sellers can introduce their products to buyers.

“Only when they are in front of consumers will they understand how to improve their products. They will also learn how to sell,” Sasibai added.

Sasibai Kimis, founder of social enterprise Earth Heir, showing the products made by less-privileged communities including refugees, Orang Asli and single mothers. --fotoBERNAMA (2026) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

Some of the products supplied to Earth Heir have been popular enough that the company has placed wholesale orders directly with the artisans and sold the items at other outlets, including MR.DIY, under their own brand.

That is what Shahim hopes will happen to her. Although she has not joined Earth Heir officially, the lure of expanding her clientele and accessing the online market and reputable stores is tempting. What is holding her back is the fear of history repeating itself.

PREVENTING EXPLOITATION

As refugees fall outside the framework of legal work with only the right to work in the informal sector, they are more likely to be exploited. Refugees and experts told Bernama that many are expected to work long hours for little pay. 

According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the informal economy refers to all economic activities by workers that are either not covered or insufficiently covered by formal arrangements. In 2023, the government estimated that the sector, which includes Malaysians and migrants alike, comprised 21.8 percent of total employment. World Economics market intelligence data pegged the informal economy in Malaysia, which includes the service industry and unpaid family work, at 25 percent of its GDP in 2025.

“Legally speaking, (refugees) would be able to work as gardeners, cleaners, those types of jobs,” said Datuk Seri M. Ramachelvam, co-chairman of the Migrants and Refugees Committee at the Bar Council. “(But) the problem with this informal sector of work is that they enjoy no social protection or any legal protection.”

Datuk Seri M. Ramachelvam, co-chair of the Migrant and Refugees Committee at the Bar Council. --fotoBERNAMA (2026) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

As Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention nor the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, refugees and asylum seekers are legally considered undocumented immigrants although they should not be deported back into danger.

Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) commissioner Datuk Ahmad Azam Ab Rahman told Bernama that refugees are expected to do dirty, dangerous and difficult (3D) jobs.

“Because their sense of survival is very high, they can do any kind of work and are willing to do it,” he said.

Although Malaysia has affirmed the right to just compensation for work done regardless of one’s immigration status, pursuing lost wages through the justice system is not usually something refugees or migrants are able to do. 

Shahim has lost more than RM4,000 in terms of lost wages in the past. Two years ago, she tried to expand her business by selling her ready-made clothes to a clothes store in Selayang, Selangor. The shopkeeper, whom Shahim was introduced to by her friend, ordered more than 30 sets of clothing from her and paid RM200 in advance for every RM700 of the total price. A month after he took the items, she went with her husband to the shop to ask for the balance payment. They found the shop closed and the shopkeeper nowhere to be found. All calls and messages went unanswered.

“Everything was lost,” she said. “So yeah, I don't want to supply anymore.” 

However, she is willing to try her luck again, but only with a social enterprise. She had earlier applied to be a tailor with a social enterprise, which is similar to Earth Heir, but was rejected due to her limited language skills. She hopes that if she joins Earth Heir, her target of earning RM1,000 a month would be a reality rather than an aspiration.

Datuk Ahmad Azam Ab Rahman, SUHAKAM commissioner for refugees. --fotoBERNAMA (2026) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

Luckily for Shakilia Rahimi and Halimah Naziri, who are refugees from Afghanistan, they have not been cheated so far. They have been with Earth Heir for three years. 

Prior to joining the group, Halimah sewed soft toys and crocheted table covers and pillows, selling her items through NGOs and other groups, while Shakilia produced handmade jewellery, which she sells for RM200 and above each.

Their biggest issue is market access and finding buyers for their products.

“The hard part is the market side of things. Making the items isn't difficult, but selling them is. We don't have access to the market,” said Shakilia, who was a midwife in Afghanistan until the Taliban banned women from working. 

Oftentimes, these women spend months between working at Earth Heir and helping their husbands, who work as tailors, to fulfil orders. 

Halimah, especially, is worried about work as her husband, a former international relations professor, is now sick. Although they have the refugee health insurance, his illness is considered a pre-existing condition and is not covered.

Getting stable and more predictable work would be a boon to them as they hated feeling like a burden to others.

"Wherever I go, I want to have a job. Not like right now, sitting at home for when some work might come my way, doing a task for very low pay. It is better for a person to work outside the house," she said in Farsi.

Sasibai admitted that there is not as much demand for products by Earth Heir artisans, which also include single mothers and the B40 group. Corporate orders have been lacking lately as corporations prefer to spend their money on cheap souvenirs from China. Not many shoppers are willing to part with RM100 and above, even though the items are handmade and take skill to produce. 

Jewelry made by Shakilia Rahimi, refugee from Afghanistan, and sold by Earth Heir. --fotoBERNAMA (2026) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

HOPE FLOATS

But things are looking up. 

On Aug 3, the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development launched a programme called the Malaysian Social Impact Procurement Framework to encourage social impact procurement practices among government agencies and private companies.  

According to Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Minister Steven Sim, this move will expand market opportunities for social enterprises in this country.

Sasibai has great hopes for the initiative. “So (even if) a company … wants to just commit RM500 a year, that's fine,” she said, smiling.  

(The above article was written with support from Thomson Reuters Foundation as part of its global work to strengthen free, fair and informed societies. Any financial assistance or support provided to the writer has no editorial influence. The content of this article belongs solely to the author and is not endorsed by or associated with Thomson Reuters Foundation, Thomson Reuters, Reuters, nor any other affiliates.)