Melaka Kemas allocates RM280,000 to assist 'Quick Win', 'Asnaf Berdikari' participants

MELAKA, July 25 (Bernama) -- The Community Development Department (Kemas) of Melaka has allocated about RM280,000 this year to fund selected participants and asnaf (tithe recipients) through the Quick Win Kemas and Asnaf Berdikari programmes for guidance, training, courses and assistance with business equipment.

State Kemas director Rozkhaidi Othman said they are targeting 50 participants for the Quick Win programme with an allocation of RM250,000 while RM30,000 would be channelled to the 10 recipients of the  Asnaf Berdikari programme that is introduced this year.

"The selection of the Quick Win Kemas participants will be based on several criteria, namely (they must be) from the B40 group, while the selected asnaf participants must be recipients of aid from the Social Welfare Department (JKM) or Melaka Islamic Religion Council (MAIM).

"All participants will be selected through an interview method and some of them have started small businesses and shown interest in expanding their businesses, while some also want to start a business to get away from the clutches of poverty,” he said at the programme's mini-carnival at Menara Persekutuan Melaka that was also attended by Melaka Department of Occupational Safety and Health director Dr Rabaayah Daud.

Elaborating, Rozkhaidi said all the Kemas participants would be given training and courses in five main fields, namely cooking, sewing, pastry-making, grooming and handicraft.

He said that for the Asnaf Berdikari programme, which will begin this  year, each participant will receive RM3,000 in aid for business equipment, in addition to short-term cooking skills courses, the basics of material cost calculation, food handling, course materials as well as practical training materials.

“We will guide and monitor them for two years to ensure they can be independent and able to expand their business. Kemas will also help this group to improve themselves and venture into the field of entrepreneurship to continue their livelihood,” he said.

Meanwhile, 26-year-old Siti Syazwani Zahanim, a participant of the Asnaf Berdikari programme, said it had given her the opportunity to generate income after her husband was no longer able to continue working as a lorry driver due to kidney disease last year.

Siti Syazwani, who hails from Paya Redan, Ayer Molek, hoped that the Kemas training and guidance would allow her to further expand her kuih business, which she runs on a small scale to cover their living expenses.

Thirty-six-year-old Nur Aziah Ramli, of Desa Duyong, said such programmes were extremely beneficial for housewives like her to help her husband, who works as a barber, to supplement their income as they raise their five school-going children.

“It is extremely helpful for the asnaf group like us, especially someone like me who sells food from home, besides providing us with assistance for business equipment,” she said.

 -- BERNAMA