Thirteen business owners of Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) Sri Pantai were awarded business grants at a ceremony on 7 November as the finale of phase two of Program Keusahawanan Taylor's-CIMB Islamic 2017. The impact drove programme is a partnership between Taylor's Education Group and CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad, aimed to educate and cultivate entrepreneurs from the underserved community. For the past three months, over 100 residents from PPR Sri Pantai have engaged with representatives from Taylor's Education Group and CIMB Islamic via two phases; the Motivation phase and the Education phase. The next and last phase will be the Implementation phase.
The first phase saw the residents attend eight sessions with entrepreneurs like Syireen Rose from Peaches & Pens, Mariq Marzuki from Mariq Jewellers and Rizal Rashid from Neuroworks International among others as well as Wan Dazriq Wan Zulkiflee from Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) who shared about social entrepreneurship experiences. The purpose of this phase was to provide a platform for the residents to hear from other entrepreneurs and be inspired by them.
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From the first phase; 29 residents progressed into the second phase and were tutored by lecturers from the Faculty of Business and Law at Taylor's University during the weekends over the course of a month at Taylor's University Lakeside Campus. At the end of the second phase, 17 residents were shortlisted to progress into the third phase and were tasked with presenting their business plans to senior leadership team members from Taylor's Education Group and CIMB Group.
The presentation phase culminated with 13 successful residents being awarded a total of about RM47,000 in grants to grow their business. In the final phase, the 13 recipients will be monitored over the course of six months by representatives from Yayasan Salam Malaysia, the implementation partner for this programme, to enable their respective businesses to grow according to plan.
Director of Group Marketing and Communications from CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad, Ken Mohamed Faiz Kamal shared, "This is an excellent collaboration with Taylor's Education Group. Collaborating with a leading private education institution like Taylor's brought a lot of value into this programme and joining up with CIMB, a private sector achieved something benefits of greater heights to the community." Besides Ken, the event were also attended by CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd's CEO & Executive Director, Mohamed Rafe bin Mohamed Haneef, CIMB Foundation's Managing Director, Mr. Freddie Acho Bian, Yayasan Salam's Operation Manager, Ahmad Hasni Jalilah and Taylor's Group CEO, Dato' Loy Teik Ngan.
Volunteers from Taylor's University Debaters and SOLS 24/7; an NGO that provides free education and empowerment programme for the poor and underserved communities; helped with event logistics and made sure the agenda went off without a hitch. "This gave me a ring in the head that we can all do something for the underserved, whether in a big or small scale. As a student of Taylor's I feel motivated and honoured that my institution is doing such remarkable programme for the community and partnering with huge corporate companies like CIMB," said Katrina Adrian, President of Taylor's University Debaters.
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Due to the overwhelming response and the success of the programme, CIMB Islamic has announced the continuation of its partnership with Taylor's in 2018, aiming at 100 businesses and impacting more lives in the underprivileged communities. Stay tune for more community projects like this.
