PROGRAMS
We anchor our key social responsibility programs to support the following:
Sustainable Development Goal #1 in eradicating poverty
We work with the B40 or underserved communities in Malaysia helping them to improve their livelihood and upgrade their skills in basic entrepreneurship. Currently, our beneficiaries are 60 women tailors and as of March 8th, 2021, we launched the first social enterprise platform for tailoring services in Malaysia, benangdotorg with the support from Yayasan Hasanah.
We conduct comprehensive programs for our beneficiaries providing them with the platform to trade, training them in basic entrepreneurship skill, and sourcing contracts for them off-line as well. This is our long-term initiative for the B40 communities in Malaysia.
Promoting a healthy lifestyle for sustainable wellbeing
We believe that a healthy lifestyle is a necessity, not a luxury. It takes a consolidated approach from having the right attitude, discipline, self-love and caring for the communities and environment that we live in. Hence, we advocate an inclusive approach to sustainable wellbeing incorporating all elements that matter to us.
Key initiatives within this space include Special Interest Groups (SIGs) on eating right, love for animals, food and nutrition, health and wellness activities and safety. Interested members can form and lead an SIG.
Sustainable Development Goal #5 in empowering women and gender equality
Our efforts in empowering women and gender equality apply to all walks of life – the B40 communities as well as entrepreneurs and business professionals.
The B40 Communities
Our commitment is to provide continuous learning and upskilling the basic entrepreneurship skills of our B40 communities. We provide basic entrepreneurship training to the B40 communities covering these modules:
- Grooming for Success
- English for Business Communications
- Basic Writing in Bahasa Malaysia
- Basic Writing in English
- Basic Customer Service
- Basic Financial Management
- Basic Problem Solving
- Developing Growth Mindset
Entrepreneurs And Business Professionals
Our three-prong approach in supporting the entrepreneurs and business professionals include the following:
Facilitating the creation of friendly policies for entrepreneurs
We advocate friendly procurement and trade policies towards women entrepreneurs – a long term effort that we are working on with central agencies and policymakers.
Providing the platform to facilitate business growth
Each year, we conduct several programs to create opportunities for our members to network, promote, and generate leads with the long-term pursuit of growing their businesses. Key programs include monthly dialogues, trade exchange opportunities locally and regionally, and vertical industry events.
Some of the programs are:
- IWFCI Marketplace E-Trade – Opportunities for members to promote their products and services globally.
- Funding Your Business – A forum tailored for fundraising matters.
- Business Showers – A networking event to celebrate member(s) who start a new business – can be startups or seasoned entrepreneurs starting another new venture.
- Global Women’s Trade Summit – A global signature event of IWFCI hosted by member countries on a yearly rotation. It’s a meeting of minds of global entrepreneurs, networking, promotion of products and services, partnering and collaborating opportunities. Participation from all our charter countries (currently 16 countries) are anticipated.
- Malaysia X IWFCIM Global Chapters Trade Exchange – A customized event for Malaysian entrepreneurs to network, facilitate partnership and trade exchange among IWFCI member countries
- Retail Industry Forum – A vertical industry event for the retail industry.
- Collaborative Program with Central Agencies – We plan specific programs with Central Agencies to create awareness on trade issues and situations as well as provide a potential platform for issues resolutions.
Check event details here
Support System
We face obstacles and challenges every day. A day in a life of an entrepreneur is all about juggling priorities, making a call between urgency and importance and how best to allocate time, sorting out personal and professional / business commitments with many parties seeking a piece of you at the same time. If we don’t look after ourselves, we can quickly suffer burnout and lose the right opportunities that matter.
Contextually, we believe that we are in the position to provide the best support systems from entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs. We understand our challenges well. We can relate to entrepreneurial issues and challenges; We can realistically and constructively support each other to find the best fitting and working solutions.
Within this space, we provide the following services for our members:
The Forum
A monthly dialogue for our members and the public within a small setting of 10 to 12 people. Each dialogue session will be based on specific entrepreneurial or business issues that is presented by issue owners. Other members will contribute to the discussion by asking relevant clarifying questions, using a structured and moderated approach. The issue owner will then decide on the right path for her to move forward.
SheLEADS Programs
Programs focusing on various facets of personal development.
International Women’s Day
An international event that we celebrate locally in March supporting a yearly theme promoting women empowerment and gender equality.
Moghul of the Month
A monthly program positioned to enhance the visibility of our members and their businesses will be promoted on our social media. Each month we will carry out a promotion for one moghul will be promoted on our social media channels.
Launching a Business From A to Z
Taking the step-by-step approach to launch a business. This series of workshops is delivered on a monthly schedule.
The Academy
A focused effort in creating continuous learning and development opportunities for entrepreneurs. Details can be found at The Academy.
