DENGKIL , Selangor: Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail today launched an initiative of PLUS Malaysia Bhd that provides women from among residents along its highways the opportunity to do business at its rest and service areas.
The Deputy Prime Minister, who launched the WEP PLUS initiative at the Dengkil Rest & Service Area here, said the programme offered the benefit of doing business to women, especially single mothers, who live near the highways. WEP stands for Women Entrepreneurship Programme.
She said the PLUS initiative proved that the private sector can also play its role for the progress of the community in what can be referred to as “giving back to society”.
She also said that PLUS has offered the business opportunity to 201 women entrepreneurs who represented 46 per cent of all the entrepreneurs in the 33 rest and service areas, and seven per cent of them are single mothers.
Dr Wan Azizah, who is also Women, Family and Community Development Minister, also urged the private sector to help the government in increasing the participation of women in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“SMEs are the backbone of the Malaysian economy, as about 99 per cent of business is in this category. Of the total, about 20 per cent of the business is owned, operated and managed by women,” she said.
PLUS chairman Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim, in a statement, said the company had allocated RM5 million for the next five years to implement the WEP, incorporating training, mentor guidance and business aid to women entrepreneurs.
He said the primary targets of the programme are the women, such as single mothers, those in the B40 group and those between 23 and 36, who live within 30 kilometres of its highways.
“PLUS hopes to create 20 new women entrepreneurs annually under the programme. In five years, we will have 100 new women entrepreneurs,” he said.
Mohd Sheriff said registration for the WEP programme will open on April 15 and the first intake will be in August. – Bernama
