BUKIT MERTAJAM: Beginning as humble cottage industries, many have grown into multi-million-ringgit businesses thanks to the PenMentor 7.0 programme, which empowers women entrepreneurs.
Now in its seventh year, the programme pairs operators of successful businesses with small groups of women entrepreneurs, providing peer-to-peer mentoring, training and business guidance.
Penang Women Development Corporation (PWDC) chief executive officer Datuk Ong Bee Leng said the Penang Women Entrepreneur Mentoring Programme (PenMentor) has helped transform numerous small businesses into sustainable enterprises.
She cited the example of a woman entrepreneur who started by selling traditional spices from her home using a family recipe.
“Her business gradually expanded and within three years, she was able to set up her own food processing factory,” she said after launching programme here yesterday.
Ong said the programme currently has 18 volunteer mentors and three lead mentors conducting sessions in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin for about 70 participants from Penang and Kedah.
Unlike the conventional one-to-one mentoring approach, PenMentor assigns two mentors to each group.
She said the traditional one-to-one model proved less effective as successful entrepreneurs often had to balance mentoring with running their own businesses.
“With the PenMentor system, if one mentor is unavailable, the other can step in.
“More importantly, participants learn from one another and each group becomes a support network for everyone,” Ong said.
Under the programme, participants attend four days of classroom training, with mentoring sessions held between modules.
The training covers entrepreneurial mindset, cash flow management, accounting, financial literacy, digital marketing and basic business management.
Participants are also taught how to prepare business plans and apply for grants, bank financing and other funding opportunities.
PWDC also links participants with financial institutions and funding agencies when they require capital to expand their businesses.
Ong said participants are grouped according to their business sectors, with most operating as hawkers, restaurant owners, home-based bakers and pastry entrepreneurs.
Penang social development committee chairman Lim Siew Khim said 435 women entrepreneurs have participated in the programme since it was introduced in 2020.
She said sponsors and strategic partners have contributed more than RM100,000 in cash, training venues, courses and other forms of support.
Lim added that this year’s programme includes training on the practical use of artificial intelligence tools to improve business operations, marketing and productivity.
