Cloud Kitchens Boosting Microentrepreneurs' Income
Elevating income of micro-entrepreneurs while encouraging community collaboration and camaraderie
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Cloud Kitchens Boosting Microentrepreneurs' Income
Based on Department of Statistics Malaysia records, there are about one million small-medium enterprises in the country. Pepper Labs
Co-Founder, Kuhan Pathy shares that during the pandemic, 28,000 micro-enterprises were forced to shut down. Upon learning that, the social enterprise wanted to help.
Enter Dapur Digital 2022, one of the many programmes supported by Hasanah Special Grant.
Explaining the cloud kitchen model, Head of Community Development, Anita Ahmad says, “it allows entrepreneurs to produce larger amounts of food and to reach corporate clients; their income can be increased at a much higher rate than running their business on their own from their homes.”
Leveraging on their experience with food-truck-turned-restaurant Masala Wheels and their huge database of corporate clients, Pepper Labs focuses on “established micro-entrepreneurs who need the extra push”.
Throughout the programme, participants have recorded income growth ranging between 77% – 500%.
One such entrepreneur is Rohana Ismail, Chairperson of Kelab Wanita Harmoni in PPR Kerinchi. Describing the cloud kitchen operations like “cooking together with siblings”, she is glad for the camaraderie and has also seen improved earnings.
Rohana particularly enjoyed the team building sessions where women in the community got together to brainstorm ideas, discuss menus, learn from mentors and encourage one another.
Kuhan also tells us how they trained leaders “to identify marginalised communities, supply food for them and internalise the problems of others”, illustrating another benefit of this project that goes beyond income generation alone.