Cultivating Resilient Agripreneurs
The ripple effect of leadership and entrepreneurial empowerment
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Cultivating Resilient Agripreneurs
The entrepreneurship programme by Good Shepard Services (GSS) in Tambunan, Sabah, extends beyond agricultural practices and marketing training.
Lucianna Majana tells us how capital for polybags helped her farm more efficiently while diversifying into ginger byproducts increased her earnings. She also gained confidence by fraternising with other womenfolk at the Women Support Group Tambunan Enterprise which she now chairs.
Her favourite part, however, was the workshop on violence against women and children. “It taught me about my rights. Previously I wasn’t aware that some acts were a form of violence,” she explains.
Hasanah’s Community Development Grant Manager, Siti Noradilah Sabudin shares that through this programme, 71 women have earned RM170,000 collectively by selling 12 ginger-based products. In fact, 96% of the participants gained a new source of income.
According to GSS’s Senior Programme Officer, Dora Lansan, husbands who were initially not keen on their wives participating are now ardent supporters having seen it raise the household income. She is also happy to report that the multi-objectives have been attained — increasing income of ginger farmers, advocacy, child protection and establishing a women’s support group.
2 years on, stories such as Luciana’s are testament to the success of the programme that kicked off during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Looking back at all her learnings, Lucianna is most proud about finding her voice, that she herself has been appointed as a community leader among her peers. This is something she will, in turn, nurture in her children – alluding to the truth to this saying: the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.