Maybank spends rm1.8m to expand women eco-weavers initiative in Asean
Published on: Monday, October 15, 2018
VIENTIANE: Maybank Foundation has spent RM1.8 million to expand its Maybank Women Eco-Weavers initiative to preserve, sustain and promote traditional textile making techniques in Asean.Maybank Foundation Chief Executive Officer Shahril Azuar Jimin said the initiative was in support of the Asean Community Vision 2025, which, among others aimed to promote a more inclusive Asean by strengthening women's empowerment and gender equality in the region.The programme, which was launched in 2016, is currently running in three countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos. To date, it has successfully trained a total of 345 women, giving them an average monthly income of between US$100 (US$1=RM4.15) and US$240.
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"In Laos, in the first year of the partnership, we had invested RM350,000 mainly in weavers training and mulberry planting sponsorship and also by building a hostel. In the next phase, we will look into upgrading the weaving centre."Most of the investments were in Indonesia and Cambodia, where we had spent around RM700,000 and RM800,000 for each country in support of the programme this year," he told reporters after the launch of the hostel building here, recently.The hostel was officiated by Chairman of Maybank and Maybank Foundation, Datuk Mohaiyani Shamsuddin, and Founder of social enterprise, Lao Sericulture Co Ltd (Mulberries), Kommaly Chantavong, the programme partner in Laos.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Shahril Azuar said in choosing the community programmes that have impact on markets it is operating in, Maybank, which has a presence in all 10 Asean countries, discovered that seven countries in the region had something in common, that is culture and tradition of weaving. – Bernama
