By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Oct 4: Sarawak’s Women Entrepreneur Dashboard (WED) is targeted to begin operations in early 2027, providing a centralised, live database to help the government better monitor women entrepreneurs and tailor support to their needs.
Minister for Women, Children and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said physical installation of the WED at Wisma Wanita was expected to be completed by mid-December this year.
“We target that by 2027, the Women Entrepreneur Dashboard Sarawak will be ready and operational,” she said in her speech at the Welfare Micro-Entrepreneur Awards Ceremony 2026 held in conjunction with Sarawak Wellbest Carnival 2026 at MetroCity Convention Centre here today.
She said WED would use data from the existing ENBASE system developed by the Ministry of International Trade, Industry and Investment (MINTRED), avoiding the need to create a separate system.
As of September 2026, 3,901 out of 5,266 women entrepreneurs under the Sarawak Women and Family Department (JWKS), or about 74 per cent, had been registered in ENBASE.
Fatimah said registration would continue until all women entrepreneurs under JWKS and the Sarawak Social Welfare Department (JKMS) were included, before eventually expanding to entrepreneurs guided by other government departments.
The dashboard would capture information including entrepreneurs’ business types, age, monthly income and challenges faced, allowing the government to better assess their needs and provide faster and more targeted interventions.
“We want the interventions we carry out later to be faster and more accurate,” she said.
Fatimah said the government was targeting 90 per cent of women entrepreneurs under JKMS and JWKS to be able to access WED, including allowing those not yet registered to register themselves through the platform.
She said the initiative was part of efforts to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sarawak and support the State’s aspiration under the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 to increase household incomes and lift people out of poverty.
Meanwhile, Fatimah said the ecosystem would be complemented by the One Stop Collection Centre (OSCC) in Samarahan, which was established to help entrepreneurs improve their products and gain access to wider markets.
Located at Lot 11419-11420, Block 59, Muara Tuang Land District, Kota Samarahan, the facility has a gross floor area of 1,245 sq m and was completed on Dec 22, 2022.
She said the OSCC would collect products from entrepreneurs throughout Sarawak before grading, repackaging, promoting and marketing them.
“One of the constraints faced by our entrepreneurs is packaging. For local consumption, the packaging may sometimes be acceptable, but if we want to market the products overseas, the packaging needs to be improved,” she said.
The centre would also provide technical support to help entrepreneurs improve product quality rather than simply rejecting products that did not meet the required standards.
Fatimah said the OSCC would also house an entrepreneur incubator focusing on areas such as digital marketing, including training entrepreneurs to advertise and promote their products using digital devices.
She said the facility could also open up potential market opportunities through AirBorneo, particularly for locally produced food products suitable for passengers, as well as through Sarawak Trade and Tourism Offices in Singapore (STATOS) or Brunei (STATOB).
Among the products she cited were packaged local snacks, kuih sepit and pineapple tarts and jam produced by women entrepreneurs.
Fatimah said the OSCC’s role was not merely to collect products but also to ensure a sustainable supply by sourcing similar products from multiple entrepreneurs while maintaining the required quality standards.
She said the combined approach of WED and OSCC would allow information gathered through the dashboard to be translated into practical support and opportunities for entrepreneurs to improve their businesses.
The initiatives are particularly aimed at micro-entrepreneurs, including those from the B40 group who require continued assistance and support to grow their businesses. — DayakDaily
