BAU: A community-based programme titled ‘She Creates, She Sustains’ organised by social enterprise Pungu Borneo has emerged as a meaningful platform to uplift local women by nurturing their creativity while strengthening their economic independence.
Held in Tasik Hall, Tasik Biru, the programme brought together women from surrounding villages within Tasik Biru state constituency, particularly homemakers and small-scale artisans, to explore creative skills that can be transformed into sustainable sources of income.
Through hands-on workshops and mentoring sessions, participants were exposed to traditional and contemporary craft-making techniques, product design and basic entrepreneurship.
Pungu Borneo founder, Lucille Awen John, said the programme was aimed at empowering rural women artisans, preserving indigenous cultural heritage, and promoting sustainable craft businesses.
She hope that each of the participant will take home something more than knowledge or new acquaintances, but also confidence in their own worth and the work they do.
“Today we have heard stories, shared experiences and learned together.
“From the hands of Bidayuh women who diligently create, we are reminded that the strength of a community lies not in scale or speed, but in honesty, perseverance and strong cultural roots,” she said at the closing ceremony of the programme at Tasik Hall, Tasik Biru here today.
Lucille said this programme is not the end, but a small step towards a longer journey.
“A journey to ensure that women are not only given space to create, but also supported to maintain their lives, income and heritage,” she added.
Lucille hoped to see more craft artisans and product entrepreneurs in the Bau District more competitive.
She said within this year, she also hoped ore collaborations with strategic partners and the local government to open up sales spaces and development programs for great local women artisans and entrepreneurs.
Some 38 participants attended the three-day programme, designed for the improvement of the business process and system such as branding, costing and photography.
“And I want to see in the next months, there will be at least 10 new brands from the Bau District and more corporate orders through the best product prototypes in an effort to provide sustainable income to the artisan.
“I hope that what we have built here will continue to grow – in the form of support networks, resilient small businesses, and women who are more confident in their voices and direction.
“Because when women continue to create, and when the community continues to support, we not only sustain lives, we sustain the future,” she said.
Deputy Minister for Transport and Tasik Biru state assemblyman, Datuk Henry Harry Jinep, officiated at the closing ceremony.
