Loretto with participants of the furniture making course.
KENINGAU: Yayasan Sabah Group through Pusat Kraftangan Sabah (PKS) collaborated with Wood Industry Skills Development Centre (WISDEC) under the Malaysian Timber Industry Board of the Ministry of Primary Industries in organising a Furniture Making Course (Kitchen Cabinet) on September 23-26.
The closing ceremony was held on October 8 at PKS and officiated by nominated assemblyman Datuk Loretto Sipin Padua.
In his speech, the director of Yayasan Sabah, Datuk Haji Jamalul Kiram bin Datuk Haji Mohd Zakaria said in 2017, PKS introduced a Start-Up Programme where selected trainees were given funds to start up their businesses and venture into entrepreneurship. From 2017 to 2019, 63 trainees were selected for this programme and five of them were then upgraded to the Scale-Up programme.
His speech was delivered by Zaiton Bakri, Group Manager of Pusat Kraftangan Sabah.
The objective of the programmes is to assist trainees in expanding their business in the handicraft industry. Funds for these programmes were utilised from Program Khas Anak Negeri – PKAN, Sabah 2019 that were being coordinated and monitored by the Implementation Coordination Unit, Prime Minister’s Department.
“Through these programmes, PKS boosts the potentials of these trainees. As many as 15 trainees from the woodcraft field were further trained and have completed their Furniture Making Course (Kitchen Cabinet) where the innovation of epoxy was applied in the training,” Jamalul added.
He also explained that in recent years, epoxy resins have become very popular in the market. Initially, it was used for the manufacture of glue or insulating varnish. Nowadays, it is widely used by industry players to develop a range of designs that use epoxy materials in the production of more exclusive ready-made products such as dining table, home décor, kitchen cabinet and more.
Jamalul expressed his hopes that the trainees will apply the knowledge and skills that they have learned throughout their training.
“This is part of Yayasan Sabah Group’s initiative to help PKS trainees develop their skills further. I hope that the trainees will benefit from this course and produce more value-added handicrafts,” he said.
This is the third training course organised in collaboration with WISDEC.
Yayasan Sabah Group through PKS collaborates with government agencies namely Ministry of Tourism Sabah, Keningau District Office, Ministry of Youth and Sports Sabah, MyIPO, SIRIM, MARA and Malaysia Handicraft Development Corporation, in developing skilled individuals to become competitive entrepreneurs and meet the needs of the handicraft industry in the State.