Mr Fahmi Aliman has also asked how we could encourage and inspire more people to step forward and serve, especially those who have benefited and done well.
MENDAKI has many platforms for the community to contribute their skills and passion to meet the community needs. An example is how our steadfast MTS tutors have played an integral role in how MTS has grown from strength to strength. One such tutor is Ms Anggreini Hamid, who benefited from MTS during her secondary school days. Now a schoolteacher herself, she has been contributing back as an MTS tutor for the past 18 years. She adopts innovative techniques to make her classes more engaging and effective for her students. Just a tidbit, both — actually, all three of us – Minister Masagos, myself and Mdm Rahayu – have all been MTS tutors at some point of our lives too. So, we have done our volunteer duty at some point to contribute back to our community.
At the post-secondary and tertiary level, MENDAKI's initiatives, such as the Youth Mentoring Office, help students realise their potential. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Rahayu will share more on these efforts in her speech.
Beyond a strong educational foundation, our Community of Success also needs a workforce that can secure good jobs and meaningful careers. We want to empower our workers to thrive so that they can grow our community and our nation.
Mr Fahmi Aliman and Mr Sharael Taha asked about our plans to better support Malay/Muslim professionals and workers in the future economy. MENDAKI continues to help our workforce develop their careers and professional networks, complementing national efforts by our tripartite partners in Government, employers and the Labour Movement.
MENDAKI initiated the Professional Networks to support Malay/Muslim professionals in growing their networks; to contribute back to the community; to exchange ideas; and to help younger workers enter growth industries. To date, MENDAKI has formed nine Professional Networks covering various industries in the Care, Green and Digital sectors; and plan to form four more new networks in areas such as Healthcare and Media this year. We now have more than 450 Malay/Muslim professionals in these networks as at 2023 and MENDAKI will continue to encourage more professionals to join and serve as mentors. To Mr Sharael Taha's question, within both the Professional Networks and beyond, we now have about 1,000 Malay/Muslim professionals contributing across MENDAKI's initiatives – whether it is serving as KMM facilitators, MTS tutors, youth mentors or as speakers or human libraries.
Chairman, in previous Committee of Supply debates, I shared about how corporate partners have partnered MENDAKI to provide scholarships for students to enter different industries from biomedical to finance, to aviation and technology. From this year, I am happy to announce that Micron Semiconductor will come on board to provide scholarships over three years to engineering students in polytechnics, as well as internships and learning activities for secondary and tertiary students.
We appreciate how companies also provide other forms of support, such as mentoring, to our students. More than 50 MSD Pharmaceutical staff, such as data scientists, and those from the AI and Cybersecurity sectors, have signed up as mentors to 120 ITE students through the #amPowered@ITE programme.
So, as our economy and workforce evolves, MENDAKI will continue to support our Malay/Muslim workforce in navigating career transitions and seizing future opportunities. Through the M3 Focus Area 4 (FA4) on Employment and Employability, MENDAKI employs a community-based strategy by collaborating with M3 partners, including the NTUC. More than 5,000 Malay/Muslim workers have benefited, including receiving support from MENDAKI's Care Advisors on their job search and career-related needs.
For women who wish to return to the workforce after a career break, MENDAKI's Women at Work (W@W) programme equips them with the relevant skills and connecting them with job opportunities. In 2023, MENDAKI referred over 140 participants from W@W to NTUC's e2i for career coaching and job assistance, with close to 60 successfully securing job offers.
One of them is Ms Siti Raudah, who was looking for a job to support her family and her three school-going children, after her husband was retrenched. Ms Siti joined the W@W programme in September last year, where she benefited from support, such as interview techniques and access to broader social and professional networks. Earlier this year, Ms Siti found a job as an administrative executive in the oil and gas industry and shared that the programme has helped her to transit back into the workforce. Chairman, in Malay, please.
(In Malay): Our third strategy is to grow and develop leaders not only for our community, but for our country as well.
Ms Nadia Samdin asked for an update on the Tunas programme.
MENDAKI started the Tunas Bersama M3 programme in 2022 to nurture the next generation of leaders of Malay/Muslim Organisations (MMOs).
This 18-month programme not only equips emerging leaders with the knowledge, skills and networks to contribute and lead their own organisations. In fact, we want to support them in taking on larger leadership roles in our wider community in the future.
One of the Tunas participants is NMP Dr Syed Harun, who ranks among our young MMO leaders today.
For example, participants get to develop competencies in the areas of management, administration, fund raising, communications and change management, as well as the opportunity to be mentored by experienced senior leaders.
Our first cohort of 13 Tunas participants from various MMOs will complete their programme in April.
The participants were able to apply the knowledge and skills that they gained to carry out seven community projects across the M3 Focus Areas.
For example, through Project Dream On, Tunas participants worked with professionals from MENDAKI's Professional Networks. Their objective was to provide opportunities to Malay/Muslim youths, aged 15 to 17 years old, with sector-specific job shadowing opportunities. This will help the youths to gain experience and expand their horizons in terms of future job opportunities.
The youth participants shared that this experience helped them gain confidence, exposed them to a variety of experiences and expand their range of interests, and help to better shape their future field of study and career plans.
