Rubeni, 35, had been jobless for two months after quitting her high-paying job before she decided to venture into a home-based massage and spa business, offered mostly through referrals.
Her business improved significantly when she advertised her products and services in the Caring Moms Facebook group.
“Within two weeks, I was fully booked for three months. I even had to cancel further bookings. Then, I decided to focus on my homemade product, Nariel Hair Oil,” Rubeni said.
“The response was so overwhelming that the hair oil was sold out immediately after I advertised it on the group.”
Members of the group helped deliver bottles of Rubeni’s hair oil from Johor to Penang, while she focused on preparing the mixture, made of organic coconut oil, fenugreek seed and curry leaves.
Thanks to the Caring Moms community, the hair oil has travelled to Australia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Maldives, Germany and Dubai, which otherwise would not have been possible if Rubeni had done it on her own.
The Caring Moms community group was co-founded in April 2016 by Major (Rtd) Shera Ann Bosco, 41, and Indian expat engineer Umesh Narasimhaiah, 36, with the aim of creating an ecosystem for women to
develop and grow their entrepreneurial skills.
It connects mothers and women to a network of individuals and corporations, providing them access to a wide range of opportunities, skills and guidance, thus empowering them to be economically independent.
The Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) has invited the group to be an impact partner.
“An impact partner creates impact enterprises so that corporate partners can pledge to make these enterprises their beneficiaries. We know MaGiC means business, so this will help bring the businesses to the next level,” Shera said.
Umesh said with this partnership, Caring Moms would identify businesses that wanted to grow and had MaGiC help them expand.
Caring Moms provides financial and business courses for women wanting to venture into the industry. It also provides food handling courses for women in the group.
The group, which started with 10,000 members in its first month, now has 63,181 members and counting.
Credits: New Straits Times
