2015 batch of Nukilan Jiwaku VSA Mentorship Programme graduate

Participants of a pioneer training programme in art organised by Maybank Foundation through a partnership with the Malaysian Council for Rehabilitation (MCR) and Universiti Malaya (UM) have received their graduation certificates.

The 29 disabled participants had attended the course at Akademi Pengajian Melayu, UM from November 2014 and March 2015, which leads to the Nukilan Jiwaku Very Special Arts (VSA) Mentorship Programme Certificate that is accredited by UM. 

Chairman of Maybank and Maybank Foundation, Tan Sri Megat Zaharuddin Megat Mohd Nor said arts enable us to imagine the unimaginable and connect to the past, the present and the future. “Therefore, through programmes like Nukilan Jiwaku, Maybank hopes to make a difference to the lives of artists like yourselves, who in return will inspire us with the quality of your artwork whether they are in the form of batik painting, fine arts, acrylic painting or others,” he said at the graduation ceremony.

"Arts and culture make up a very important part of our corporate responsibility programme. In turn, corporate responsibility forms an integral component to our business. As Maybankers, we genuinely believe in bettering the lives of the communities that we serve, especially of people in the vulnerable groups. We believe that to truly live up to our powerful mission of humanising financial services, we have to go beyond banking, reach out to the very heart of the communities we serve and play the role of enabling society.”

The Nukilan Jiwaku VSA Mentorship Programme is one of Maybank Foundation’s initiatives to empower the disabled through capacity building and knowledge transfer so that they are able to enjoy economic independence and financial inclusion.

A total of 10 structured learning modules in the area of acrylic and batik painting were tailor made to help improve participants' techniques and creativity. Apart from the formal graduation ceremony, the success of the participants also demonstrated their new skills in an art exhibition at Balai Seni Maybank.

Nukilan Jiwaku began as a volunteer programme in 2012 by the employees of Maybank’s Group Risk who, supported by the Maybank Foundation, helped people with disabilities by teaching them to manage their own businesses and become economically self-sufficient. Part of this programme also included providing those with artistic skills as an avenue to display their creative works at Balai Seni Maybank.

Two exhibitions held in 2012 and 2013 generated sales of over RM67,000, which were channelled back to the special artists. The Maybank Foundation subsequently worked with MCR and UM to design structured programmes that would enable the PWDs to further enhance their skills especially in visual arts, to help them improve their income, and at the same time, enable them to receive accreditation from a recognised academic institution.

The Nukilan Jiwaku VSA Mentorship Programme is the first such collaboration between the private, public and academia that provides an opportunity to persons with disabilities who would otherwise not have access to the expertise and guidance that many art college students are exposed to or follow the academic route to an art education.

The programme also aims to revolutionise the local creative arts industry as part of a human capacity development initiative that will see the Maybank Foundation nurture and develop an alternative pool of artists with their own intrinsic sense of creativity.

Sofitel The Palm open for corporate iftars

Source: Sofitel The Palm eDM.

The Sofitel The Palm is offering corporate iftar buffets for companies which want to organise a gathering with colleagues or clients.

Break the fast in the Layali Al Anwar to the accompaniment of the oud and tabla.

Corporate iftars range from AED 160 to AED220 per person. Events can be customised to corporate requirements.

Interested?

Make a reservation 

Bank Muamalat launches BizSTAR-I SME financial package

Islamic bank Bank Muamalat Malaysia has announced it will extend RM200 million in new financing to small and medium sized corporations by 2015 through Muamalat BizSTAR-I, a financial package based on the concept of tawarruq* with a combination of Property Financing-i Tawarruq and MCash-i products. This product is designed to cater for either financing or refinancing of business premises and to support SME corporations to own business premises.

Y.Bhg. Dato’ Hj. Mohd Redza Shah Abdul Wahid, Chief Executive Officer of Bank Muamalat  said, “As the economy becomes more sophisticated, so will the requirements of the SMEs. One of the major levers of growth for the SME sector is access to financing and financial institutions therefore have an important role in the ecosystem for financing to SMEs.

“Business premises financing products are amongst the most popular financing products for SMEs, having grown from RM87.1 billion in 2003 to RM217.2 billion in 2012.”

Key features of Muamalat BizSTAR-I:

• Business property financing package based on shari'ah concept of tawarruq with a combination of Property Financing & Mcash-i (working capital requirement).
• The product package is designed to cater for the purchase of business premises and to provide cash financing for customers’ working capital.
• Financing limit from RM150,000 to RM5 million.
• Margin of financing (MOF) of up to 105% where 90% is for property financing,
10% for an MCash facility (working capital) and 5% for moving cost related expenses (MCRE) which includes mortgage reducing term takaful and credit level term takaful, legal costs and valuation costs.
• Tenure of financing is a maximum of 15 years for property financing and five years for the Mcash facility and subject to review.
• Competitive profit rate spread for property financing.

Bank Muamalat has a network of 59 branches (including 6 kiosks), in addition to its electronic channel, encompassing i-Muamalat, the Bank’s Internet banking solution, and e-Muamalat, available at almost 240 locations, referring to its network of ATMs, CDMs, and CDTs.

*A discussion of tawarruq can be found here and here.