Pushcart course for the jobless to go nationwide

Northeast CDC widening scheme to cover 120 by year-end. Participants get subsidised rent for two months

By Soh Wen Lin

SINCE being laid off from her production operator job when she turned 40, Madam Suhara Begum, now 46, had wanted to go into business. But she never had the capital - until recently.

She joined a course on selling from a pushcart and received a subsidy to get started. Today, she makes anywhere between $500 and $2,500 a month selling Malay baju or clothes from a pushcart in Tampines.

The course she attended, the Northeast Community Development Council's (CDC) Retail Incubator Training Programme, will now be made available to jobless residents in the four other CDCs.

The scheme, which started in October 2002 and which has had about 30 participants so far, sends jobless Singaporeans interested in starting their own pushcart business for a five-day course costing $75.

They learn about financial management, as well as how to display and promote their products.

More than 20 of the 30 initial participants are still going strong, selling items such as fashion accessories and even manicures in locations such as Tampines, Hougang and Loyang.

The success has prompted Northeast CDC to broaden the programme to 120 participants nationwide by the end of this year, said the CDC's mayor, Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed, yesterday at an event to certify the programme's participants.

The programme will also now offer pushcart locations beyond the CDC - in the central business district and Orchard Road belt. The first downtown pushcarts will be at Far East Plaza from next month.

For Madam Suhara, the hard work needed to run her pushcart business is far better than the frustration she felt in 1997 after being laid off from her $1,000-a-month job.

She was told at job interviews that she was too old. Today, at least age is not a factor, she said. She is now looking for ways to expand and improve her business.

For Mr Victor Tang, 28, the pushcart course has been a blessing. After being retrenched from several jobs two years ago, he started selling silver jewellery from a pushcart.

But he made losses and had to call it a day for a while. He took the pushcart course and learned how to tally records regularly, which helped him to keep enough, but not too much, in stock.

Course participants can pick their products and pushcart location. They pay a subsidised rent of $500 a month for two months.

They also receive their merchandise on consignment - paying suppliers for only what they sell - for two months, thereby cutting their startup costs.

But classes and financial help will take someone only so far, said Ms Annie Lim, 43, who sells fashion accessories from a pushcart in Tampines.

'To succeed, you have to work long hours and handle people well,' she said.