By TEH SHI NING

IT began as a community project by women for women, but with its new cooperative framework and some business savvy, what is now known as WEworkz (Women Enterprise Workz) has evolved into a social enterprise driving a growing cottage industry.

Since it started operations in June this year, WEworkz has recruited 140 women from low-income families who pay $10 for a three-year membership and $2 in refundable share capital.

Eighty have attended the preparatory confidence-building training course, and of this group, 30 have gone on to complete skills training courses in making jewellery, candles, and calendars and cards decorated with pressed flowers.

Fees for these training courses are heavily subsidised, as WEworkz has secured grants of up to 90 per cent of the course fees from the Workforce Development Agency.

In the past two months, WEworkz sourced a total of $20,000 in orders for the goods these women crafted, which means takings of $200 a month for the women who had begun working. They also earn up to $150 from each sales session at WEworkz's weekend stalls in Ikea or the PaTH market at VivoCity - which is incidentally run by another social enterprise, Social Innovation Park.

Those are facts to be glad about, but the numbers merely scratch the surface of the stories beneath, as BT quickly discovered when it spoke to Amy Khor, adviser of WEworkz and mayor of South West CDC. 'WEworkz is really the result of many helping hands, many community partners coming together,' Dr Khor said, relating its brief history.

First-movers were the Southwest CDC's Ladies Synergy Group, women professionals who met to find ways to give back to the community. They came up with Candles by Moms last year, which linked training providers teaching candle-making to women from low-income families who were willing to help make candles from home to supplement their household income. Then, there was Ikea, which offered rent-free space for the women to sell their wares to the public, after hearing about the project at the CDC's corporate partner's dinner.

Then entered Chandra Das, whose phone call right after a radio broadcast on the Ikea stall's launch took Dr Khor by surprise. The chairman of the Central Cooperative Fund (CCF) urged her to turn the project into a cooperative. CCF could provide 80 per cent of the funds needed for the first three years, he said, after which the cooperative was expected to be self-funding.

'We realised that by turning it into a co-op, we could grow it sustainably in a way that a project run by CDC's staff and volunteers alone just could not,' Dr Khor said.

And that was how WEworkz came to be. At its launch, over 1,000 enquiries poured in. These were screened individually to ensure that they were from low-income families who were truly keen to learn a skill for home-based work.

The 140 women eventually invited to join still exceeds the original target of 100 in the first year and 200 new members in each subsequent year. 'We felt that we should start small because we need to build up our brand equity, marketing expertise, manpower, et cetera, to ensure we can pull in sufficient business for each member to earn a decent income from it,' Dr Khor said.

For the time being, operations are kept lean. Eddie Tan, the cooperative's manager and sole employee runs a one-man show working with many women - the cooperative members and WEworkz's all-female board of directors - out of the South West CDC office to minimise overheads. Dr Khor said that there are plans to eventually train members in service skills such as sewing, domestic cleaning and data-entry as well, and to establish an online marketing system.

Businesses have been supportive of WEworkz, Dr Khor said. Sembcorp Tay Recycling, Orient Marine, Yok Impex and Boon Lay Raja Restaurant are among those which have purchased WEworkz products for use as corporate gifts. An upcoming women's conference has also placed orders for beaded lanyards. They are certainly worth a thought for businesses still on the lookout for more meaningful corporate gifts this holiday season.

This article was first published in The Business Times on December 19, 2008.