The Chinese New Year celebration symbolises new beginnings, as well as a time to rekindle relationships and to foster a spirit of togetherness. With the aim to spread not only joy and happiness but more importantly, to uplift the lives of the senior citizens during this festive period, MAGGI® is rolling out its “Sajian Dikongsi, Kebahagiaan Dirai” campaign in January and February where proceeds from the campaign will be channelled towards a Senior Home Welfare Fund. The funds will then be utilised to support the welfare needs of eleven elderly care homes across Malaysia. 

Geetha Balakrishna, Business Executive Officer of MAGGI®, Nestlé (Malaysia) Berhad said, “During this difficult period, we want reach out and help raise the spirits of a very important community – our senior citizens in elderly care homes who are deeply impacted due to the restrictions on visitation to the homes. Through MAGGI®’s "Sajian Dikongsi, Kebahagiaan Dirai” campaign, we aim to channel funds to upgrade facilities in elderly care homes and improve their overall welfare. We are rallying all Malaysians to come together, so that all of us would be able to help make their Chinese New Year celebration just a little bit more special this year and uplift their spirits during this asupicious ocassion.”

From living the quiet kampung life to packing hundreds of orders through the night for customers, Rosliza Osman’s life has transformed dramatically in the past year.   

Rosliza is a former administrative assistant, who had to leave her job to take care of two young autistic children. On top of being a dedicated mom, she is part of a family business in the rural district Jasin, Melaka. 

Azizjaafar Loyang is a small-scale “loyang” manufacturing company that started operating since the year 2000. To improve the family business, Rosliza was eager to bring the business online and to explore a website as a new avenue for sales. But Rosliza lacked the knowledge and training to bring her business to the next level. 

Almost half of women in Southeast Asia (SEA) working in technology believe the effects of COVID-19 have delayed their career progression, despite 64% of women believing that much needed gender equality is more likely to be achieved through remote working structures. While lockdown life was earmarked as a possible accelerator towards equal gender opportunity in IT positions, lingering social biases have hindered this potential breakthrough period.

Lockdown life was generally predicted to bring about a positive industry shift in the fight for gender equality. By levelling the playing fields from a social and family planning perspective, traditional stereotypes around availability and longevity when it comes to women’s careers would be removed. The impact of COVID meant that companies were accelerated or even forced into this new norm overnight, and to an extent, this prediction has yielded positive steps forward in terms of the overall industry mindset.