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LOW-income women, especially housewives living in Kuala Lumpur’s public housing projects, are being empowered to earn extra income through the **Digital Kitchen** initiative — a programme that provides shared cooking facilities and digital business support in Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) communities.
Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, Member of Parliament for Titiwangsa and Minister of Plantation and Commodities, said the programme helps unemployed housewives contribute financially without leaving their homes.
“I fully support Digital Kitchen because it gives low-income communities a real opportunity to raise family incomes,” he said during the launch of the programme at PPR Hiliran Ampang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. “We create a dedicated space in the community and bring together housewives who are not working to start generating income through food sales.”
He stressed that the success of the initiative rests on two things: hygiene and taste.
“I emphasise that the cooking process must be clean — no contamination, no shortcuts. Secondly, the food must be delicious. When the food is good, people will come back for it,” he said.
The initiative connects these small-scale entrepreneurs with food delivery platforms, removing the burden of marketing and giving them a broader customer base without expensive advertising.
Nini Yusof, Chief Executive Officer of Media Prima Television Network (MPTN), described the programme as a bridge to digital literacy and modern entrepreneurship.
“This is excellent because it introduces women and small entrepreneurs to digital processes that are faster, more efficient and more organised,” she said. “Managing profit and loss digitally brings real benefits to their households.”
“With a centralised kitchen, hygiene and quality are more easily maintained,” she added.
Pepper Labs founder Kuhan Pathy also attended the event. The Digital Kitchen programme is currently active in 15 locations across Kuala Lumpur, and represents Malaysia’s first public-private-philanthropic collaboration of its kind, backed by the Ministry of Finance, Federal Territories Department, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), and Yayasan Hasanah. - Sept 6, 2025