Educated Housewife? HEARTS may be for you.

'I feel being a housewife is one of the most noble and toughest jobs in the world. However, I didn't go to school to just do the dishes, laundry. be a chauffeur and whatever all my life. Maybe I enjoyed it for awhile ..... suddenly there was this void. I asked myself... would my kids grow up and say "I'm proud of you mom?" Or the question should be would I want my daughter to be like me?' 

'My kids have grown up and I don't feel like I have a purpose anymore...'

'After my husband passed away, I am the sole breadwinner and also have to take care of my children'

'I want to work from home but don't know how and where to start'

'In my free time I bake cakes for friends, I wish I could expand it further and make some decent money from it. It would be nice if I could make some extra income so that the whole family can go on holiday'

Sound familiar? Then the HEARTS programme maybe your answer...

What is HEARTS?

Housewives Enhancement And Reactivate Talent Scheme

As the name suggests, this program by HRDF (Human Resource Development Fund) aims to train educated housewives to enable them to work from home or under flexible working arrangements.

What is HRDF?

It is an agency under the Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia

So... why is HRDF giving free training?

1. To promote active participation in the economic growth while maintaining status quo as housewife / homemaker

2. Upgrade housewife / homemaker knowledge and skills to be self-employed and work from home

3. Assist in increasing the percentage of employable women participation in the labour market from 46% to 55%

How Do I benefit from this training?

1. You can still maintain your status as a housewife / SAHM and work at your own pace

2. You get value added skills should you return to employment

3. Extra income for you and your family

Cool! So.. How Do I know if I am eligible?

1. Married / single mother

2. Not in active employment

3. Tertiary education - at least Diploma Level
4. Age between 25-60
5. Malaysian Citizen
There... easy right? 

What Programmes are offered?

1. Translation & Editing 

2. Train the Trainer

3. Web Development

4. Graphic Design

5. Social Media Management

6, Simplified Internet Marketing

7. Green Islamic Cleaning

8. Halal Assurance Quality Level

From the briefing I attended, it was mentioned that the first 2 programmes mentioned above are the most popular. Option 3,4 and 5 would be suitable for those who are already doing small home businesses like baking or selling clothes online. Option 7 and 8 are good as they are relatively new fields with small competition though I reckon you would need to be a Muslim to choose those.

All programmes consists of 2 modules. You have to finish Module 1 which is preparatory for Module 2 and it is mandatory. Let me tell you a secret... It is most definitely not your boring ol motivasi sekolah =p It will blow your mind!

Oh, just in case you are thinking that as a SAHM you have no time for one more headache, here is some motivation. I met this phenomenal lady who is a SAHM mom and blogger. She runs her home without a maid, with 4 kids (2 are twins and 1 was sickly but due to her positive and fighting spirit he is better now ) and her husband works out of town! She told me it's her passion that fuels her... she packs them all up and brings them to events since she has no help to care for them and writes at night when the kids are asleep. She is one superwoman and I bet we all can be! (if we want to). Here is her blog if you are curious.

SO If you are interested or know of anyone who could benefit from this training, just fill up the form in this link and they will get back to you.

If you have any questions for me please feel free to ask away in the comments section.