ABOUT THE PROJECT
In this academic year 2020/2021, in the March semester, there are 51 students of Bachelor of Business Administration, School of Business and Social Sciences (SBSS) registered for the Social Business II Course (BBC 3294). In this course, students are required to conduct a social business project or program for the local community. These 51 students were divided into ten groups with 5-6 students per group. As Albukhary International University has selected Baling and Sik as the targeted communities to be transformed from the bottom of the wealth pyramid, most social business projects are conducted in the Baling district this academic year. The projects have been successfully implemented with a community group from three villages in Baling, Kampung Teluk Sanau, Kampung Charuk Kalian, and Kuala Ketil. We collaborated with micro-entrepreneurs from two government agencies such as the Agriculture Department and Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) in Baling.
One of the social issues that still exist in Baling is poverty. Many people, especially women and those from the area, do not have a sustainable income. Although some of them are running small businesses, they lack knowledge in digital marketing. It has resulted in lower product sales and revenue. To deal with a business market that is more challenging after the Covid-19 pandemic, entrepreneurs in such a rural area need to equip themselves with digital marketing knowledge and skills to remain competitive. It is one of the social problems that the students had identified, and they came up with action plans to help the community.
In addition, there were also groups of students who conducted the program on Green Environment and English Literacy to the school students in Baling and around Alor Setar, as those social issues are also important to solve. In this Social Business Project, these groups of students act like "consultant" assisting their clients (targeted group) in solving their problems, mainly in increasing their income. As for the experience and learning processes, they charged their clients with a minimum price or received a small commission from the clients. It is a learning ground for the students in materializing their social business idea into reality.