The i-Usahawan programme for the energy sector program was introduced on 1st August 2018 in conjunction with the 13th National Youth Day Celebration. It is a youth entrepreneurship development initiative under the Ministry of Energy with the main objective to increase youth participation in the field of entrepreneurship.

This program aims to provide a platform to produce independent and resilient youth entrepreneurs with the ability to maintain and expand their businesses in a competitive environment.

Through this program, local entrepreneurs aged between 18 – 35 years old will be given the opportunity to compete in low-risk contracts offered by the Government, Government-Linked Companies and Statutory Bodies in the energy sector. These contracts are low-risk contracts and do not require high technology and business capital. Examples of contracts include services such as event management, photography and videography, printing machine preparation and maintenance, lawn mowing, air conditioning maintenance, office cleaning, and others.

As part of the main requirements to participate in this program, the entrepreneurs must have no prior contract with the Government, Government-Linked Companies and Statutory Bodies in the past 5 years. In addition, youth entrepreneurs as company owners must be active in managing the daily operations of the business.

To date, thirty-nine (39) energy sector contracts have been allocated for this program, including nine (9) contracts from the Department of Electrical Services, Ministry of Energy. Thirty-two (32) youth entrepreneurs have secured twenty-two (22) out of thirty-nine (39) contracts. The contracts have provided employment opportunities for approximately 300 local people. This is in line with the objective to promote local businesses that are 100 percent managed by locals who in turn employ 100 percent local workers.

The i-Usahawan program is a close collaboration between the Ministry of Energy and the Contract Owner namely the Government, Government-Linked Companies and Statutory Bodies with the support of agencies who provided the entrepreneurial skills training such as Darussalam Enterprise (DARe) and Shell LiveWIRE.

To improve knowledge and professional skills, successful youth entrepreneurs will participate in a training program such as mentorship throughout the duration of the contracts. With this initiative, the local entrepreneurs will be able to contribute to the local economic growth through the increase in domestic revenue and expenditure in the energy sector’s local business development. This is in line with the Ministry of Energy’s Strategic Plan 2020-2025 through the 6th Strategic Objective, which is to Support Socio-Economic Development through Generating Impact from the Energy Sector