M’sian team turns PPR spaces into cloud kitchens for women to become foodpreneurs

[Written in partnership with Pepper Labs, but the editorial team had full control over the content.]

Entrepreneurship is an extremely challenging endeavour, even for those with relatively clear paths.

But for those in marginalised communities, this path is riddled with obstacles and barriers.

For instance, women living in PPR (Program Perumahan Rakyat) flats, especially those aged under 45, face barriers such as limited access to employment, childcare responsibilities, and low formal education levels. Many of these women are also single mothers or the primary caregivers in their families.

Because of these challenges, even if these women may have entrepreneurial desires, it’s very difficult to materialise them.

That’s where Dapur Digital comes in.

Not your typical cloud kitchen, Dapur Digital builds its infrastructure within PPR flats, empowering the women who live there to achieve financial independence while gaining critical entrepreneurial and digital skills that set them up for long-term success​.

Meet Pepper Labs

The team behind Dapur Digital is a social enterprise by the name of Pepper Labs.

Pepper Labs was founded by a group of young professionals in 2015, with the goal of driving social transformation through sustainable economic empowerment and inclusive growth.

The founding team comprises Ir. Kuhan, alongside three other directors. Ir. Kuhan has extensive experience of over nine years in social entrepreneurship, with expertise particularly in capacity-building and empowering marginalised communities.  

Today, Pepper Labs is helmed by CEO Gevi Ananda Roe. She shared that the social enterprise’s initiatives have become a beacon of hope for these marginalised communities, enabling long-term change through entrepreneurship​.

And one key way that they’re doing this is through Dapur Digital.

Feeding two birds with one scone

Dapur Digital was conceived in 2022, during the challenging recovery phase after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Low-income communities, particularly those in PPR flats, were hit hardest,” Gevi pointed out.

Thus, Pepper Labs collaborated with Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance and Yayasan Hasanah to launch Dapur Digital as part of a broader strategy to economically empower women through food-based digital entrepreneurship.

The cloud kitchen offers the women in PPR flats training and infrastructure to allow them to launch small food businesses.

At the same time, Dapur Digital’s cloud kitchens would help repurpose unused, under-utilised, or dilapidated government buildings into hubs of economic activity.

Using these spaces also means the women don’t have to leave their PPR communities, and thus are able to care for their families while being economically active within the PPR complexes.

“This model, although not initially requested by the community, aligned perfectly with their needs and has since become a cornerstone of sustainable income generation​,” Gevi shared.

Currently, there are five Dapur Digital kitchens operating across five different PPR flats. A total of 50 women—including 17 youth and eight single mothers—from these five PPR communities are part of this initiative.

The cloud kitchens are fitted with state-of-the-art cooking equipment, a conducive workspace, Wi-Fi, and computers.

According to Gevi, there are several local brands under Dapur Digital, many of which were established specifically for this initiative. Others are existing small businesses that have evolved with the social enterprise’s support.

“We encourage participants to develop their own brands, giving them full ownership of their products and their business identity,” the CEO said.  

100% of the sales revenue generated by the women in Dapur Digital goes directly to them. The women later allocate a small percentage to cover operational costs such as kitchen maintenance and delivery platform fees.

Dapur Digital has a monthly sales target of RM10,000 for its businesses. If that target is not met, Pepper Labs reviews the participants’ strategies, offering additional guidance and training towards growth hacking.

Going beyond the surface

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

Understanding this adage, Dapur Digital goes beyond just one-off help for women to start their businesses.

On top of the two years of rental-free access to the cloud kitchen facilities, Dapur Digital has programmes to ensure that the businesses are sustainable and scalable.

For one, the programme dishes out professional certificates. Through Dapur Digital, participants will receive professional certification in food technology through a micro-credential module codeveloped with UNITAR.

Gevi shared that Dapur Digital is also offering the first-ever micro-credential in cloud kitchen management in Malaysia.

The training provided under this micro-credential module covers several areas, including:

“The course is designed to provide practical knowledge and skills to manage and grow cloud kitchen businesses effectively,” Gevi said. “Each participant will be graduating from UNITAR with a micro-credential, advancing their education level which is mostly SPM qualified.”

Each kitchen will receive guidance and mentorship from professional chefs, ensuring high standards of food production.

Reaching women in every state

With a focus on impacting PPR housing in urban areas, Dapur Digital plans to expand to 20 cloud kitchens by 2025.

“Our long-term vision is to replicate this model across Malaysia, with the hope of reaching women in every state,” Gevi said.

In order to achieve the goal of creating a sustainable, scalable model that empowers women in underserved communities to become financially independent entrepreneurs, Dapur Digital needs various stakeholders to play their part.

For one, there’s the collaborations with government institutions such as the Ministry of Finance, Department of Federal Territories, Yayasan Hasanah, Kuala Lumpur City Council among others.

The programme also strives to attract corporate and mass consumer traffic through platforms like Grab, foodpanda, and Shopee Food, driving more business to these entrepreneurs.

“This initiative highlights the power of public-private-philanthropy partnerships in driving real economic and social impact,” Gevi pointed out. “Dapur Digital would be a bankable social brand that is a conduit for corporates to achieve ESG aspirations.”

Dapur Digital also offers team building opportunities within their PPR complexes.

Offering good food with a good cause, Dapur Digital’s kitchens can be ordered from online, while corporates can support them through catering and meal boxes.

Featured Image Credit: Pepper Labs