SI Ipoh Empowers Jenny Pong

Press Release

About Jenny

Jenny Pong, a double leg amputee, is a woman of perseverance. Despite life’s hardships and multiple challenges, she has a dynamic positiveness in her outlook on life. Lying on her makeshift trolley that helps her move about, she manages work around her house, does marketing and is a fantastic cook.

About Soroptimism

Soroptimist International is a worldwide global voice for women in management and the professions, working through service projects to assist underprivileged women and children.

This organisation which began in 1921, has 15 clubs in Malaysia and 3000 clubs and 80,000 members in 133 countries worldwide. SI Ipoh (Soroptimist International Ipoh) was chartered on 12 February 2009.

Soroptimist International Ipoh’s (SI Ipoh) involvement in Jenny’s life

SI Ipoh began its friendship with Jenny Pong when she was invited as one of the speakers for an International Women’s Day event that was organised by SI Ipoh in 2015. Being overwhelmed by her enthusiasm and her dynamic positive outlook in life, it has been in our hearts to help her to achieve financial stability in view of her constant needs for medical care.

The means to achieve this was finally conceived in September 2016 when we were invited to her house for lunch. We then discovered that Jenny is a fantastic cook and her home-made Nyonya curry chicken is awesomely delicious! SI Ipoh then decided to embark on an empowerment project to support and empower Jenny to promote and market the curry paste.

While Jenny concentrates on her cooking, SI Ipoh is helping her with sourcing suitable packaging materials, labeling, branding, costing, distribution channels, etc.

Jenny shared with SI Ipoh that for all these years, she has been very blessed in receiving well wishes from the generous public and many have come forth to offer job opportunities, such as making paper paraphernalia for Taoist funerals, weaving baskets with bamboo strips, or knitting pom-poms for key-chains and tissue boxes.

Unfortunately, upon the advice of her doctor, these particular jobs may cause problems for her health as the materials involved may be hazardous for her respiratory and general health. Currently, she is making her income by giving motivational talks to the public. However, Jenny realised that she can’t always depend on well-wishers as there are many unfortunate people out there that could have been in far worse condition than her, while her motivational speaking income is also very uncertain.

Jenny is very thankful that SI Ipoh is offering her, through this empowerment project, the potential of having her own home-based business. With the help of SI Ipoh, Jenny is confident that she can create a sustainable income for herself and her family.

Jenny has also shared that she is hoping that people do not buy her paste because of her condition but rather because they do like her paste and would continue to be her customers.

Having satisfied and happy customers is what matters most to Jenny.

About the paste

The paste is made from fresh ingredients and with no preservatives, no MSG and no artificial colouring and is available for sale now at:

1. Yee Hup Outlet (Ampang branch)
2. The Terrace, Meru Valley Resort.

Free local delivery is available for any direct order via Jenny Pong (012-587 5407) for 10 packets or more per order.

Pricing is at RM12 per 500g pack. A smaller pack of 250 g pack at RM7 per pack will be introduced soon to cater for smaller cooking portions.

The paste can be used for chicken, fish, vegetables and many other ways of cooking.

Total Sales

The first batch of the home-made Nyonya Curry Paste was brought to Soroptimist International Region of Malaysia’s (SIROM’s) Food & Fun Fiesta on the 19 and 20 November 2016 that was held at Bukit Damansara Community Center. A total of 400 packets of paste were sold in that event.

In less than a month, including the 400 packets that were sold in the Food and Fun Fiesta, to date, Jenny has sold more than 1,000 packets of paste.

The paste has been well received not only because of its great taste but also due to its convenience for cooking. Cooking using the paste suits the busy lifestyle of many families. A delicious Nyonya curry-flavoured dish can be done instantly within 20 mins.

New Product

Jenny Pong would like to take this opportunity to introduce two of her newly launched products

– Sambal Belacan (RM5 per 250g pack); Ginger Sauce (RM8 per 250g pack)

Grant from Yayasan Soroptimist Malaysia (YSM)

SI Ipoh is very pleased to receive a grant of RM 7,000 from YSM to support this empowerment project of SI Ipoh. The full amount of the grant will be given to Jenny Pong as her start-up cost and business improvement, which includes equipment purchase, packaging materials and etc.

(RM7,000 mock cheque from SI Ipoh to Jenny Pong would be presented during the press conference)