PT Bank Maybank Indonesia Tbk. (Maybank Indonesia), and the Maybank Foundation responsible for corporate responsibility (CR) programs for the Maybank Group, have continued their community empowerment program for underprivileged women, namely the Maybank Women Eco-Weavers (MWEW) program. As the MWEW program enters its second phase, program activities now take place in two locations; Tuban in East Java and Lembata in East Nusa Tenggara.

The Maybank Women Eco-Weavers program is part of Maybank Group's efforts to promote traditional fabrics at a global level in a sustainable manner, and create economic independence for women weavers throughout the ASEAN region. This program also supports the realization of an "ASEAN Center of Excellence".

Previously, from 2016 to 2019, the Maybank Foundation's Maybank Women Eco-Weavers program focused on developing natural dyes for weaving at four locations, namely Sawah lunto and Tanah Datar in West Sumatra and Central Lombok and East Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara. The Maybank Women Eco-Weavers program has also been implemented in Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos.

The first phase of implementation of the Maybank Women Eco-Weavers program in Indonesia saw the successful training of more than 400 women weavers, and this lead to improvements in their living standards. The achievements of this program, which is part of the larger agenda of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025, has received recognition from ASEAN. The Maybank Women Eco-Weavers program is also supported by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Joko Widodo, and the National Heritage Board of Singapore responsible for carrying out various activities to promote ASEAN arts, culture and heritage.

The second stage of implementation of the Maybank Women Eco-Weavers program in Tuban continued, in partnership with Sekar Kawung. Maybank provides assistance to the weavers in the form of training focusing on increasing the productive business of spinning yarn, as well as the creation of Gedog woven fabrics and the characteristic Batik of Kerek Tuban.

All the training provided through this program aims to help the weavers, from their work of weaving the fabric up to the marketing of woven fabrics for eventual transformation into various fashion products. These efforts are carried out with the goal of promoting and enhancing the position of traditional weaving on the global market in a sustainable manner, and supporting the independence and financial inclusion of those who practice traditional fabric crafts, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The weavers of Lembata learn about consumer preferences and ways to penetrate the fashion industry market for woven fabrics through a partnership with Torajamelo. To support this goal, weavers also learn about the latest design trends, such as popular motifs and threads, and color combinations to satisfy current market trends, as well as woven pattern motifs and the use of derivative patterns, etc. This training is expected to provide the weavers with insight into the latest designs and help them understand the basics of design in preparation for weaving, and provide opportunities for the weavers to design their own characteristic weaving variations.

To introduce the woven fabrics created by the Maybank Women Eco Weavers to a wider audience, the Maybank Foundation and its two partners held a virtual art exhibition to display the profiles and designs of woven fabrics and the derivative products, as used in current fashion.

The virtual exhibition and fashion showcasing with Sekar Kawung took place on 3rd March, 2021. This virtual event presented the work of the Gedog Seser weavers from Tuban, known for their distinctive designs featuring images of simplicity. The virtual launch of the exhibition with Torajamelo, held on 23rd March, 2021, presented woven fabrics created by Lembata weavers. As a result of these two programs, 67 beneficiaries made commitments to preserve Indonesian Tenun (woven fabrics).

Maybank Foundation CEO, Shahril Azuar Jimin, said "Community empowerment is one of the pillars of corporate responsibility. Through the Maybank Women Eco-Weavers program, Maybank Group supports women's efforts to become economically independent by preserving the weaving that has been passed down from generation to generation so that the weavers may benefit, in line with our mission of humanizing financial services. This program is also in accordance with the ASEAN mission and five United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, namely a prosperous life, quality education, gender equality, economic growth and decent work, and inequality reduction."

Maybank Indonesia Commissioner and Maybank Foundation Board of Trustees member, Ita Budhi, said, "Despite the continuing pandemic, Maybank Indonesia continues its to fulfill its commitment to pay attention to women weavers through the Maybank Women Eco-Weavers program, which aims to improve their abilities, confidence, weaving skills, knowledge of design trends, and so on. We hope these women can achieve financial independence so that they can make a positive impact in their own lives and those of their families and the surrounding community, alongside Maybank, by participating in efforts to preserve woven fabrics for the present and future generations."

By improving their skills and knowledge, these women weavers can not only encourage independence and promote weaving skills, but also create new jobs for other weaver communities, and provide encouragement and create motivation for the surrounding community.

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Notes to Editors

Maybank Indonesia is one of the leading banks in Indonesia and is a part of the regional and international network of the Maybank Group. Maybank Indonesia provides a comprehensive range of products and services for individual and corporate customers through Community Financial Services and Global Banking, as well as automotive financing through subsidiaries, WOM Finance for two-wheeled vehicles and Maybank Finance for four-wheeled vehicles. Maybank Indonesia also continues to develop Digital Banking services and capacity through Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, Maybank M2U (mobile banking based internet banking) and various other channels.

As of December 2020, Maybank Indonesia has 361 branches including Syariah branches spread across Indonesia as well as one overseas branch (Mumbai, India), 22 Mobile Cash Cars and 1,428 ATMs including 79 CDMs (Cash Deposit Machine) connected with over 20,000 ATMs incorporated in ATM PRIMA, ATM BERSAMA, ALTO, CIRRUS, and connected to 3,500 Maybank ATMs in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. Maybank Indonesia manages customer deposits amounting to Rp115.0 trillion and has total assets valued at Rp173.2 trillion as of December 2020.

About the Maybank Foundation

Maybank Foundation is the Foundation that manages the Maybank Group Corporate Responsibility. Its presence has a positive impact on the communities in the markets in which Maybank operates. The Foundation is mandated to identify programs with tangible and sustainable results - a series of efforts that will bring change in the long term. Maybank Foundation impacts six focus areas: Education, Economic Empowerment, Healthy Living, Environmental Diversity, Arts and Culture and Disaster Management.


For more information:

Tommy Hersyaputera
Head, Corporate & Brand Communications
Email: CCommunications@maybank.co.id
Telp: +6221 2922-8888