Fatimah (fifth left) and Wang (fourth left) and franchisee awards winners pose for a group photo.
KUCHING: Smart Reader Worldwide Sdn Bhd held a dinner for 120 of their franchisees, principals, and educators to thank them for having worked hard the whole year to achieve success.
Group executive director Datin Sri Dato Dr KH Wang said the Franchisee Awards Nite 2015 which was themed ‘Crystal 15’ was special because it was a celebration of great success for Sarawak-based franchisees as they have garnered a quarter of all the awards from Smart Reader Worldwide which includes the highest level of awards called The Radiant Diamond Awards.
“Out of more than 300 Smart Reader Kids centres nationwide, only seven centres are qualified for the Radiant Awards and four of them are from Sarawak,” she said during her speech at the dinner here on Sunday night. The qualifiers were Smart Reader Kids Tabuan Jaya Baru 2, Uni Garden Kota Samarahan, Chong Hin Garden 1 and 2 and Jalan Keretapi.
Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Hajah Fatimah Abdullah, who was also present to grace the event, noted in her speech: “More women are participating actively in the franchisee business especially in the early childhood education industry and I hope the number will keep growing for the coming year.”
Calling Wang a ‘million dollar woman’ she said the ‘beauty with brain’ was a good leader who had led her team towards results.
Wang has been endorsed by Malaysia Book of Records as a woman entrepreneur who has won the most number of awards to date; 31 local and international awards.
“The Sarawak government strongly encourages the setting up of childcare centres or creches in office complexes all over the country to encourage more women to join the workforce,” Fatimah said.
She added that there were only six childcare centres in office complexes in the state, which included the one at Yayasan Sarawak head office.
Smart Reader Worldwide has taken the lead to set up corporate preschool centres in office buildings, factories and government agencies with the first being in Smart Reader International College premise in Kepong Business Park, Kuala Lumpur.
At the awards dinner, recipients for Radiant Diamond Awards were Evelyn Law, Sylvia Lim and Sharon Chang of Tabuan Jaya Baru 2, Uni Garden, Kota Samarahan, Chong Hin Garden 1 and Jalan Keretapi, respectively.
Law and Chang also received New Impressive Awards. Lim bagged one Diamond Award for Smart Reader Kids Chong Hin Garden II.
The Platinum Award recipient was Lisa Ng of Smart Reader Kids Jalan Song and the Gold Award recipients were Sophia Laka, franchisee of Smart Reader Kids Taman Hock Lee, Bintulu, and Valentina Freni-Ganguly, principal of Smart Reader Kids Jalan Rubber Barat.
Chang, the franchisee cum principal of Smart Reader Kids Jalan Keretapi, Kuching received a special award from Smart Reader Worldwide for being the most liked centre on social media. Smart Reader Kids Jalan Keretapi is the oldest centre in Sarawak, which was set up 14 years ago.
Smart Reader Kids has more than 300 child enrichment centres in Malaysia. More information can be obtained by calling 03-6279 5555 (KL office), 082-232 555 (Kuching office), 088-702 757 (Kota Kinabalu office) or SMARTLine at 1-300-88-5555.
Smart Reader Worldwide® website is www.smartreader.edu.my; its Facebook is at smartreaderworldwide while its Instagram is at smartreaderworldwide, or Twitter at smartreader SRW.