People Systems Consultancy partners firms like Maybank to tackle poverty, help marginalised communities upskill
The social enterprise’s programmes focus on entrepreneurship
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[SINGAPORE] Rocelito Jancinal from Cebu, the Philippines, lost his livelihood as a technician after an injury and fell into debt when he used his savings for medical treatment.
In 2018, the father of four enrolled in People Systems Consultancy’s (PSC) entrepreneurial programme.
He has since expanded into new ventures such as vinegar-making and herb sales, as well as learnt skills such as sales strategies, marketing and money management.
His income after joining PSC has surged to US$2,300 a month from US$62.
As his business grew, he employed four persons with disabilities (PWDs) and now supports local farmers by getting his supplies from them, as well as trains aspiring organic farmers.
The Kuala Lumpur-based social enterprise focuses on beneficiaries with no or low income, and is on a mission to eradicate poverty around South-east Asia. It has already done so for nearly 115,000 families as at February.
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Raymond Gabriel, co-founder and executive director of PSC, said: “Through an intervention that (takes) six months to a year, we build the capabilities of the people that we empower through entrepreneurship training, financial-literacy training and mentoring, to raise their incomes… and get them out of poverty.”
He added that PSC has a “high” success rate: About 70 per cent of beneficiaries record an income increase of between 100 and 400 per cent in the short term.
“We also look at how we have improved their access to education, utilities and healthcare, their confidence and knowledge improvement, and how they are helping their communities after they have come up. So it’s a pay-it-forward model.”
Key programmes
More than 20 years ago, Gabriel volunteered as a social worker to help the homeless in KL. While there were many organisations running programmes to provide basic needs, he realised that it would be more effective to tackle the root problem of poverty.
In 2007, when PSC was established, it was involved in a programme with Microsoft and the Up Foundation to help 120 YWCA beneficiaries in Malaysia. PSC taught them soft skills such as financial literacy and building confidence to complement their vocational training. Ultimately, 90 per cent of them landed a job afterwards, or started their own business.
“In rural areas of Malaysia, sometimes jobs are scarce; so it’s good for (them) to start their own business and empower the local community by giving them jobs as well,” Gabriel said.
He started developing and testing PSC’s own programmes. It partners government ministries to source for beneficiaries.
PSC also has a long-term partnership with Maybank. The Rise programme was piloted in 2014 and has since expanded to Singapore, Indonesia and other Asean markets. It is an entrepreneurship and financial-empowerment programme for disadvantaged communities – particularly for PWDs.
Just like PSC’s own programmes, Rise covers topics to help beneficiaries run a business, such as operations planning, and includes ongoing mentoring. As at end-2025, it had more than 51,000 participants.
PSC’s standard entrepreneurship programme, which is free for beneficiaries, runs for three days and includes lessons in finance and money management. This is followed by six months of mentoring, where beneficiaries learn about digital marketing and customer service.
“They have to take action on the fourth day (after training)... We have a very rigorous profiling system to make sure that the people who join are serious about starting something,” Gabriel noted, adding that partners and government agencies fund the programmes as they “want to see economic uplift” within certain communities.
In addition, PSC runs programmes on financial education, employability and youth empowerment.
Expansion into Singapore, new programmes
PSC has branches in Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and Indonesia, and expanded to Singapore in December 2024.
Gabriel said: “Singapore has good employment policies and there’re jobs for everyone, but not everyone is qualified or educated enough to get a high-paying job. Some people have an innate entrepreneurial spirit, and we can tap into that.”
There are three targeted beneficiary groups in Singapore: PWDs and people with mental health issues; people who want to supplement their income; and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
PSC currently partners social service agencies such as SG Enable and Touch Community Services to reach beneficiaries.
Gabriel added: “We have developed programmes for SMEs looking at going regional and how they can tap different markets, because we have so much experience working in Asean. There’s a lot that we can share with them to enable them to grow faster, from corporate structures to building local systems in place.”
Earlier this year, PSC launched a tech entrepreneurship programme for those looking to build an online or app-based business.
In PSC’s pipeline is an environmental-focused programme to teach entrepreneurs about carbon reduction.
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