Private lender Maybank Indonesia and its foundation, Maybank Foundation, announced Tuesday in Jakarta that they had helped 90 disabled people in Indonesia increase their income through an economic empowerment program.

Maybank Indonesia president director Taswin Zakaria said the disabled people had been trained  to manage their businesses and finances in a program called Reach Independence and Sustainable Entrepreneurship, which started in April this year.

“Thank God, the participants’ revenues grew by 181 percent on average after joining the program,” Taswin said.

He said Maybank Indonesia planned to train around 2,000 people with physical disabilities in the next three years in five big cities.

Watini, one of the program’s participants, said she could finally earn money after gaining confidence to start a business—selling crackers.

“The program managed to change my perspective. Before taking part in this program, I was too shy to interact with people,” Watini said. She added that she now had enough savings to purchase a cell phone. (vny/ebf)