- Successful graduation of participants after three months of intensive training
- Beauty for a Better Life (BFBL) empowers women to change their future for the better through a career in the hairdressing and beauty industry
- BFBL has helped over 120 women since it was launched by L’Oréal Malaysia in 2016
L’Oréal Malaysia celebrates the graduation of participants for completing the Beauty for a Better Life (BFBL) programme 2022 which was in partnership with WOMEN:girls, a Malaysian non-profit organisation. In September this programme resumed after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The graduation comes after three months of intensive hairdressing training with L’Oréal Academy and Bambang Soteto’s Faculty of Hairtistry Academy. Out of the 30 participants for this year’s programme, 72% of them come from B40 families, 17% do not have access to pursue higher education, and 11% are unemployed.
Eighteen-year-old Santhini said that this journey has not only taught her hairdressing knowledge from scratch but that she’d also found friendship and guidance from her educators, mentors and peers. According to her, the key to succeeding in this course is to persevere and never give up, even if you don’t make it on your first try.
Siti Fatihah, 26 years old, found joy and purpose in attending and learning from the hairdressing classes. She plans to continue upskilling her knowledge of hairstyling in the hopes of one day becoming a hair educator, and is then planning to conduct lessons for those who are underprivileged and who didn’t have opportunities to learn this skill. She is extremely happy that she managed to secure an internship in one of the salons in the Klang Valley.
Annie Tan, 42 years of age, has this to say: “I entered the course with zero knowledge of hairdressing and three months later, I’ve managed to complete a whole cut, wash and blow dry session all on my own!” She was elated to pass the final practical exam of the Beauty for a Better Life programme and plans to give back to her community by providing free haircuts to the old folks’ home in her area.
In Malaysia, the beauty sector has registered the fastest value and volume growth since 2019, and will continue to do so up until 2026. According to statistics, the beauty and personal care market is expected to grow annually by 4.07%. With this sector booming there comes an increased opportunity for job placements.
Tomas Hruska, Managing Director of L’Oréal Malaysia, expressed his pride at witnessing the latest batch of graduates, “L’Oréal Malaysia is committed to empowering women in need because everyone deserves to take charge of their future. Hence, it is heart-warming to witness these creative, enterprising, and resilient women graduating from our Beauty for a Better Life programme. We hope that they can now use their newly found hairdressing skills to better their livelihood. We wish them all the best.”
The Executive Director of WOMEN:girls, Izza Izelan was also happy for the graduates, saying, “These women have turned their lack and limited access to higher education into skills and potential. They have had the courage to pursue their dreams and manifest them into reality. They believed in themselves; WOMEN:girls and L’Oréal believe that with their new-found skills they can finally earn a sustainable income and contribute to the beauty industry. Having grown alongside these participants, I have experienced their hardship and their determination to rise above that hardship. I can see that with hard work and spirit, they have decided to change their future and pursue a career in hairdressing. Today, this becomes a reality.”
L’Oréal Malaysia launched the Beauty for a Better Life program locally in 2016 and has helped over 120 women by establishing new training centres, training the trainers, providing motivational training, holding masterclasses with L’Oréal Professionnel, and assisting in job matching after participants graduate.
For more information about the Beauty for a Better Life program, please visit L’Oréal Fondation.