4th generation hawker, former banker lauded for their entrepreneurial spirit at inaugural Singapore Hawkers Awards

• Fifteen hawkers received the inaugural Singapore Hawkers Awards on Jan 11
• Among them was fourth-generation hawker Filzah Miranti Mohd Dawood
• She continues to use the same techniques and recipes of her great-grandmother
• Another award recipient is former banker Elayne Ang who came up with a fried carrot cake recipe
• A new post-diploma to encourage recent graduates to join the hawker trade was announced by Dr Amy Khor

SINGAPORE — For close to six decades, the taste of the dishes from Gerai Nenek Obek hawker stall at Geylang Serai Market has remained largely unchanged.

The recipes have been passed down from mother to daughter for four generations since 1963.

The latest in line to keep cooking popular Malay dishes such as lontong and nasi rawon (black beef soup with rice) is Ms Filzah Miranti Mohd Dawood, 29, who has been working full-time at the stall for most of the last decade.

When she was seven years old, she would help her mother serve customers at their hawker stall. She gradually took on more tasks as she grew older.

Although she graduated from the Institute of Technical Education College East with a National ITE Certificate (Nitec) in Chemical Process Technology in 2011, Ms Filzah, then 19, chose to work at the stall full-time as she was concerned about a lack of job opportunities in the chemical process industry.

It was several years before she could get her great-grandmother’s recipes right.

“I had 30 over dishes with many kinds of ingredients to remember, and techniques… but eventually my mum felt satisfied I could go forward by myself,” she said.

After a brief stint as a technician at oil and gas company Shell from 2013 to 2014, Ms Filzah returned to take charge of the stall as she was passionate about cooking.

For her efforts to keep her family’s traditional recipes alive, Ms Filzah on Monday (Jan 11) was one of 15 recipients of the inaugural Singapore Hawkers Awards.

The event recognises the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of hawkers in three categories: “Promising new hawker”, “hawker heritage” and “enterprising hawker”. It was organised by the Federation of Merchants' Associations, Singapore and Chinese-language daily Lianhe Wanbao, with the National Environmental Agency (NEA) supporting it.

Ms Filzah, who won under the “hawker heritage” category, received her award from Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, during the SG Hawker Seminar held at Our Tampines Hub.

The seminar brings together more than 100 hawkers and industry stakeholders to exchange ideas about sustaining the hawker trade in Singapore.

Another winner was Ms Elayne Ang, 40, who took home the award for “promising new hawker”.

Wanting to run her own business, the former banker had left the corporate world to set up her own hawker stall in 2019 with her friend, Mr Samuel Tan, 46, a former army regular.

But with no experience in the food-and-beverage industry, the first day at their fried carrot cake and hokkien mee stall at Block 84 Marine Parade Central was “chaotic”.

“There was not enough stock and we had to close the shop early. Our ingredient proportions for the carrot cake were not correct, too,” Ms Ang recounted.

But Ms Ang and Mr Tan pressed on, gathering feedback from customers and scouting famous carrot cake stalls to watch how experienced hawkers cooked.

They perfected their fried carrot cake recipe within six months and now both dishes at their stall sell out daily.

“I proved everybody wrong and was able to go beyond that,” Ms Ang said of her award.

NEW SCHEMES PAVE WAY FOR ASPIRING HAWKERS TO JOIN TRADE

Dr Khor on Monday announced new initiatives by the Government to attract young, aspiring hawkers such as Ms Filzah and Ms Ang to the trade.

New work-study post-diploma in hawkerpreneurship for graduates

• The post-diploma by Temasek Polytechnic will allow recent graduates from the Institute of Technical Education and polytechnics to learn the hawker trade in a structured curriculum

• The one-year course will come under the Hawkers’ Development Programme launched by NEA last year

• Participants will undergo two months’ training on skills such as large-scale cooking and marketing techniques

• They will then go through a four-month apprenticeship with an experienced hawker, followed by a six-month mentorship as they run their own incubation stalls

• The first intake of 50 students is this March

• The course costs S$1,733.40 for Singaporeans and permanent residents

• Participants will receive a monthly training allowance of S$1,000

Expanded training places under Hawkers’ Development Programme

• Besides the post-diploma, training places under the Hawkers’ Development Programme will be expanded from 100 to 300 over the next two years

• The programme, jointly developed by NEA and SkillsFuture Singapore to equip aspiring and existing hawkers with the relevant skills and competencies to run their hawker businesses, consists of three stages: Training, apprenticeship and running incubation stalls

• More than 170 aspiring hawkers have completed the training stage of the programme since its launch last year, of whom 56 have moved on to apprenticeship stage

• Of these, 41 are in the progress of setting up their incubation stalls

More incubation stalls for aspiring hawkers

• The number of stalls under NEA's Incubation Stall Programme will be increased from 20 to 80 in the next few years to keep up with the increased training places under the Hawkers’ Development Programme

• The Incubation Stall Programme provides significant rebates to aspiring hawkers on the market rents of their stalls for slightly over a year

• Successful applicants will be offered stalls at half of the market rent for nine months, followed by 75 per cent of the market rent for another six months. The stalls will come pre-fitted with basic equipment to lower the upfront capital investment needed for the setting up of a stall

One-day module for hawkers to pick up digital skills

• The module by the Nanyang Polytechnic’s Asian Culinary Institute will teach hawkers to use e-payment, and establish their presence on social media and food delivery platforms

• Sixty-three hawkers have gone through the module, which started last December