It began, curiously enough, with a volunteer stint tutoring maths. In 2019, Sapna Kewalramani Malhotra started helping a girl from a financially challenged background with Secondary 2 maths. But after only a few months, she stepped back.
Kewalramani genuinely wanted to help, but she was not trained to teach maths. Surprisingly, the volunteer manager who had paired them suggested Kewalramani help the girl’s mother, Nooril Azurah Suntek Noor, instead.
Azurah has five children, including one with special needs, making it difficult to hold a full-time job. She was living in a small rental flat and supporting her children by baking delicious Nutella tarts from home.
But she was not earning much – around a couple of hundred dollars monthly. She needed to earn more.
Having previously run a branding and illustration home business, Kewalramani began mentoring Azurah. Every week for the next few months, she sat with Azurah, who came with her infant, discussing pricing, product differentiation, packaging and branding. Azurah’s business Qwalaaa grew.
A few months later, the volunteer manager introduced Kewalramani to another financially challenged woman running a home-based Malay food catering business. Then, Kewalramani got to know a third woman selling murukku part-time.
The community grew. And volunteers with entrepreneurial, marketing, communications, finance, and photography experience started pouring in to help.
That is how Rise and Thrive began in 2019.
Rise and Thrive supports women from lower-income households who run their own food, beauty and craft home businesses, such as this seamstress. (Photo: Paris Chia)
A volunteer-led initiative, it has since grown into a charity in 2025. It has helped 91 women from lower-income households with small home-based businesses work towards financial stability through a structured training and mentorship programme, and community support.
These include food businesses, beauty services like facials and manicures, and craft businesses like sewing and crocheting.
Qwalaaa now frequently takes larger corporate orders and repeat catering orders, and Azurah has since moved out of her rental home into her own Housing Development Board flat, supported by her family’s hard work and earnings.
The path to founding the charity was not entirely accidental.
Kewalramani, 40, a British national and Singapore permanent resident is from a well-established entrepreneurial family in Singapore. In 2018, she joined her family foundation Kewal Ramani
The foundation supports education, health, and initiatives for women and children in India, Singapore, Nigeria and the United Kingdom. In India, Kewalramani oversees the foundation’s grants, holding quarterly reviews with partners and advising on projects. In Singapore, however, KRF’s involvement had been limited to financial donations.
Wanting to make a deeper impact, Kewalramani began attending workshops and courses under the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre’s Company of Good initiative that helps companies give back to society in more structured and meaningful ways.
Kewalramani realised that financial assistance was not enough. She wanted to make a deeper, more sustainable impact on women and their families. (Photo: Within Studios)
Her family foundation role and on-ground work helping women to grow their home-based businesses revealed a gap.
“As a foundation, we could give grants to wonderful organisations working to help women go back to employment, where income is a lot more stable than running a small business,” she told CNA Women.
These organisations do a lot to make employment happen for these women – working with employers, supporting mindset shifts, and sometimes providing help with childcare, she said.
Yet many of the women drop out of these jobs over time as they need to be physically present to provide stability for their family and children – something they could not do with a full-time job, Kewalramani added.
“If you are out of the house from nine to seven, and your children are latchkey kids, playing up behaviourally, not thriving in the education system, or if you’re married to someone who is not so whole and is struggling… If all of that is crumbling, what is the point of that financial stability journey?” she questioned.
A stable home is the foundation on which financial stability is built, she said.
A Rise and Thrive member picking her child up from school – a full-time job may not be an option for women with unique caregiving needs or other challenges, says Kewalramani. (Photo: Paris Chia)
As a mother of two daughters aged 11 and eight, Kewalramani personally relates to this.
Previously a civil servant, she took a career break from 2015 to 2018 to be present for her then young children when her husband was training to be an orthopaedic surgeon. During that time, she ran her branding and illustration business.
Kewalramani acknowledged that her financial situation and family support were entirely different from the women she supports. But that inspires her to work even harder for them.
“I watch other women have a completely different set of cards dealt to them.
“Some may not have a husband in the picture, or they may have one who is not very reliable. Some have multiple children or children with special needs. Some may not have gone through the whole education system, and may be less hireable, or have confidence issues,” she said.
Despite their differences, Kewalramani feels connected to these women as a mother and woman, and empathises with their struggles.
“In dark moments, you just need someone to remind you that you are very capable, give you tools and resources, and open doors for you to see your capability,” she said.
That is what Rise and Thrive seeks to do for these women – whom she calls Risers – over a three-year journey.
Rise and Thrive members coming together for a product inspiration session. (Photo: Paris Chia)
During the first six months, Risers learn business essentials such as branding, pricing and marketing from a mentor.
After this, they are connected to corporate and consumer sales opportunities through the charity’s network. They may also benefit from additional programmes such as book-keeping to further strengthen their financial literacy.
They then graduate into the alumni programme one-and-a-half to two years later, where they will have access to more self-improvement programmes, represent Rise and Thrive as ambassadors, and may even share some of their learnings with other Risers.
Risers are referred to Rise and Thrive via social service agencies in Singapore. Two full-time staff, an intern, and more than 100 volunteers support this community.
To qualify, the per capita income of the Riser’s home has to be below S$1,600, they must have access to a tablet or laptop and a phone, be able to speak basic business English, have a marketable skill or product, and show commitment.
Each woman goes through an interview and selection process. Last year, the charity accepted 20 Risers out of 47 referrals because of limited mentor capacity. This year, the charity has 30 spots.
The Riser community is diverse. It encompasses teenage mothers, grandmothers, women whose husbands are incarcerated, former offenders and single women struggling with physical or mental health challenges.
Kewalramani (second from right) at a Rise and Thrive volunteer meet-up in 2025. (Photo: Rise and Thrive)
The charity invests S$6,000 in each woman over three years, funded by grants, public donations, corporate partnerships, and earned income from its programmes and corporate engagements. In March 2026, public donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Tote Board’s Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme, a government-backed scheme.
After going through the programme for a year or so, Risers typically earn an average monthly revenue of S$1,300, which helps them tide over the period when they are unable to take on full-time work for family or personal reasons. Many do end up going back to full-time work a few years later when they are able to, said Kewalramani.
The business-building process has also been transformative for Risers, she added.
Home baker and founder of Chitz Bakez, 47-year-old Chitra Munusamy, said the programme has helped her grow her business and confidence.
The mother of three children aged 22, 20 and 18 told CNA Women that her late husband had been in and out of prison for most of the 22 years of their marriage. Wanting to be present for her children during this turbulent period, she gave up full-time work and took on temporary or part-time administrative or factory jobs.
An avid baker since her teens, she also sold homemade cookies, cakes and desserts to family, friends and customers through social media to supplement her income.
“Whenever I’m stressed, I take whatever ingredients I have and bake to de-stress,” says Chitz Bakez founder Chitra Munusamy. (Photo: Aprajita Anil)
One of Munusamy’s bestsellers are these Masala Chai Cookies, S$17 for a jar of 25 cookies. (Photo: Dyutima Jha)
When her husband died in 2021, she did not allow herself time to grieve, instead, she threw herself into baking to support her girls. Joining Rise and Thrive a year later helped her expand her business and inspired her to develop more interesting products.
Some of her most popular bakes include Masala Chai Cookies; Pineapple Tarts infused with cinnamon, anise seed and pandan; and Rose Butter Cookies with white chocolate drizzle and rose petals.
“I want to introduce more unique bakes, just like how I tell my daughters not to be afraid to be themselves and stand out,” she said. “I bake with a lot of love and extra care. I don’t want people to buy from me out of pity. I want to make the best products so that people who eat them feel good.”
Such stories of grit and courage keep Kewalramani going. And she makes it a point to share these stories with friends and acquaintances whenever she gifts items made by Risers, bringing these treats to dinners and parties.
“We live in Singapore, where it’s so easy to buy things anytime, anywhere. So, when you support a small, home-based business, you might feel that it is a bit more work. You have to send a WhatsApp message, place the order and pick it up yourself,” Kewalramani acknowledged.
“But there is a ripple effect of what that purchase does for someone’s confidence and their family. When you purchase consciously, host consciously, gift consciously, you are investing in women who invest in themselves,” she said.
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
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Kewalramani genuinely wanted to help, but she was not trained to teach maths. Surprisingly, the volunteer manager who had paired them suggested Kewalramani help the girl’s mother, Nooril Azurah Suntek Noor, instead.
Azurah has five children, including one with special needs, making it difficult to hold a full-time job. She was living in a small rental flat and supporting her children by baking delicious Nutella tarts from home.
But she was not earning much – around a couple of hundred dollars monthly. She needed to earn more.
Having previously run a branding and illustration home business, Kewalramani began mentoring Azurah. Every week for the next few months, she sat with Azurah, who came with her infant, discussing pricing, product differentiation, packaging and branding. Azurah’s business Qwalaaa grew.
A few months later, the volunteer manager introduced Kewalramani to another financially challenged woman running a home-based Malay food catering business. Then, Kewalramani got to know a third woman selling murukku part-time.
The community grew. And volunteers with entrepreneurial, marketing, communications, finance, and photography experience started pouring in to help.
That is how Rise and Thrive began in 2019.
Rise and Thrive supports women from lower-income households who run their own food, beauty and craft home businesses, such as this seamstress. (Photo: Paris Chia)
A volunteer-led initiative, it has since grown into a charity in 2025. It has helped 91 women from lower-income households with small home-based businesses work towards financial stability through a structured training and mentorship programme, and community support.
These include food businesses, beauty services like facials and manicures, and craft businesses like sewing and crocheting.
Qwalaaa now frequently takes larger corporate orders and repeat catering orders, and Azurah has since moved out of her rental home into her own Housing Development Board flat, supported by her family’s hard work and earnings.
WHEN FULL-TIME WORK ISN’T POSSIBLE
The path to founding the charity was not entirely accidental.
Kewalramani, 40, a British national and Singapore permanent resident is from a well-established entrepreneurial family in Singapore. In 2018, she joined her family foundation Kewal Ramani
The foundation supports education, health, and initiatives for women and children in India, Singapore, Nigeria and the United Kingdom. In India, Kewalramani oversees the foundation’s grants, holding quarterly reviews with partners and advising on projects. In Singapore, however, KRF’s involvement had been limited to financial donations.
Wanting to make a deeper impact, Kewalramani began attending workshops and courses under the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre’s Company of Good initiative that helps companies give back to society in more structured and meaningful ways.
Kewalramani realised that financial assistance was not enough. She wanted to make a deeper, more sustainable impact on women and their families. (Photo: Within Studios)
Her family foundation role and on-ground work helping women to grow their home-based businesses revealed a gap.
“As a foundation, we could give grants to wonderful organisations working to help women go back to employment, where income is a lot more stable than running a small business,” she told CNA Women.
These organisations do a lot to make employment happen for these women – working with employers, supporting mindset shifts, and sometimes providing help with childcare, she said.
Yet many of the women drop out of these jobs over time as they need to be physically present to provide stability for their family and children – something they could not do with a full-time job, Kewalramani added.
“If you are out of the house from nine to seven, and your children are latchkey kids, playing up behaviourally, not thriving in the education system, or if you’re married to someone who is not so whole and is struggling… If all of that is crumbling, what is the point of that financial stability journey?” she questioned.
A stable home is the foundation on which financial stability is built, she said.
A Rise and Thrive member picking her child up from school – a full-time job may not be an option for women with unique caregiving needs or other challenges, says Kewalramani. (Photo: Paris Chia)
As a mother of two daughters aged 11 and eight, Kewalramani personally relates to this.
Previously a civil servant, she took a career break from 2015 to 2018 to be present for her then young children when her husband was training to be an orthopaedic surgeon. During that time, she ran her branding and illustration business.
Kewalramani acknowledged that her financial situation and family support were entirely different from the women she supports. But that inspires her to work even harder for them.
“I watch other women have a completely different set of cards dealt to them.
“Some may not have a husband in the picture, or they may have one who is not very reliable. Some have multiple children or children with special needs. Some may not have gone through the whole education system, and may be less hireable, or have confidence issues,” she said.
Despite their differences, Kewalramani feels connected to these women as a mother and woman, and empathises with their struggles.
“In dark moments, you just need someone to remind you that you are very capable, give you tools and resources, and open doors for you to see your capability,” she said.
BUILDING INCOME BEYOND A 9-TO-5
That is what Rise and Thrive seeks to do for these women – whom she calls Risers – over a three-year journey.
Rise and Thrive members coming together for a product inspiration session. (Photo: Paris Chia)
During the first six months, Risers learn business essentials such as branding, pricing and marketing from a mentor.
After this, they are connected to corporate and consumer sales opportunities through the charity’s network. They may also benefit from additional programmes such as book-keeping to further strengthen their financial literacy.
They then graduate into the alumni programme one-and-a-half to two years later, where they will have access to more self-improvement programmes, represent Rise and Thrive as ambassadors, and may even share some of their learnings with other Risers.
Risers are referred to Rise and Thrive via social service agencies in Singapore. Two full-time staff, an intern, and more than 100 volunteers support this community.
To qualify, the per capita income of the Riser’s home has to be below S$1,600, they must have access to a tablet or laptop and a phone, be able to speak basic business English, have a marketable skill or product, and show commitment.
Each woman goes through an interview and selection process. Last year, the charity accepted 20 Risers out of 47 referrals because of limited mentor capacity. This year, the charity has 30 spots.
The Riser community is diverse. It encompasses teenage mothers, grandmothers, women whose husbands are incarcerated, former offenders and single women struggling with physical or mental health challenges.
Kewalramani (second from right) at a Rise and Thrive volunteer meet-up in 2025. (Photo: Rise and Thrive)
The charity invests S$6,000 in each woman over three years, funded by grants, public donations, corporate partnerships, and earned income from its programmes and corporate engagements. In March 2026, public donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Tote Board’s Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme, a government-backed scheme.
After going through the programme for a year or so, Risers typically earn an average monthly revenue of S$1,300, which helps them tide over the period when they are unable to take on full-time work for family or personal reasons. Many do end up going back to full-time work a few years later when they are able to, said Kewalramani.
The business-building process has also been transformative for Risers, she added.
Home baker and founder of Chitz Bakez, 47-year-old Chitra Munusamy, said the programme has helped her grow her business and confidence.
The mother of three children aged 22, 20 and 18 told CNA Women that her late husband had been in and out of prison for most of the 22 years of their marriage. Wanting to be present for her children during this turbulent period, she gave up full-time work and took on temporary or part-time administrative or factory jobs.
An avid baker since her teens, she also sold homemade cookies, cakes and desserts to family, friends and customers through social media to supplement her income.
“Whenever I’m stressed, I take whatever ingredients I have and bake to de-stress,” says Chitz Bakez founder Chitra Munusamy. (Photo: Aprajita Anil)
One of Munusamy’s bestsellers are these Masala Chai Cookies, S$17 for a jar of 25 cookies. (Photo: Dyutima Jha)
When her husband died in 2021, she did not allow herself time to grieve, instead, she threw herself into baking to support her girls. Joining Rise and Thrive a year later helped her expand her business and inspired her to develop more interesting products.
Some of her most popular bakes include Masala Chai Cookies; Pineapple Tarts infused with cinnamon, anise seed and pandan; and Rose Butter Cookies with white chocolate drizzle and rose petals.
“I want to introduce more unique bakes, just like how I tell my daughters not to be afraid to be themselves and stand out,” she said. “I bake with a lot of love and extra care. I don’t want people to buy from me out of pity. I want to make the best products so that people who eat them feel good.”
Such stories of grit and courage keep Kewalramani going. And she makes it a point to share these stories with friends and acquaintances whenever she gifts items made by Risers, bringing these treats to dinners and parties.
“We live in Singapore, where it’s so easy to buy things anytime, anywhere. So, when you support a small, home-based business, you might feel that it is a bit more work. You have to send a WhatsApp message, place the order and pick it up yourself,” Kewalramani acknowledged.
“But there is a ripple effect of what that purchase does for someone’s confidence and their family. When you purchase consciously, host consciously, gift consciously, you are investing in women who invest in themselves,” she said.
CNA Women is a section on CNA Lifestyle that seeks to inform, empower and inspire the modern woman. If you have women-related news, issues and ideas to share with us, email CNAWomen [at] mediacorp.com.sg.
Continue reading...