Hawker Master Trainer Pilot Programme trainees to open stalls as soon as this week

SINGAPORE — The first batch of trainees in a pilot programme to groom Singapore’s next generation of hawkers have completed their training, with the first incubation stalls expected to open within the next two weeks.

Since the Hawker Master Trainer Pilot Programme was launched last October, 13 trainees have completed both their Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) training in food and beverage, as well as On-the-Job Training (OJT) with veteran hawkers.

Singapore Workforce Development Agency Director for Tourism Janice Foo said the programme is “on track” to train 50 hawkers by this November. On the hawker trainees, she said: “They had beaten all odds with sheer determination and persistence to arrive at this juncture, and I am sure it will not end there.”

Of these 13 trainees, five of them are setting up two incubation stalls which could open as early as this Friday. One of them, Mr Peter Mok, will be selling noodles at a new stall titled ‘#noodlelicious’.

Another 17 trainees have also completed their WSQ modules and are currently or would be undergoing through the four-week OJT over the next few months. The number of master trainers on board the programme has increased from four to nine since February.

---