From 13 to 15 February 2026, the Singapore Muslim Festival 2026 organised by Jamiyah Singapore brought together faith, community and enterprise at scale. Hosted at Singapore Expo Hall 6, the event featured Hajj and Umrah exhibitions, more than 150 vendor booths, and immersive cultural showcases incorporating VR and metaverse experiences centred on Islamic heritage and education.
For emerging brands, participation on such a platform represents more than a sales opportunity. It is a strategic milestone.
This year, two participants and winners of the Maybank myimpact Microbusiness Programme — Sew Stitchez and Muhlia Apparels — made the decisive move to open their own booths at the festival. Their presence signalled not only business growth, but a readiness to position their brands within a larger and more competitive marketplace.
Behind each booth stood months of preparation, structured mentorship, and a deliberate recalibration of business strategy.
Scaling With Intent: Nur Atiqah Binte Mohamed Rihat of Sew Stitchez
For Nur Atiqah Binte Mohamed Rihat, founder of Sew Stitchez, participation was not unfamiliar territory. Having shared a booth at the festival in 2024, she returned in 2026 with sharper clarity and greater ambition.
Together with fellow vendors, she secured two adjacent booths, strengthening visual presence and customer engagement strategy. The decision reflected a transition from observation to ownership.
The mentoring component of the myimpact programme played a pivotal role in shaping her preparedness. Guided reflection challenged her to think beyond operations and towards positioning — from how content supports on-ground engagement, to how storytelling shapes brand perception.
Hanafi Mohd Sam (left), Co-Founder of Reka Studio and trainer from the Maybank myImpact programme, with Nur Atiqah Binte Mohamed Rihat (right), Founder of Sew Stitchez, during a visit to her booth showcasing handmade products and business progress.
Preparation began as early as December 2025, anchored by disciplined planning around rental management, stock sufficiency, marketing alignment and financial prudence.
Crucially, the programme also influenced her operational pivot. Rather than immediately investing in a point-of-sale system, she chose to maximise existing assets — particularly her ten sewing machines — expanding into school workshops and community engagements. The shift reinforced a key insight: scale is not always about adding; sometimes it is about optimising.
“The programme helped me prepare not just operationally, but mentally. I became clear about my objectives, my messaging, and how I wanted Sew Stitchez to be perceived. Growth, for me now, means moving beyond doing everything myself and building something sustainable.”
That clarity has since informed her next phase — sourcing manpower to support daily operations, allowing her to focus on partnerships, brand development and long-term strategy.
Structured Ambition: Liana Dwi Puspa of Muhlia Apparels
For Liana Dwi Puspa, founder of Muhlia Apparels, participation in a festival of this magnitude was already embedded in her broader business plan. Seven years of brand-building had cultivated resilience. What the myimpact mentoring programme provided was sharper strategic discipline.
Her approach evolved from viewing the festival primarily as a sales platform to recognising it as a long-term positioning exercise.
Liana Dwi Puspa (right), Founder of Muhlia Apparels, pictured with her husband (left) at their booth, showcasing their apparel offerings.
Financial planning became more rigorous. Marketing budgets were tied to measurable outcomes. Inventory decisions were aligned with clearly defined objectives. Rather than relying on instinct, she introduced structured projections and performance indicators into her planning process.
“In business, there will always be doubt. But with proper preparation and belief in my brand, I knew this was the right step forward. The programme strengthened my direction — not just to participate in an event, but to position Muhlia Apparels for sustainable growth and market expansion.”
Exposure to fellow entrepreneurs within the programme further broadened her perspective. Shared insights and peer learning encouraged a more expansive view of collaboration, branding, and scale.
Beyond Participation: A Marker of Microenterprise Maturity
Large-scale exhibitions often highlight product diversity and consumer enthusiasm. Less visible is the strategic discipline required behind the scenes.
For microbusinesses transitioning from home-based operations to major exhibition platforms, such events serve as operational stress tests:
- Can inventory planning withstand sustained demand?
- Are margins protected after rental and marketing expenditure?
- Does brand messaging remain coherent amid intense competition?
- Is growth sustainable beyond the event itself?
The Maybank myimpact Microbusiness Programme appears to address a critical inflection point in microenterprise development — guiding founders from passion-driven entrepreneurship towards structured commercial strategy.
For Sew Stitchez and Muhlia Apparels, their presence at the Singapore Muslim Festival 2026 was not merely a commercial outing. It marked a transition — from home-based enterprises to brands prepared to compete in larger marketplaces with confidence and clarity.
The question for the wider ecosystem is increasingly relevant: how many microbrands are prepared to think beyond the next sale, and plan deliberately for the next stage of scale? Also, Does structured mentorship correlate with survivability? In a marketplace where visibility is abundant but sustainability is earned, structure may well be the differentiating advantage.