A mentoring programme has been set up for Malay and Muslim workers from low-income families to take on professional, manager and executive (PME) jobs, MP for Marine Parade GRC Associate Professor Fatimah Lateef announced on Thursday.

The pilot programme - set up by Mendaki's training arm Sense and funded by Temasek Cares, a charity of Temasek Holdings - aims to help individuals who have been promoted to a PME position or received a pay increase or assumed an expanded portfolio in their current jobs recently, transition smoothly in their new roles.

These individuals will be paired with mentors with the relevant job background and interests.

Currently, the programme has assigned 20 mentors to 31 workers, who each have a per capita income of $850 and below. The two-year programme hopes to reach out to 275 workers, and achieve a one-to-one mentoring ratio.

The mentors comprise industry professionals and practitioners holding senior management positions from the maritime, education, business and law sectors.

Dr Fatimah said the mentors have been chosen from these industries as they are more relevant to the needs of the workers. "But if there is a demand, there is nothing stopping us from recruiting more mentors from other industries," she said.

This is the third initiative rolled out by Mendaki Sense to help more Malay and Muslim workers transit to PME jobs. It had previously launched a skills upgrading programme and organised career fairs.