For eight years, entrepreneur Pamela Chng had her hands full running a successful boutique web consultancy where she was achieving many career milestones working with top-notch clients. Yet, there was always this nagging feeling that she could do more in terms of making this world a better place.

“I had become so busy with work and the daily business of keeping up with this life, I never made the time to be truly present with family, friends and colleagues. Relationships suffered and I never “gave back” to society in the way I had always envisioned,” she recounts.

Last year, Pamela decided to start from scratch and set up a new business “with more heart”. For a start, she knew that it had to involve the two things closest to her heart – empowering women and raising the standard of coffee in Singapore.

“There’s so much disparity in this world. In particular, I’ve always felt there are many disadvantaged women who could do with more opportunities. At the same time, as a coffee connoisseur, I’ve noticed that the coffee industry in Singapore lacks skilled baristas to meet the growing demand of specialty coffee. I thought – why not kill two birds in one stone here? I can provide valuable work opportunities to women while helping to boost and balance out the small, male-dominated coffee scene in Singapore,” she says.

As such, Pamela established Bettr Barista, a social enterprise that offers a 12-week Bettr Holistic programme for underprivileged women that are referred to them by social service organisations and community development councils. Besides professional barista training and apprenticeship, these trainees go through life and emotional management training, as well as physical training that involve yoga, outrigger canoeing and self-defence classes. With all these activities, Bettr Barista brings in top-notch trainers to ensure these women get the most out of this programme. In order to fund the training, Bettr Barista offers coffee appreciation classes to the public and corporations, while also selling coffee beans and accessories online.

When I visit Bettr Barista, the first batch of trainees were just completing their four-week intensive barista training and will be starting their apprenticeship in cafes such as 40 Hands, Smitten and Jimmy Monkey the following week. As such, Pamela and her fellow trainer, Kenny, are trying to get them geared up for real-life work scenarios.

“Ok, ladies, listen up! In 15 minutes, you need to make four espressos, four cappuccinos and two mystery drinks that I will only tell you when the timer starts!” Pamela commands.

The three pioneer trainees – Nurulina, Diyana and Nabilah groan, but with slight smiles. This “competition” is actually their favourite part of training, but all admit that it can be “very stress”.

Nurlina, who is in her 30s, has always wanted to set up her own café, but had no idea on how to start. She recounts, “When my social worker told me about Bettr Barista over the phone, I felt that it was like a call from heaven!”

For Diyana and Nabilah, both 17, it was a case of wanting to learn something new. Says Diyana, “At first, my family didn’t understand why I wanted to join this programme. But now that they see that I’ve picked up all these useful work skills, they are proud of me.”

Nabilah, on the other hand, feels like she has learned more about herself besides acquiring the technical barista skills. “I realise I’m quite hot tempered, so I’ve learned to be more relaxed when I work and just learn from my mistakes each day,” she reflects.

In the meantime, Pamela and Kenny are vigilantly observing and taking down notes on a checklist as the trainees go about preparing their coffee brews. Everything is taken into account – from the cleanliness of their stations to the amount of milk froth topping each cup of coffee they serve.

“Time’s up!” Pamela yells. And with that, both she and Kenny do a detailed post-mortem discussion with the trainees.

The next training activity is the Mock Café session. Bettr Barista has invited people in their building over for coffee prepared by the trainees. Because this is the first time the trainees are doing this, they huddle together nervously to discuss their “game plan”. At 4.30pm sharp, a crowd of 20 office workers turn up the Bettr Barista premises.

Says Pamela as she observes the trainees kicking into action and getting the coffee orders, “I’m just so amazed at their progress – they are able to make brilliant coffee within such a short period of training. More importantly, they have become more confident of themselves. This is a great starting point.”

To find out more about Bettr Barista, please visit www.bettrbarista.com .