SHAH ALAM: Illustrious entrepreneur Ricky @ Dr Toong Foo Weng, who operates a branded business in the poultry industry, has proven that investing in organic produce certainly has its benefits. The supplier of poultry, eggs and biofertiliser has successfully applied the knowledge and expertise attained from the MBA and PhD, both of which he earned at the Management and Science University (MSU). Among his achievements is the creation of an award winning brand, Shanshui Chicken.
“Agriculture is the future of business for me. This is due to an ongoing global food crisis, which might eventually affect Malaysia,” he said. “Food is a basic human need that is sadly still unmet in some parts of the world.
“However, having said that, the agriculture business is really tough. The hours are long because it goes beyond the typical eight hours of a desk job. I start working early in the morning and only finish at midnight. The daily workload is heavy which many people cannot endure.”
When Ricky first began the business, it was a large investment and everything was built from scratch on an empty piece of land. He explained that while this type of poultry business takes three to four years to break even, the profit margin is small.
Furthermore, it can be easily disrupted and even face jeopardy due to disease outbreaks. He has already experienced such a situation twice. Ricky almost went bankrupt when an outbreak of avian flu nearly destroyed his chicken population.
ALSO READ: Marine conservation and community empowerment
From the beginning, he chose not to compete with the bigger poultry businesses. Instead, he focused on supplying organic free range chicken to five star hotels and restaurants, eyeing customers who believe in organic poultry products.
For chicken feed, Ricky uses the leaves of the pokok ketum ayam, which is a healthy option. It also minimises expenditure as feed can take up 70% of the cost of production.
“For me, education is very important. At MSU, I wrote a research paper on organic halal chicken. Everything that I learned at MSU has definitely helped me in my decision-making processes,” he shared.
He learned there are times when he needs to be more practical as a leader and business owner. As it is, he manages staff from varying educational backgrounds and behaviour at his farm. Most of them are foreign workers hailing from tough backgrounds and countries with cultures different from ours in Malaysia.
“The challenges in dealing with them are many. This was not part of my education but I improvised and learned how to manage them,” said Ricky.
ALSO READ: Fostering industry-academia collaboration
Prior to studying for his PhD, Ricky had pursued the MBA as a part-time student at MSU. However, he struggled to apply the theory that he learned to his business.
Determined to be successful, he invested several years in tertiary education until he finally earned the acclaimed degrees. He admits that the achievement has helped him a lot in his business dealings and has opened up many doors for his company.
“I worked so hard juggling my life as an entrepreneur and a student,” he recalled.
“If there is one piece of advice that I could offer to students out there, I would like to tell them to keep going and never stop until they achieve their educational goals.
“They have to keep the momentum because if they take a break and put their education on hold, they might lose interest in going back. It would get harder the longer they step away from it,” he stressed, urging future graduates to remain steadfast on the journey of self-transformation through education. For information on postgraduate programmes at MSU, contact 03-5521 6868 or email gsm@msu.edu.my. Additional information can be obtained at www.msu.edu.my.
