PETALING JAYA: While the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many entrepreneurs out of business, three individuals are building new ones and seeing a measure of success at that.
Two of them - Aisha Rafiqa Mohd Ridzuan, 30, and Venoshd Mani Vannan, 20, each started a thriving business of their own while the third, Alex Wong, used his own experience to rebuild an otherwise ailing enterprise after a bout with cancer.
Wong spent the first 17 years of his career managing the operations of a chain of 100 hypermarkets.
“I started when I was in my early 20s and I finally threw in the towel at 40,” he told theSun.
He then set up a gourmet outlet but just three years later, he sold the business and took on another challenge, this time a sport.
Wong began cycling but not long later, he found out that he had colon cancer. He fought the disease, and won.
In 2017, he started a stall selling roast chicken in Jalan Doraisamy in Kuala Lumpur. Business was good. “I was making about RM2,000 a day and I only sold at lunch hour,” he said.
But the movement control order imposed in March to curb the spread of Covid-19 put him out of business.
When he restarted the business in June, daily sales had dropped by 60% but through sheer grit and hard work, he is now doing about 70% of the original volume of business.
Aisha Rafiqa, an adversiting executive, started baking last year “just for fun”.
“I learned it through YouTube, TikTok and Instagram,” the mother of two said.
Very soon, her friends saw the potential of a business venture and coaxed her into selling her cakes.
Aisha Rafiqa’s cakes now command a high price. For instance, she sold a chocolate coffee cake in June for a whopping RM900.
“It’s not much but I’m really excited,” she said.
For Venoshd, having to stay home because of the Covid-19 pandemic left him with a lot of time on the computer.
“I began to notice a trend - people were looking to have their personal computers fixed,” he said.
Venoshd decided to get in on the act and started to build PCs in May.
“I would use new materials. I wanted to give the buyers a flawless computer, a warranty that their machine will not experience any hiccups,” he said.
Since he started, he has already built 20 PCs and sold them. “I have already made about RM15,000 through this business,” he said.
Venoshd plans to add the money to his educational fund. “I plan to go abroad to study,” he said.
His interest in computing started when he was just a four-year-old. “I remember deleting all the programmes in my father’s computer and got scolded for it,” he recalled with a laugh.
But his parents are now proud of his achievement.
“I’d like to build a name for myself and be remembered as that guy who made PCs for them,” he said.
