WHEN Mohd Izzani Jasmani was pursuing a degree in materials engineering at the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) Gombak campus in Selangor, he used to love hanging out at the nearest Starbucks outlet with his friends for coffee and studies.
“But, of course, we couldn’t go to Starbucks every day because of its premium pricing. The idea to bring my own product to the market came to mind — one that is more affordable for a student,” said Mohd Izzani who graduated in December last year.
The Kuala Lumpur resident had put the idea on the backburner until he bumped into a mechanic who was distributing flyers about a new workshop near the campus.
“When he got out of his car, I was shocked to see that he had only one leg. He was in a road accident several years ago which led to the loss of his limb. He suffered from depression when he had to quit his job. It took him three years to get back on his feet to work as a mechanic. I was inspired by his tale. I wanted to set up a coffee business which employs people with disabilities,” he said.
Mohd Izzani, who will be 25 this year, started planning the business with his friends while in their final year of studies. He went to the Department of Social Welfare with the idea and was given an enthusiastic reception. There are 4.5 million people in the country registered at the department with differing disabilities and less than 20 per cent are employed.
“The people at the department helped to select candidates categorised as slow learners to be trained as barristas and they also helped to prepare the training modules. Now we have four barristas manning two Coffee Zone kiosks — one at Cyberjaya University College Of Medical Sciences and the other at the IIUM Gombak campus. We also do catering jobs around the Klang Valley,” said Mohd Izzani, adding that there are plans to establish more kiosks at university campuses in the country.
“Getting the business off the ground was tough as I had no business background. We started with bottled drinks followed by powdered coffee and then coffee beans.
“It is tough to work with people with learning disabilities as they take a longer time to digest information and follow instructions. The barristas are getting better at work but they need someone to supervise.”
Mohd Izzani is drafting a franchise programme for those with disabilities to be part of Coffee Zone and become their own bosses.
“It’s a profit-driven business and why not give an opportunity to the marginalised?”
THE PICHA PROJECT
For fellow Kuala Lumpur resident Suzanne Ling, 24, her stint as a volunteer who taught refugee children English in the Hands of Hope project, which she spearheaded at UCSI University in the capital city, led her to establish a catering business.
The psychology degree student, who will soon be graduating this year, created The Picha Project to help financially-challenged refugee families cater food for the public, with an enhancement of their skills under professional guidance.
“The volunteer teaching started in 2013 at several refugee schools in Kuala Lumpur. As time went by, I realised many of the children were dropping out of school due to financial problems. Unless these problems are solved, the children cannot focus on getting an education. My two partners and I had an idea to help them start the food catering business.”
in January 2016, they sold food prepared by a refugee family to their friends at university. They were involved in every step, from ensuring a clean kitchen and hygienic cooking process to packing the food.
“We realised it could be turned into a viable business. By April last year, when I finished my research paper and my two partners quit their job, we decided to set up the catering and food delivery business. We have been in business for nine months now and nine refugee families from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Palestine and Myanmar do the cooking.
“We help them earn RM1,500 to RM2000 and above monthly to cover basic living expenses,” added Ling.
The Picha Project refugee families were selected from a list provided by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Ling and her partners assessed the quality of the food before taking the families on. The business now has a stable of companies which order food.
Ling hopes that one day big corporations can sign The Picha Project on to be part of their corporate social responsibility programme. She hopes to scale up the business by making ready-to-eat off-the-shelf products to make it more sustainable.
“The toughest thing about the business was gaining the trust of the refugee families. But once the trust was there, everything became smooth sailing. While we provide food, we also have the competitive edge of creating social impact. And that is a selling point,” added Ling.
FOODABOX
Concern about the environment led Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) graduate Dick Lim, 26, to start the eco-friendly food packaging business Foodabox.
While a student, he observed that styrofoam food packaging was discarded in large volumes around the campus in Sintok, Kedah which would later be sent to landfills. So, Lim and his friends ventured into an ad-hoc project to address the issue.
“We came up with the idea of providing affordable eco-friendly food packaging to restaurants, petty traders and food operators through an advertising model. In Malaysia, it is common for restaurants to use styrofoam packaging because it is cheap. It costs seven to nine sen per piece depending on bulk purchases.
“The eco-friendly boxes can cost up to 25 sen per piece — so it is a 300 per cent increase in expenses. To lessen the cost, we decided to sell advertising space on the boxes and get revenue to defray the cost,” said Lim.
Foodabox’s first advertising deal was locked at RM6,000 and Lim said it was quite a success.
“At that time we were a small team with volunteers and we rented a car because there was no public transport at UUM. We went from door-to-door to convince companies that they could reach out to potential clients through ads on food packaging.
“Once we found advertisers, we needed to find restaurants to buy the boxes at 10 sen per piece as opposed to 25 sen in the market. It gave them an incentive to buy.
At first, food operators were sceptical about the packaging because it is made out of paper and they think it is not strong enough. But the boxes are microwaveable and they withstand boiling water without breaking.”
When Lim completed his studies in 2015, he moved Foodabox’s operations to Cyberjaya in Selangor and the business expanded to surrounding states.
“We have managed to consistently distribute 15,000 to 20,000 units of the 675ml food box, mostly to mamak outlets and pretty traders. This year, we hope to distribute some 800,000 boxes.
“When we first started, we carried out awareness campaigns on the dangers of styrofoam. Our focus is to reduce styrofoams in landfills.”
With the affordable eco-friendly packaging getting traction in restaurants, Foodabox is now targeting consumers. “We plan to come up with a silicone-based foldable container, which includes a fork and spoon, for office workers. This will reduce waste.”
The challenge for food box advertising is to get into the mainstream market. “No doubt billboard advertising is impressive but food box advertising can also be just as effective. With RM100,000 worth of advertising, the investor gets one million food boxes.”
PEOPLE-CENTRIC AND IMPACT-DRIVEN
Mohd Izzani, Ling and Lim are social entrepreneurs — people who establish an enterprise with the aim of solving social, cultural or environmental problems. A social enterprise is an entity which balances both impact and business to solve a legitimate social or environmental issue through its offerings, which are driven by market needs. It operates by being inclusive and transparent in its activities, while being fully accountable to its shareholders and beneficiaries.
In the Malaysian Social Enterprise Blueprint 2015-2018, the government aims that by 2018 some 700 certified and recognised social entrepreneurs will be active in the Malaysian social enterprise sector which will be self-sustaining, equitable, people-centric and impact-driven.
Youths are seen as key drivers in the establishment of social enterprises, much in line with the Malaysia Education Blueprint charter to create entrepreneurs among university graduates who will become job creators one day.
Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MAGIC) has the task of nurturing social entrepreneurs. Mohd Izzani, Ling and Lim attended either one of two cycles of social entrepreneurship programmes in 2015 and 2016 which MAGIC ran.
MAGIC programme manager (ventures) Wan Dazriq Wan Zulkiflee said the entity has reached out to 8,000 students/youths in 12 states with intent to inspire them to become social entrepreneurs.
“Socal entrepreneurship is relatable to Gen Y because they want to create impact in addition to gaining employment.
“The challenge with students is to find meaningful employment that caters to the need for generating social change. So the social enterprise model gives the satisfaction for them to build business capabilities and give back to the community,” he said.
He added that the government is giving social enterprise a push into the mainstream with a certification programme that will validate companies which are social enterprises, enabling them to participate in corporate procurement in the public sector.
Make a difference
SUNWAY University’s Sunway Institute for Social Entrepreneurship director Associate Professor Dr Foo Yin Fah said young people who want to make a difference should consider becoming social entrepreneurs.
“I am heartened that youth want to solve social and environmental problems. We cannot rely on the government to handle all the social issues. Young people need to take proactive action to come up with solutions, some of which are better through the entrepreneurial way,” he said.
The university will be including social entrepreneurship elements in its soon to be introduced Degree in Entrepreneurship programme.
“Some people say entrepreneurship cannot be learnt from books and participants must go out and do it. It depends on how one introduces an entrepreneurship course. Knowledge is important in entrepreneur education — you learn the business ie accounting, economics, innovation, how to use creativity and recognise opportunity. You also need to study entrepreneurial ways of thinking.
“But to become a successful entrepreneur, never neglect the person — one must know oneself and have a strong character: doesn’t give up easily, resilient, persistent, resourceful. Empathy is important.
“Entrepreneur education must incorporate all these — through the curriculum, workshops, psychology tests and projects while still at university where students can make mistakes and learn from them. If we put all these together, we will produce entrepreneurs or graduates with an entrepreneurial mindest.”
Established in September 2012, the Sunway Institute for Social Entrepreneurship seeks to provide leadership that will help empower people to be socially entrepreneurial change-makers through education, research and social impact innovation programmes.
It is embarking on research to map social enterprises in the region.
“Social enterprises in the country is still young and not quite sustainable yet, unlike Thailand and Singapore where they are more developed. Through this research, we want to understand the challenges experienced by social enterprises in the region.”