SERDANG: Being smaller than an average person (OKU) has not detered Ishak Sirat, 57, from competing with normal individuals in the food truck industry.
He does not consider himself as lacking and has no barriers. He is ready to fight for his livelihood and although he started in a small way, he now has five food trucks.
Ishak said his interest in the business started when he was young and it was a trigger for his burger business in the night market.
“When I was young my career bloomed as I was very strong, I was active in selling burgers using a van in the night market, but as I grew older I became weak and had to find a new way to conduct my business.
“With a small donation from Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) I started trading using trucks. The idea of selling food was also growing, from burger to creating my own recipe for selling kebab meat.
“The meat I use is very fresh, using 25 spices to produce the ‘Wak Ikhsan Kebab’,” he said when met by NSTP at the stall site at the Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Show (MAHA) 2018.
Ishak from Johor Baru said his two wives and five children helped him in his business. His kebab business gives him a profit of more than RM20,000 a month.
“I do not have a grounded base of operation, but the food truck will always be at a university area and other functions,
“For me, disability is not an obstacle. What is the more important is interest in the business itself and courage to strive for success. The OKUs need to be brave and take hold of the advantage in front of them,” he said.
Meanwhile, an entrepreneur named Muhammad Zarif Abdul Kadir, 28, who initially worked in the private sector, is now in the field of business because of interest and the opportunities it presents.
Zarif, who has visual impairment in the right eye, said parental support was essential to foster self-esteem.
“I was born with this disability. At first it was difficult to accept but when I was admitted to a special school at age 11, my self-confidence rose.
“My pizza business that I have cultivated for the past two years is one of my ways to prove my courage to face and interact with more people,” he said, working on the Piece-za branded food truck.