YOUNG and driven Malaysians, including graduates, are enduring the drudgery of a Johor Baru–Singapore commute to take up what's regarded here as menial jobs.
Menial or not, these jobs pay in the republic's strong dollar, spurring one young man to become an office cleaner that, by Malaysian standards, earns him, with overtime and despite an inflationary environment, a sweet RM8,000 a month. Besides affording him basic luxuries for his nuclear family, the job is a pleasant rebound from a failed food business, a short run as a restaurant worker and unsuccessful job interviews.
While the young man is conscious that some Malaysians may look down on a job that's "reserved" for foreign migrants, he is undeterred, opting to balance his footing with common sense. His attitude is praiseworthy, but it spawns this peculiarity of a stagnant Malaysian job market and possibly of an education system gone awry.
In spite of a burgeoning domestic labour market, many youngsters remain unemployable, while thoughts of higher studies are abandoned, degrees seem irrelevant and jostling is competitive for positions as e-hailing riders and social media influencers.
Still, the situation opens up a new labour paradigm for young people with drive to seize lucrative entrepreneurial opportunities. Government entrepreneurial divisions should scout for talent like the young cleaner and hand them start-up opportunities.
One such start-up may be right up this young man's alley: starting a freshwater lobster farm to tap into the lucrative local and international demand for seafood.
The proposition, made recently by Farmers Organisation Authority chairman Datuk Mahfuz Omar, has merit. With demand their own farmers can't meet, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia are aggressively procuring Malaysian freshwater lobsters.
Only 50 out of 500 freshwater lobster farmers are viable, making it a massive struggle to supply Singapore's demand for 20 tonnes weekly and Hong Kong, which is desperate for whatever is available.
The authority has been instructed to identify young people keen on this venture and it should give our young cleaner in Singapore a try. It also ought to experiment with similar hard-driving young people.
The authority has to conscientiously woo this breed of adventurous people if only to not capitulate to pretenders and the well-connected whose work ethic is an interest in a free contract and easy money.
Equip these genuine entrepreneurs with the necessary aid, grants, loans and expertise, carefully nurture their growth and allow them a decent timeline to succeed.
If they are as enterprising as their reputation, then running a freshwater lobster farm should be a cinch, a small step towards a bigger array of opportunities that rewards worthy players.