Faiza Bawumi Sayed Ahmad.

Profil Usahawan Pilihan

BIODATA

Nama : Faiza Bawumi Sayed Ahmad.
Umur : 69 Tahun
Asal : Mesir
Jawatan : Pengarah Urusan Syarikat Faiza Sdn. Bhd
Pendidikan : Diploma Jahitan

Beliau tidak menyangka pengalamannya sebagai juruwang di kedai bapanya dahulu telah mendorongnya bergiat serius sebagai peniaga.Menurut Faiza, kejayaannya sekarang bukan diperolehi dengan mudah, tetapi setelah mengharungi segala cabaran selama 43 tahun berkecimpung dalam dunia perniagaan.

Menurut Faiza beliau datang ke Malaysia pada tahun 1964 kerana mengikut suaminya.Disebabkan sikapnya yang tidak betah duduk diam, dia mengambil upah menjahit sulaman dan menjual pelbagai barangan dapur.Faiza kemudian membuat rempah kari di bawah jenama Bunga Raya dan mengedarkannya di kedai-kedai.

Dengan mempunyai kedai sendiri, beliau mula belajar mengenali pelbagai jenis beras. Sebelum menjual beras, beliau terpaksa pergi dari satu kedai ke kedai lain bagi mendapatkan maklum balas sama ada mereka akan membeli berasnya jika beliau menjualnya.

Atas respons yang positif, Faiza memohon lesen pemborong beras dan menjual pelbagai jenis beras termasuk ponni, basmathi, beras wangi serta beras Siam.

Beliau yang mempunyai 200 pekerja tetap dan lebih 300 pekerja kontrak berkata, dengan penglibatan dalam penghasilan produk tersebut ia memberi pilihan kepada orang Islam untuk mendapatkan produk yang bermutu tinggi dan tanpa diragui status halalnya.

Syarikat milik Faiza kini mengedar lebih 21 jenama beras di negara ini temasuk yang paling dikenali, "Herba Ponni Taj Mahal" dan anak syarikatnya, iaitu Faiza Marketing Sdn Bhd pula melibatkan diri dalam mengilang pelbagai jenis rempah termasuk rempah Raja Kari, rempah Bukhari dan terbaru, rempah rendang.

Saffar Noor

Profil Usahawan Pilihan

Sumber : January 29,  2009, The Star.
Syarikat : One Drop Sdn Bhd.





Single mum and son make it big in perfume business

After three decades working as a factory production worker in Penang, Saffar Noor quit her job and started a perfume business with her only son.

The single mother and her son Josafri Johari, 31 pooled all their money and opened a perfume factory in Glugor, Penang, in April 2007.

Josafri quit his job as a senior executive handling foreign exchange and country reserve in Bank Negara.

A collection of eight bottles is sold at RM40. And in just nine years, they have come a long way.

Their company One Drop Sdn Bhd has over 2,000 dealers, with businesses in Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Australia and – since December last year – Britain.

They employed a perfumer, who formerly worked at the houses of Escada and Armani, and is now in Paris creating a new range of perfume for them. And the products are sold through dealers and distributors with more than 500,000 users in Malaysia.

Saffar, 50, said she worked 12-hour shifts and did overtime to make extra money at the factory.

“There’s nothing like working for yourself and being your own boss,” she said.

Saffar started working as a production worker in 1978 when Josafri was only 10 months old and had to fend for him and her ailing father when her husband left her a few years later.

Her introduction to sales started in the mid-1990s when a friend asked if she was interested in selling tudung material to her colleagues and earn a commission.

Saffar reluctantly accepted as she did not know how to sell anything but would leave the material in her locker and invite her colleagues to check out the tudung during their tea break.

She managed to sell them and received RM150 in commission at the end of the first month.

Saffar then started selling other products like cosmetics and perfume.

Meanwhile, Josafri was doing a triple degree in economics, accounting and finance in Britain under a Bank Negara scholarship and brought home an Egyptian college-mate who was the son of a fine fragrance manufacturer.

Saffar liked the perfume Josafri’s friend was using and asked for some of it for her to sell.

The perfume sold so well that she appointed “agents” at other factories, hotels and hospitals to sell it. Now, success smells so sweet.

-The Star
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/29/nation/3045274&sec=nation

Mohd Azmi Mat Nayan

Profil Usahawan Pilihan

Sumber:  December 5th 2011, Sinar Harian.
Syarikat : Mizi Sports Centre.




Mizi Sports giat cipta nama

Bagi menunjukkan kepelbagaian dan memberi lebih pilihan kepada pelanggan, butik jualan pakaian dan kelengkapan sukan milik Bumiputera, Mizi Sports Centre (Mizi Sports) memperkenalkan koleksi seluar jean Levis sebagai produk baru dalam melengkapkan rangkaian perniagaannya.

Pengarah Urusannya, Mohd Azmi Mat Nayan berkata, pada masa ini, Mizi Sports mempunyai 13 cawa-ngan, dua daripadanya ber-operasi menjual produk Levis dan kebiasaannya sebanyak RM200,000 stok pakaian Levis ditempatkan di sesebuah butik jualan.

“Sambutan terhadap butik di Kuala Terengganu yang ber-operasi menjual pakaian itu begitu menggalakkan. Seluar jean Levis bakal melengkapkan rangkaian produk seterusnya akan memacu jualan dan menghasilkan pertumbuhan sehingga 40 hingga 45 peratus ke atas jumlah keseluruhan jualan tahunan kami,” katanya selepas hadir menyempurnakan majlis perasmian pembukaan cawangan butik ke-13 di KL Festival City, Kuala Lumpur.

Menurutnya, syarikat menyasarkan pertumbuhan ke atas jualan bagi semua butik jualan sehingga akhir tahun ini mencecah 30 hingga 40 peratus.

“Bagi mencapai sasaran itu, kami terus mengukuh­kan jenama dengan merancang membuka sekurang-kurangnya satu cawangan baru setiap bulan dan sebagai penutup tahun ini, cawangan baru di Bandar Seri Permaisuri ba-kal dirasmikan tidak lama lagi,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, setiap modal dan pelaburan bagi membuka cawangan baru adalah menerusi dana persendirian.

Katanya, kos pelaburan cawangan baru akan mencecah RM800,000 hingga RM1 juta bersama bekalan stok yang dianggarkan RM600,000 hingga RM800,000.

“Lokasi baru yang bakal menjadi tumpuan kami pada masa hadapan adalah Kuantan, Johor Bahru, Melaka, Sabah dan Sarawak serta Lembah Klang,” katanya.

Mohd Azmi berkata, setakat ini butik yang paling banyak menghasilkan jualan adalah Kuala Terengganu dan Kota Bharu yang begitu berjaya menarik perhatian pelajar, remaja dan kanak-kanak.

Bagi menunjukkan kepelbagaian dan memberi lebih pilihan kepada pelanggan, butik jualan pakaian dan kelengkapan sukan milik Bumiputera, Mizi Sports Centre (Mizi Sports) memperkenalkan koleksi seluar jean Levis sebagai produk baru dalam melengkapkan rangkaian perniagaannya.

Pengarah Urusannya, Mohd Azmi Mat Nayan berkata, pada masa ini, Mizi Sports mempunyai 13 cawa-ngan, dua daripadanya ber-operasi menjual produk Levis dan kebiasaannya sebanyak RM200,000 stok pakaian Levis ditempatkan di sesebuah butik jualan.

“Sambutan terhadap butik di Kuala Terengganu yang ber-operasi menjual pakaian itu begitu menggalakkan. Seluar jean Levis bakal melengkapkan rangkaian produk seterusnya akan memacu jualan dan menghasilkan pertumbuhan sehingga 40 hingga 45 peratus ke atas jumlah keseluruhan jualan tahunan kami,” katanya selepas hadir menyempurnakan majlis perasmian pembukaan cawangan butik ke-13 di KL Festival City, Kuala Lumpur.

Menurutnya, syarikat menyasarkan pertumbuhan ke atas jualan bagi semua butik jualan sehingga akhir tahun ini mencecah 30 hingga 40 peratus.

“Bagi mencapai sasaran itu, kami terus mengukuh­kan jenama dengan merancang membuka sekurang-kurangnya satu cawangan baru setiap bulan dan sebagai penutup tahun ini, cawangan baru di Bandar Seri Permaisuri ba-kal dirasmikan tidak lama lagi,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, setiap modal dan pelaburan bagi membuka cawangan baru adalah menerusi dana persendirian.

Katanya, kos pelaburan cawangan baru akan mencecah RM800,000 hingga RM1 juta bersama bekalan stok yang dianggarkan RM600,000 hingga RM800,000.

“Lokasi baru yang bakal menjadi tumpuan kami pada masa hadapan adalah Kuantan, Johor Bahru, Melaka, Sabah dan Sarawak serta Lembah Klang,” katanya.

Mohd Azmi berkata, setakat ini butik yang paling banyak menghasilkan jualan adalah Kuala Terengganu dan Kota Bharu yang begitu berjaya menarik perhatian pelajar, remaja dan kanak-kanak.

-Sinar Harian

Nazar Ishak

Profil Usahawan Pilihan

Sumber : 2011, Berita Harian.
Syarikat : Cemara Food Industries.




Cip nanas Johor tembusi pasaran Asia

Selepas menembusi pasaran eksport ke Asia Barat dalam tempoh enam bulan operasinya, Cemara Food Industries Sdn Bhd, kini mengintai peluang untuk menerjah pasaran China pula.

Pengarah Urusan Cemara Food, Mohd Nazar Ishak berkata permintaan mencapai dua tan sebulan dari Asia Barat terhadap kerepek nenas yang dikeluarkan syarikat itu, meningkatkan keyakinan pihaknya untuk meluaskan pasaran ke China bulan depan.

Kejayaan syarikat itu bermula dengan projek penyelidikan dan pembangunan (R&D) bersama Lembaga Perindustrian Nenas Malaysia (LPNM) tahun lalu, sebelum mula menghasilkan cip nanas mulai awal tahun ini.

Selain memasuki pasaran tempatan, Cemara Food mengambil langkah berani untuk menerokai pasaran Asia Barat. Bermula Januari tahun lalu, pihaknya sudah menghasilkan kira-kira empat tan cip nanas sebulan dengan tiga kontena untuk dieksport ke Asia Barat.

“Kebanyakan pembekal dari negara Asia Barat amat gemarkan makanan serta produk berasaskan nenas. Apabila kami menghasilkan cip sebegini secara tidak langsung turut menarik minat dan perhatian mereka terhadap rangkaian yang ada sehingga menerima permintaan yang tinggi dan memberansangkan.

“Malah, pada bulan depan pula kami akan ke Nanning, China untuk melebarkan sayap dalam perniagaan dan jualan cip nanas sekali gus berharap mendapat permintaan lebih baik lagi daripada peminat makanan ini pada masa depan,” katanya ketika ditemui di Kilang Penghasilan produk cip nanas di Pontian, Johor, baru-baru ini.

Syarikat berkenaan antara lain juga bakal beroperasi di Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang selewat-lewatnya pada tahun depan berikutan bekalan nanas juga turut diperoleh daripada ladang di Kulim dan Baling di Kedah seluas 120 hektar selain beberapa pekebun kecil di sekitar Johor termasuk Pontian.

Mohd Nazar berkata, idea untuk menghasilkan cip nanas timbul selepas mengetahui wujud banyak lambakan buah-buahan termasuk nanas yang tidak dapat dijual sehingga mendatangkan pembaziran sebelum pihaknya sepakat untuk menghasilkan sesuatu yang lebih bermakna daripada lambakan terbabit.

“Alhamdulillah, menerusi idea ini akhirnya membolehkan kami menghasilkan cip nanas yang digemari ramai, malah lambakan nanas berkenaan juga sebenarnya dapat digunakan pada ternakan seperti lembu yang boleh memakan kulit nanas selepas proses kupasan dan potongan untuk dijadikan cip.

Katanya, walaupun bakal beroperasi di Pulau Pinang tidak lama lagi, pihaknya masih lagi meneruskan operasi kilang di Pontian yang kini lebih terarah kepada penghasilan produk selain membuat pemasaran ke atas produk cip nanas yang perlu melalui 10 proses dalam masa tiga hari sebelum boleh dieksport.

Beliau berkata, antara proses menghasilkan cip nanas ialah mengupas dan menyejuk; memotong kepada saiz yang sama dan endaman bersama glukosa sebelum digoreng dalam tiub dan ditinkan.

Katanya, proses untuk menghasilkan produk berkenaan bermula dengan mencuci nanas terlebih dahulu sebelum mengupas menggunakan mesin khas yang dibeli dari Thailand supaya ia lebih mudah dipotong.

“Ketika dipotong, ia masih dikendalikan dengan mesin khas supaya saiz yang dihasilkan sama. Saiz sama adalah amat penting sewaktu menggoreng dalam tiub supaya warna dan teksturnya tidak berlainan daripada yang lain.

“Selepas itu, nanas berkenaan akan melalui laluan air panas bertujuan membunuh kuman dalam tempoh masa lima minit pada suhu 100 darjah Celcius sebelum ia disejukkan dalam bilik sejuk beku pada suhu -20 darjah celcius semalaman, katanya.

Mohd. Nazar berkata, selepas semalaman berada di bilik sejuk beku, nanas berkenaan direndam di dalam cecair glukosa untuk megekalkan bentuk dan teksturnya selepas proses penyejukan dengan suhu tiga darjah Celcius.

“Selepas itu, nanas dimasukkan ke dalam tiub menggoreng selama 90 minit pada suhu 90 darjah Celcius dan di sini kita boleh melihat ia digoreng secara sama rata sehingga menghasilkan warna kuning-kekuningan.

Akhir sekali, ia akan melalui proses membuang minyak yang diletakkan dalam mesin khas dengan wapnya disalurkan ke saluran khas sebelum ia boleh dibungkus dengan berat bersih 50 gram dengan harga RM5 saja” katanya.

-Berita Harian

Liaw Choon Liang

Profil Usahawan Pilihan

Article Published : 2010, IfranchiseMalaysia.
Company Name : Focus Point Holdings Bhd.
.




Interview with Focus Point Franchisor

Focus Point celebrated its 20th anniversary last year sustained by a vision ‘to be the leading vision care provider in Malaysia.’ As a bonus to its profound contribution in the eyewear-retail industry for the past two decades and as a testament to the successful franchise programme it initiated, Focus Point was awarded the prestigious “Franchise of The Year” for 2009 complemented with “Best Homegrown Franchisor” and “Best Outlet Growth” awards from Malaysian Franchise Association (MFA). Franchise Asia spoke to CEO of Focus Point, Dato’ Liaw Choon Liang on how he keeps the company looking ahead.

Can you tell us briefly on the background of Focus Point?
The first Focus Point outlet, well I can’t say it was an outlet, as it was a small counter, was started by my brother and I back in 1989 in Muar, Johor. It had neither an elaborate arrangement nor a comprehensive product range. At that time we did not envision that our company would one day grow to become the leader in the eyewear-retail industry in the country. Our first shop was doing well, which gave us the confidence to open another two outlets within a span of three years which proved successful as well. After more than ten over years of experience operating around 40 outlets, we ventured into franchising as part of our growth plan.

Did Focus Point plan to franchise the business from the start?
Not really. Our business was growing organically for over ten years or so, and naturally we bounced off ideas on how we can grow our business further. An easier and much faster way would have been to get the investors in. The other option was to go into franchising. We know it would have been expensive for every franchisee to employ a qualified optometrist (as Optical Act Malaysia 1991 requires this) at each outlet. After much thought, we asked ourselves, why not develop our business holistically by nurturing our employees who are already qualified optometrists or opticians themselves into our franchisees. Our greatest resource has always been our employees who have been with us through thick and thin. And it’s our responsibility to create a good future for them. So we modified the franchise programme, and instead of offering to the public, we offered the franchise option to our qualified staff to inspire them to become entrepreneurs themselves. We know it would not be easy for someone who is just starting out now to achieve a similar success like ours. This is our way of repaying our staff for their sacrifices by distributing the wealth and opportunities. We applied for a franchise license in early 2000 and officially launched our franchise programme on 3rd April 2003. We promoted the programme aggressively from 2003 to 2004, with many staff taking up the offer and within just six years, we opened 74 franchise outlets.

Were there challenges in becoming a franchisor when you first started?
There were many. The success of our first three franchised outlets, which were basically converted from company owned outlets were pivotal in convincing our staff to become Focus Point franchisees. The overall response was so overwhelming although we know the investment for a franchise outlet is almost RM300,000 to RM400,000 to operate, inclusive of renovation and merchandise. We understand the amount was beyond our staff’s financial capacity and to ease their financial burden, we approached Malaysian Franchise Association (MFA) who introduced us to Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNS) and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) to develop some form of financial schemes to assist the new franchisees, especially Bumiputera franchisees. We also sought the assistance of other financial institutions to offer better credit terms for non-bumi franchisees. In addition we also offered our own easy payment schemes to our franchisees.

Another major challenge faced was the ‘mindset change’ where we found it extremely difficult convincing our employees to become business owners overnight. When we started our franchise model in 2003, many were reluctant in the beginning as they felt it was a major risk to have to juggle so many new tasks as a business owner, e.g., rental, inventory, employees, etc. Pulling someone from a comfortable position into an unknown territory was not easy. Our first three newly converted franchise outlets which became extremely successful motivated the employees greatly to become Focus Point franchisees. Now we have a long waiting list.

Does this mean any Focus Point staff can become a franchisee?
Not so. To become a Focus Point franchisee, he or she should be a qualified optometrist or optician as required by the law to operate an optical outlet in Malaysia. They need to be hands-on, with high levels of experience and product knowledge, good communication skills, high amount of passion and commitment to create a successful business out of Focus Point. All our outlets are manned by highly qualified optometrists/opticians as required by the Optical Act of Malaysia 1991 as opposed to many optical shops which are often operated without any qualified professionals due to lack of enforcement.

We also analyse our employees’ track record in operating our company owned outlets before we qualify them as franchisees. If they have at least three to five years of experience and have proven themselves at Focus Point, then we are confident that they can manage franchise outlets. This is very important as we believe that only through working with us for some time can they imbibe our company culture, management’s working style and expectations - something which cannot be expected from investors. That is not all, once our franchisees prove themselves with a single-unit franchisee, we encourage and support them to manage multiple-units if they are ready.

How many Focus Point outlets are company owned and how many are franchise outlet? What is the difference in managing them?
Currently 60 outlets are company owned and around 70 are franchisee owned. There is a big difference in terms of managing them. For example, an employee may not go out of the way to complain to the management if for example, when stock arrives late, or not up to their expectation, fearing a repercussion but a franchisee will do it as his or her business is dependent on timely intervention, or the business suffers. In short, we deal with employees for company owned outlets whereas business owners for franchised outlets.

What are some of the ways Focus Point support its franchisees?
Besides financial support and easy payment schemes mentioned earlier, we offer them low cost price on merchandise purchased directly from our manufacturers in Italy, France, Japan, USA and other countries. The fact that these manufacturers are willing to deal directly with us is indicative of their confidence in us, even though they have an appointed local distributor in Malaysia. By dealing directly with the manufacturers and purchasing in bulk, Focus Point is able to cut down the cost of the merchandise by almost 40%. The savings allow our franchisee to enjoy a higher profit margin, and pass down better discounts for customers to enjoy.

We also undertake aggressive advertising and PR campaigns to promote the Focus Point brand, which benefits our franchisees. We also invest heavily on Research & Development (R&D). The best part of it all is that our franchisees can capitalise on all our company resources including R&D, branding, business know-how, expertise, market research, industry data, etc. for the 5% royalty fee that they are charged for. We take the bulk of the risk and don’t mind the small percentage of royalty fee earnings as we see our relationship with our franchisees as a long-term investment.

We also have long standing close business relationship with hypermarkets and big chain stores like Tesco, Carrefour, Jusco, etc, where we are always given the first priority to select shop lot spaces of our choice which our competitors or even single optical shop operators could not enjoy. The strategic location of Focus Point outlets at high-traffic shopping areas offers a steady or even highly profitable business earning opportunities for our franchisees.

Read more at.
-ifranchisemalaysia
http://www.ifranchisemalaysia.com/interview-with-focus-point-franchisor.html

Mazlan Muhammad

Profil Usahawan Pilihan

Article Published : Saturday, November 14th 2009, New Straits Times.
Company Name : MM Vitaoils Sdn. Bhd.




MM Vitaoils climbs up value chain

MM VITAOILS Sdn Bhd is inviting venture capitalists to invest in its business as it moves up the value chain to produce specialty fats.

"Specialty fats is a high-growth sector and in great demand in the export market. We're investing about RM18 million to put up a refinery and specialty fats plant," managing director Mazlan Muhammad said.

"We are targeting capacity of 150 tonnes a day and for the plant to be up and running at the end of 2010."

Sindora Bhd, a unit of Johor Corp Bhd (JCorp), bought 35 per cent of MM Vitaoils for RM9.5 million in June 2005.

ln an interview with Business Times in Shah Alam, Selangor, Mazlan said the partnership with JCorp seemed strategic in the beginning.

The state government-linked company, which owns oil palm plantations through Sindora, had wanted to venture downstream with MM Vitaoils tu produces specialty fats.

Later, it became apparent that it was logistícally impossible for MM Vitaoils to be competitive as the feedstock come from Johor while its packing facility was in Shah
Alam.

“We’ll complete the 35 per cent stake buyback for RM13.5 million from Sindora at the end of this year. But than again, we’ll keep the door open to strategic, investors
who share our expansion plans into the specialty fats business, which yields higher profit margins,” Mazlan said.

MM Vitaoils, set up in 1999, makes shortening, cooking oil, margarine, pastry margarine and vegetable ghee for export te 76 countries.

QualiTaste, Golden Treat, Rise & Shine, Blossommm, Marvelloso, Serimas and Palmas are among its more visible labels sold in Central Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Last year, MM Vitaoils made RM4.3 million gross profit on RM101.1 million revenue. Domestic sales of cooking oil make up only 2 per cents of its revenue.

Although MM Vitaoils is export­oriented, Mazlan Said he will continue to apply for a bigger quota from the govornment to sell subsidised cooking oil in the country.

This year, the government has approved 70,000 tonnes a month of subsidised cooking oil, up from 35,000 tonnes a decade ago.

-NST