Business

Saturday November 21, 2009

More women entrepreneurs making impact

By EILEEN HEE


HISTORICALLY, entrepreneurship has been a male-dominated pursuit. The good news – many of today’s most memorable and inspirational entrepreneurs are women and Malaysia is not lacking in outstanding women entrepreneurs.

Almost half of Malaysia’s total population comprise women who make up 47% of the total work force in the country.

The number of women in professional, management and technical fields today has increased to 40% from from 30% in 1990s.

Bismillah Kader ... ‘Seeing where I started from and where I am today, I am struck by my good fortune.’

According to SME Corp Malaysia, there are currently 82,911 women-owned enterprises, or 16%, of the total 548,267 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia.

Of this, 74,197 women-owned enterprises, or 89.5%, are in the services sector, followed by 7.5% in the manufacturing sector and 3% in the agricultural sector.

There are several initiatives to further boost women participation in business, through the creation of funds solely for the benefit of women entrepreneurs.

In this regard, Small and Medium Industries Development Corp (Smidec) introduced the Special Assistance Scheme for Women Entrepreneurs in 1999 to provide women entrepreneurs greater access to the various matching grant schemes and soft loans.

Further recognising the importance of providing better access to finance, the Government has also put in place targeted schemes and capacity building programmes easily accessible to women entrepreneurs.

These funds broadly cater to different segments, especially start-ups, technology acquisition, market access, export promotion and adoption of information and communications technology.

As at Oct 31, a total of 2,319 applications from 2,652 applications were approved amounting RM138.80mil under the special assistance scheme for women entrepreneurs.

The world of business can be cut throat, high paced and difficult to break into but here’s a story about two Malaysian women who have had a spectacular rise to riches from humble beginnings.

Entrepreneur Bismillah Kader founded Internexia Sdn Bhd, a company involved in the education and creative multimedia business and is based in the SME Technopreneur Centre in Cyberjaya. It rakes in annual turnover of RM1mil to RM2mil.

“It is about ‘sticking to the knitting’, which may sound sexist,” she laughs. What she means is to stick to what you know best. Her biggest advantage, she says, is her upbringing which served as fertile ground to instil good business ethics.

“Hard work and determination are important but so is coming from a big family which values honesty, justice, fairness, teamwork, sharing and giving,” she says.

While, Bismillah has not forgotten where she has come from, it makes her more grounded and realistic.

“Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers gives us the backdrop to Bill Gates’ success. My background is much more humble and ordinary. My achievement is also modest. However, in terms of value add, seeing where I started from and where I am today, I am struck by my good fortune,” she says.

Bismillah isn’t resting on her laurels and is keen to find new pies to put her fingers into as “there is no end to the search for new business to keep the flow going.”

“I have had many kinds of government grants. Even in the UK where I worked before returning to Malaysia, I had grants and sponsorships to help me with my projects,” she says. Her first national project in the UK involved designing a programme for working and unemployed adults to gain degrees and professional qualifications.

“I was invited to lead one of the UK government’s initiatives to increase human capital. The programme, dubbed ‘Access to Higher Education’ which I launched for Birmingham Education Authority in 1980, became a national success,” she says.

Today, in England, many working and unemployed adults who don’t have the pre-requisite qualifications for entry into universities are advised to take the Access to Higher Education route. The Cadbury family trust gave funds for books and teaching and learning resources for the adult students.

Meanwhile, Teoh Lee Kheng, who is involved in the logistics and cargo business, is a clear testament that it is possible to start from nothing.

Today, her company is one of the bigger cargo consolidated players in domestic shipping with an annual turnover of RM40mil. She started off as a rookie in the industry with one employee, no reputation, no backers for capital and zero customer base and worked her way up.

Teoh may have come from modest beginnings, but she had a good eye for business. “At 21, I came to PJ to work as a clerk in a shipping company. After a year, we ventured into the business when I realised that domestic shipments to Sabah and Sarawak were costly and slow, with customers having to deal with many parties,” she says.

“There was no one stop door-to-door delivery services. We saw this market need and started our door-to-door containerised cargo consolidation to Sabah and Sarawak 21 years ago,” she says.

Her personal mentor is Thomas Edison who attributes the secret of success to 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. Undoubtedly, she attributes sheer hard work, determination and being technically competent as traits that have skyrocketed her from obscurity into the green.

“I find that intimate knowledge of the business is essential but not sufficient. It must be fanned by the burning desire to succeed and many late nights,” she says.

She recalls how she learned every aspect of the logistics industry from canvassing for customers to taking orders, cargo measurement and even stuffing and un-stuffing cargoes from containers and driving a small delivery truck.

“I come from a poor family in Penang. My father was a farmer. He didn’t have enough to send us to university. He gave me two choices – to marry or work and fend for myself. As all my friends were interested in computer programming, I did the same. I attended evening school to learn Cobol and dBase while earning a living during the day,” she says.

Today, she deals with competition by sharpening company processes and diversifying. Teoh says she did not receive any government grant or funding to start her business.

“We started with only one employee and an initial investment of RM50,000. Our business has grown; we make sales of RM40mil per annum and have a workforce of 200 people,” she says.

Next year, the company will add a warehouse facility which is expected to boost turnover by some 10%.

“We would like Smidec to give us grants to develop the business further and perhaps even help us market and franchise our business. With the liberalisation of the services sector, we need all the help we can get to compete on a level playing field,” she says.

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