Mohamad Samsulsairi builds Tako Engineer empire

GAMBANG, 24 January 2024 - Holistic, entrepreneurial and balanced graduates are one of the elements of the leap in the Malaysia Education Development Plan 2015-2025 (Higher Education).

It has outlined the strategies and initiatives of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to provide a balanced education between knowledge and morals and encourage students to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring Report (GEM) in 2013 showed that only 41.8% of Malaysians considered entrepreneurship as a good career choice and the rate of entrepreneurship in Malaysia is still low at 11.8% compared to 11 countries in Asia Pacific and South Asia.

Recognising this situation, the Centre for Creative Entrepreneur Development (PUPUK), Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA) formulated a strategy to increase early awareness of entrepreneurship among students by providing various infrastructure such as business kiosks, business fund loans and development training and business skills.

This service attracted one of the graduates of Bachelor (Honours) of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technology (FTKEE) to engage in business as a takoyaki entrepreneur.

Samsul, who comes from Bachok, Kelantan, is the first child of two siblings.

He has been in business since 2016, during his first year of diploma study at UMPSA Pekan.

In the second semester, he saw several senior students doing business and that inspired him to start a business by selling fast food from Japan, namely takoyaki.

The idea of selling Japanese fast food was sparked by his experience working at one of the Japanese food restaurants after completing the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam because not many people were selling Japanese fast food at that time because the price was expensive but still received a good response from the students.

Now, he also opened an Engineer Tako branch in Kelantan starting in 2021.

Despite being a student at that time and the youngest in the business, Samsul did not stop opening his kiosk every night even though he was initially shy because he had no experience in business.

Initially, he was not interested in business because he was more interested in the electrical field but he was encouraged by his mother who was previously a small petrol trader.

In addition, his interest in this business is driven by the experience of doing part-time work after finishing SPM in several restaurants.

Indirectly, the experience fostered his interest in business after seeing and learning food business techniques.
According to him, even though he was tired, the returns were very good, especially if he worked alone.

“My early success as an entrepreneur was driven by my mother, who was always supportive and helpful in cooking and creating new recipes to sell to customers.

“All food and beverage menus are homemade.

“In addition to selling takoyaki at the kiosk, I also sell takoyaki instant homemade flour online using the Shopee platform,” he said.

The sales kiosk which operated from 8.00 pm to 11.00 pm at the UMPSA Amphitheatre of Gambang Campus was operated by five employees including himself and earned sales in the range of RM4,000 to RM6,000 per month with a net profit of RM2,500 to RM3,000 per month.

He also thought that the entrepreneurial ecosystem at UMPSA could be created by providing opportunities for students as traders in all programmes held at the university to produce many entrepreneurs and foster early interest as entrepreneurs.

Samsul also advised prospective student entrepreneurs to be good at dividing their time between studying and doing business.

He said that becoming a successful entrepreneur takes a long time, and one needs to be patient with the risks of doing business and not be able to admit defeat easily.

“After we succeed, there are many things we can do to get whatever we want.

“All entrepreneurs start from the bottom and experience that will make us stronger and will guide us to run our business better than ever.

“Don’t worry about having no money now but worry if you don’t have any money but don’t do anything,” he said.
He added that do not be afraid to start doing business now but be afraid to work for someone for 30 to 40 years later.

While studying at UMPSA, he already trained several other students to continue the takoyaki business.

Now, he helps manage the family business, which is the production of a multi-flavoured sausage called Sosej Nadi.

He also thanked PUPUK for giving students the opportunity to do business and providing business facilities such as kiosks and business sites with very affordable rental rates.

By: Halizan Mohmood, Centre for Creative Entrepreneurs Development (PUPUK)
Translation by: Dr.  Rozaimi  Abu  Samah, Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology