Affected workers stay afloat with side businesses
SPENDING the past seven months mostly at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some people with the ability to find financial opportunities have turned the situation into income.
Nugroho Sigit Riyadi, a 37-year-old resident of the Manggisan hamlet in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, has used his free time at home to produce wooden-made push bikes for little children with his own hands.
He named his product Pancal Bike, which is suitable for children aged 1.5 years to five.
Nugroho works at a silver jewellery shop in Kotagede, Yogyakarta, which currently applies limited working days for its employees because of the pandemic.
“When I don’t have to go to work, I work on the bikes,” he was quoted as saying by antaranews.com on Saturday.
A Pancal Bike costs between 250,000 rupiah (RM70) and 300,000 rupiah (RM84). So far, Nugroho has sold up to 70 bikes, allowing him to earn up to three million rupiah (RM844) per month from the business.
In the meantime, Solikun, 39, immediately changed lanes to selling instant coffee on his bike as soon as he was laid off.
Solikun, who was busy attending to customers in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, on Friday, said he never thought he would be able to make enough money on a daily basis, especially since he had a rocky start in March.
“I started off in March when the city began large-scale social restrictions. Those were hard times because I did not sell enough (coffee). But nowadays, I’m doing pretty well,” he said as quoted by kompas.id.
He revealed that he earned between 180,000 rupiah (RM50) and 200,000 rupiah (RM56) daily. If he works nonstop for a whole month, he could earn up to six million rupiah (RM1,688), double his previous salary. Arif, 32, was laid off from his job as an office boy in July due to the pandemic. Despite receiving a severance pay of 10 million rupiah (RM2,814) after working there for 10 years, Arif decided to save the money.
For now, he is doing well selling face masks. “I’m still testing it out before deciding whether to keep selling the masks or switch to other things,” he added.