Five Sabah entrepreneurs receive seed grant from Shell
KOTA KINABALU: Shell awarded a RM10,000 seed grant to five Sabahan entrepreneurs who emerged winners of this year’s Sabah Shell LiveWIRE programme yesterday.
They are Marny Talu, Pison Jaujip, Nurfaranina Zaki, Natasha Sherena Idris and Irene Mositol.
Inspired by the rising costs of housing, Marny began manufacturing her own interlocking bricks that will significantly reduce the costs of building a home by reducing the amount of cement used, painting requirements, and time.
Pison, a celebrity Kadazan Dusun chef from Kota Kinabalu has used his culinary skills to fashion homemade, preservative and additive free jams using local vegetable and fruit produce such as ‘tuhau’, ‘bambangan’, ‘bunga kantan’ and ‘tarap’.
Having faced the struggles as a mother who has her hands full with toddlers, Nurfaranina has developed a fashionable and convenient way to keep your hands free, while still having your keys within reach.
A trained perfumer, Natasha has developed an innovative and stylish way of carrying your favourite fragrance on your body through necklace or bracelets, that combine the beading traditions of Borneo with your very own signature scent.
Irene of Tamparuli intends to empower the rural communities involved with agricultural farming to achieve the Malaysian Organic Certificate (SOM) standard in their current practices and support them through marketing and distribution beyond the rural markets.
The winners were chosen after going through a series of workshops and a stringent business model assessment competition.
Alongside the seed grant, the winners also gained mentoring and coaching support from Shell LiveWIRE facilitators for the next three years to empower them on their entrepreneurial aspirations and to assist them in transforming their ideas to fullfledged businesses.
The programme which is running for the fourth year in Sabah, kick started with the Sabah Shell LiveWIRE Bright Ideas workshop that was conducted in Penampang, Kenigau and Kota Kinabalu, earlier this year.
This year, the Sabah Shell LiveWIRE programme welcomed more than 80 entrepreneurs to its Bright Ideas workshop, with some coming all the way from Sandakan, Kinabatangan and Tawau.
The best 30 entrepreneurs with their ideas were then selected to attend a rigorous ‘Become A Successful Owner Manager’ workshop, where they were required to submit their business plans that incorporated a detailed business model and strategy. These business plans went through a stringent assessment which resulted in the selection of the best 10.
The 10 entrepreneurs then attended a pitching workshop which ended in them pitching their business ideas to an independent panel of judges, out of which, five grand winners were chosen.
“Our youth today have many innovative business ideas but may lack the resources and support to turn them into a reality. With the Sabah Shell LiveWIRE programme, an avenue has been created for these young generation to build and grow a sustainable career on the entrepreneurial front,” said Disney Edward Lai, representative from the Sabah Ministry of Education and Innovation, who served as one of the judges.
Lai was joined by Yip YokeHwa, Senior Manager, Shell Malaysia Upstream Contracting & Procurement, and Datuk Margaret Fung, former CEO of Sabah Energy, who were part of the esteemed panel of judges determining the programme’s five winners for this year.
One of last year’s winners is Sariyaman binti Sabur. Upon discovering that the community of Kunak have excess tapioca production, she had ventured into contract farming with the community and had developed tapioca nuggets and other products under the brand of PADAidi.
Since awarded winner last October, Sariyaman went on to win the 2018 Sabah State award for ‘Most Promising Female Entrepreneur’.
Through the coaching she received, she focused her efforts on research and development, to create new products from Kunak’s tapiocas. Her company is now a source of employment for five full time employees, with many distribution agents across the state. Sariyaman, now aims to introduce her tapioca-based products to the international market.
“Sabah Shell LiveWIRE is aimed at infusing an unyielding and results-driven mindset among the young entrepreneurs of today. It’s also a platform that educates and provides the needed support for potential entrepreneurs to kick start and grow their businesses.
“By bringing our Bright Ideas workshops to more locations this year, we were able to attract entrepreneurs from various parts of Sabah. Not only did they bring with them rich and diverse ideas, they also demonstrated tenacity and determination throughout this programme, which most certainly left me impressed,” said Prithipal Singh, General Manager of Sabah Shell Petroleum Company Ltd.
Prithipal added that many of the participants took days off work and sacrificed their precious time to be a part of the Shell LiveWIRE programme.
Their dedication in their pursuit towards becoming successful entrepreneurs and elevating Sabah’s economy was truly admirable.
“When I first joined the programme, all I had was an idea. I still can’t believe that in only a matter of three months, I now have a business plan, projected cash flows, and a better understanding of how to grow this idea into a fullfledged business.
“Thanks to what I’ve learned in the Sabah Shell LiveWIRE programme and the confidence it has instilled in me, I am looking forward to working towards turning my idea into a reality,” said Irene Mositol of Tamparuli, who intends to develop a model farm under the name ‘Dumo Organic’ that will help rural farmers achieve organic certification.
“There was so much that I did not understand at first, and sometimes the more I learned, the more complicated it seemed to get.
“However, through the coaching and mentoring from the Sabah Shell LiveWIRE team, I was finally able to see how the pieces fit together and how everything is interlinked within my business.
“The dedication and perseverance of the Sabah Shell LiveWire coaches has given me a renewed hope to continue working on my business and to bring it to the next level,” said Natasha Sharena Idris of Avanus Pendant Perfume, another winner.
Shell LiveWIRE is an entrepreneurial programme that seeks to unveil potential startup entrepreneurs in Sabah and Sarawak. It aims to inspire young entrepreneurs to innovate and produce real business solutions that meets today’s socio-economic needs.
The programme was first introduced in Sabah in 2015. Sabah Shell LiveWIRE has seen a total of 282 entrepreneurs who have come into contact with the programme, till date. The total number of recipients of the programme’s seed grant are 18, as of today.
Also present was Kenny Huah, Finance Manager of Sabah Shell Petroleum Co.