KUANTAN: As a housewife, Nor Aishah Mohamad Nordin always thinks of ways to generate income through cooking, but she is skeptical on whether or not her cooking will be accepted by others.
However, her confidence grew when she joined the cooking class organised under the skills and entrepreneurial training programme of the the East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC).
Her perseverance in attending weekly classes for six months since last year paid off as she is now running a catering business with the help of her family members.
“Thank God for this. I feel happy to be able to contribute to the family income and now I can afford to buy the things I like on my own,” she told Bernama here today.
Nor Aishah, 32, said she was also grateful for the support by the ECERDC, which had provided kitchen appliances such as refrigerator, freezer and also food containers worth almost RM10,000 to her.
“It’s easier to do business from home because I can manage the household at the same time, and I don’t have to worry about shop rent,” said Nor Aishah, who resides in Kampung Batu Hitam, Beserah here.
For Nor Akmaliza Mahulud, 31, from Indera Mahkota here, she did not expect that her small scale business of ‘kuih talam’ could generate a five-figure income.
She said before taking the cooking classes by ECERDC, she only accepted orders for small ceremonies and supplying them at school or factory canteens near her home.
“In the class, I’m not only taught on how to make cakes, but also entrepreneurial knowledge like how to make balance sheet, calculate profit and loss and also expand the business,” she said, adding that she had opened a grocery shop using the money from the ‘kuih’ business.
For Sharifah Maziah Syed Omar, 58, age was not a factor to not to acquire knowledge to expand her business of making pizzas and pastries from her home in Sungai Karang here.
Sharifah Maziah said she had previously run a traditional business by opening stalls at business sites until she discovered the new way of doing business after participating in the classes organised by ECERDC.
“Now I’m running an online business at my own website. All of the photos of pizzas and pastries are uploaded on the website and customers can make their choices and contact me to set the delivery date,” she said.
She added that she could now take orders on a larger scale after being provided with an oven by the council.
“Officers from the ECERDC will come and visit us before giving any assistance to make sure that it will be fully utilised and I still need to send them a report card so that they will know my progress,” she said. — BERNAMA