The Malaysian Insight

LOW pay and high living and commuting costs have driven more women to work freelance from home as they raise their children.

Starting an online business, too, has become another option for women graduates frustrated with salaried 9-to-5 jobs.

Norfadillah M. Nasri quit her job two years ago after four years of working at a company where her gross income had remained the same at RM1,800.

Today, the graduate in printing technology sells sambal, a spicy chilli condiment, using an online platform which only required RM500 in capital, while freelancing as a graphic designer.

“After I gave birth to my second child in 2015, I had to quit my job because the work was no longer worth it, especially with the economy and salary I received.

“I tried applying for jobs at other companies but there was weak demand for a graphic designer,” the 33-year-old owner of ’Sambal Tun Teja’ told The Malaysian Insight.

Salary increments in Malaysia have only been at about 3.5% on average, compared to Indonesia (9.8%), Singapore (12%) and Thailand (5.8%), according to a 2014 study by Payscale.com.

Norfadillah said she her monthly expenses when she worked at a company would cost her RM160 for toll, RM440 for petrol, RM350 for childcare and RM300 for lunch.

But her online business only required her to spend on petrol, fresh ingredients and labour, and allowed her to earn RM1,500 in nett income.

“If you are self-employed, the income is considered as our bonus, without deducting anything except the internet bill, and that only costs me RM64,” she said.

“There is no cost for childcare and I only spend RM200 for petrol. My husband will do the grocery shopping,” she said.

According to Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Chew Mei Fun, 19,073 women nationwide registered as owners of online businesses as of March this year.

Of the total, 17,969 were registered under the Registration of Businesses Act 1956 and 1,104 as company shareholders under the Companies Act 2016, she said.

Another online entrepreneur, Normadihah Ibrahim, has a similar story. In 2014 she quit her job as an administrative officer at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) to start her own online women’s clothing business.

She started by selling clothing from other brands before coming out with her own brand, Bymadeeha.

She made the move after having her second child and found that she couldn’t juggle work and family.

Normadihah, who used to earn RM3,400 monthly, said the real challenge was not having a fixed monthly salary. There were days she did not sell a single item. Unlike now, it was also harder to learn about running an online business as there were fewer courses.

“With the help and support from my husband, I persevered in spite of almost giving up in the first and second year of starting my business.

“Online business is easy if you have marketing knowledge. We have to know the sales target for a month, so that we know what do we need to do daily and how to achieve the target, as well as how to mobilise our agents,” the 32-year-old said.

As Normadihah’s targeted clientele are civil servants, especially teachers, she now launches new products a week before the government’s payday.

“My target is civil servants and 80% of them are teachers who will buy new clothes every month for their work,” she said.

Both Norfadilah and Normadihah have faced discouragement not just from customers but also from their families.

Normadihah, the youngest of seven children, had to deal with objections from her family who felt she needed a stable job and a certain future.

But her online business which she started with RM3,500 as capital now earns her a six-figure income and has started to penetrate the Brunei and Singapore markets.

Norfadilah, on the other hand, had to choose between keeping costs low and sacrificing quality.

“(When your product is sold online) we can read the negative and positive comments on social media. There are customers who compare the price of my product with the price of another product.

“They will say my product is more expensive by RM10. But I can’t reduce the price because I use quality ingredients,” she said.

Two years after starting her online business, Nurfadilah has now expanded her business by offering different types of Malaysian condiments, like ‘Sambal Tumis Ikan Bilis’, ‘Sambal Hijau’ and ‘Sambal paste’.

“It can be very hard to convince the public about your product,” she said. – August 12, 2017.