Sales and marketing executive Mohd Khairi bin Musa first found out about the Selangor Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (SITEC) when he visited SITEC’s booth during a seminar in Midvalley in 2015.
Since he was then in the middle of starting his own family business selling scarves for Muslimah and was thinking of going online, SITEC’s initiatives piqued his curiosity, which led him to the SITEC website and Facebook page to find out more. This was when he learned about the E-Commerce Classes held by SITEC.
“While we registered BK Anggun Enterprise with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) two months ago, we had actually started operations earlier in July 2015,” said Khairi, who notes that offline sales are still continuing while he continues to learn about taking his business online.
Khairi shared that, through attending SITEC’s EC Classes, he learned about the steps to take when transitioning his business online, and that he now has more confidence to move forward with the knowledge he had gained in hand.
“I aim to take our business global. From day one, I kept in mind that, if other businesses in other parts of the world can go global, why not us? The online world is an endless market, a market without borders, where anyone can sell or buy or sample as they wish from other parts of the world. The only question is if you are ready,” said Khairi.
“So now I am readying myself and learning the necessary processes. SITEC has given me a lot of knowledge and opportunities, as well as the confidence to proceed. Our business may still be a small scale business offline, but online, we have support from SITEC, and I know we can go higher,” added Khairi.
Moving forward, Khairi is of course planning to take BK Anggun online, and is looking for support in terms of IT and capital. In terms of IT support, he is looking towards SITEC, especially the Apps 100 and Online 100 programs, which would help him to set up stores in e-marketplaces. In terms of capital, he is looking towards angel investors or venture capitalists, as his aim is still to go global.
However, one thing Khairie had stressed during the interview was that he plans to give back to the community. He shared that the sewing machine that his wife is using had come from the Selangor Government, under the state government’s plans to offer opportunities to housewives to help support their families.
Speaking to SITEC’s writer after receiving his Certificate of Participation in SITEC’s EC Classes, Khairie shared that he was happy with SITEC’s offerings so far.
“My dream is to take this scheme by Selangor to a higher level. I want to show the world that Selangor helped us to go from zero to hero, and this is my first step. SITEC is a good platform to explore this, is a guiding hand at the start, and is a place to move forward with the business,” said Khairi.
“Since my family has received aid, even in this time of economic competition, I hope to be able to give back to Selangor and the community, and show that a small business can go global to the wider, borderless market,” he added.
“If the choice is made to go online, don’t just think of Malaysia. Why not the whole world?” said Khairi.