17 Nov Global Entrepreneurship Week 2022 [Part 3]
We are back with more entrepreneurs features this Global Entrepreneurship Week (14 November – 20 November 2022), sharing what motivated them and the challenges they’ve faced in their entrepreneurship journey.
Tarmizi Bahrin of Super Thirteen Clothing Co.
Q: What encouraged you to take your first step in becoming an entrepreneur?
Tarmizi Bahrin [TB]:Honestly, being an entrepreneur never crossed my mind. I started off in the science stream in high school and my real exposure to understanding business only started when I was around 20 years old in university. For me personally what has been driving me for the past couple of years is my passion, curiosity, and long-term goals that I want to achieve as an entrepreneur. My motto is “aspire to inspire”.
Q: What’s one misconception you feel people might have about entrepreneurship, and what do you have to say to them?
TB: The misconception that I usually come across is that people only see things from their point of view and think that doing business is an easy way to get rich. All the struggles, tears, sweats, and the hard work behind the scenes go unnoticed. People don’t realise how much entrepreneurs have to go through and sacrifice just to reach a certain level of success/accomplishment.
Interested to learn more about Super Thirteen Clothing Co.? Follow them on Instagram – @super.thirteen
Hashimah Sanusi of Heartileaf
Q: What encouraged you to take your first step in becoming an entrepreneur?
Hashimah Sanusi [HS]: It started off as a passion project, and I never really thought about turning it into a business. I was interested in how terrariums were made and how they create their own ecosystems. I was invested in it. Six years ago, I bought my first terrarium, but I wasn’t happy with how it turned out, so I moved the plants around to make it look better. I first made an Instagram page just to share my new hobby (I still have the first terrarium I ever made on my page) and to share posts about how to take care of terrariums because I thought we didn’t know enough about how to do that. As I made one terrarium after another, a few people noticed and asked if I was selling them. Soon after, a few friends told me I should start a business selling terrariums because there aren’t many terrarium sellers in Brunei and people don’t know how to care for them. With a lot of pushing and prodding, support, and guidance, I threw caution to the wind and decided to give it a try. Five years later, Heartileaf has made more than 2,000 terrariums and plant arrangements with different designs and ideas, as well as a lot of terrarium workshops where we teach people how to make and care for their own terrariums.
Q: What was one challenge you’ve faced in your entrepreneurship journey?
HS: Being an entrepreneur, or in my case, a solopreneur, requires me to wear several hats, which presents a plethora of challenges. The greatest difficulty, though, is the lack of stability; the life of an entrepreneur is not without its challenges. Due to the dynamic nature of the present economy and unforeseen circumstances like the pandemic (that was definitely a huge setback for a lot of startups and entrepreneurs that have just begun their entrepreneurial journey), you need to exercise caution because of the wide swings in your revenue.
Always keep cash on hand for emergencies and try not to spend too much, especially at the beginning. In this case, financial planning is essential because it will keep you from panicking too soon. This definitely taught me a valuable lesson and when such things happen that are out of our control, I am prepared for it!
Interested to learn more about Hertileaf? Follow them on Facebook – @heartileaf, or on Instagram – @heartileaf.bn
Nadia Othman of Laundry Home
Q: What encouraged you to take your first step in becoming an entrepreneur?
Nadia Othman [NO]: Being an entrepreneur has always been my dream since young; seeing my father with his own business inspired me to do the same. I have always felt that being an entrepreneur and starting my own business was a personal choice I would gladly choose.
While studying in college for my Diploma in Interior Design, I started my own side hustle as a Photographer as well doing 3D drawings/designs for people. Both started due to my own interest and hobby Both are personally from my own interest and hobby at that time and since that I felt that I never stop working. Once I graduated, I found myself in Construction, I worked with contractors in Govt Sectors to gain knowledge and in 2012 I’ve decided to pursue my Degree in Business (Full time in evening) You can already imagine my schedule for working full time in the day and studying at the same time in the evening.
In 2013, my father offered me a job in his company and that’s how my entrepreneurial journey begins. For 10years with Fazrul, I’ve been through its ups and downs, the good times and the hard times. The last 3 years were definitely the hard times for us, but because of that I’m grateful for my family, my husband, my kids as well my team because they’re the main reason I chose to stay on this path.
Q: What’s one misconception you feel people might have about entrepreneurship, and what do you have to say to them?
NO: “Entrepreneurs / Business Owners are rich and relax!”
I feel that majority of people think that by simply having your business makes you rich. For me, starting my own business was not always about the money; there’s always financial risk, but it rather it’s about the passion to start and also to continue and grow to where you want to be. It also means making yourself a leader who takes the responsibility and to be able to power through hard times, even it that means sacrificing your time and money to make it happen. Entrepreneurs face these challenges every single day but not many will see this side of us.
Running a business is not all glitz and glamour, and at the end of the day, we are the ones who take actions and responsibility to move our business forwards. We need to be strong for ourselves and the business to always be able to take that step forward.
Interested to learn more about Laundry Home? Follow them on Instagram – @laundryhomebrunei
A big thank you to all our entrepreneurs who took the time to share their entrepreneurship journey with us. Fret not, we still have more entrepreneur features coming up this week, so stay tuned!