TL:DR – Third chapter up… kali ni ada letak gambar2 sekali.
๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ
Upon receiving my PMR results, I applied for placement with MRSM (Maktab Rendah Sains Mara) and I was accepted into MRSM Beseri, Perlis. Mak and Babah were proud of me. And so began the chapter of my life in boarding school which would (hopefully) set me on the right path, that is to one day be an adult who can positively contribute back to society.
The transition from child to adult is a tricky one all of us have to navigate, especially more apparent if you have ever been enrolled into boarding school. It is a reality check to realize that life at home was indeed comfortable and cushy, while life outside is much less so. Financially-speaking, I suffered some setbacks in my personal cash flow management.
It all began with my eating habits. I was a picky eater at home (I am much better now I promise). In boarding school, we eat a set menu at our Dewan Selera (DS), and it wasnโt every day that I got something I would like to eat. The good news was that there was a cafรฉ in the compound of the school that gave students an alternative option if you didnโt feel like eating the set option that was provided to you.
Guess what? During my initial life in Beseri, I frequented the cafรฉ more often than eating the food in our DS. This meant that I was spending most of the allowance given to me on food, which would have left me with little else that I could have spent on. My allowance was at this time a weekly allowance of RM50 or so, and it was intended to cover all my personal needs, with the expectation that I would be eating most of my meals from the DS.
My food expenses incurred during school meals meant I had to forego other wants. Back then, Kangar wasnโt a big town (technically, most might even call it a pekan) but it was a welcome outing for us students during our weekends. Initially, it looked like a reasonable expense, but when we really look at the numbers, it would all add up.
For instance, it would cost us RM4 per taxi ride, which was pretty decent if we traveled in groups of 4. We would use this chance to buy our toiletries and stationaries, among other needs. Some of us (ahem) would also indulge in buying more comics. A trip to Kangar also meant eating out which usually meant eating at the local KFC.
Clearly, as you can imagine, my allowance was not stretching as far as I would have liked. I had to limit my lifestyle or I would have to find ways to get more money. My previous endeavors at home in Alor Setar earning additional income through odd jobs wouldnโt work in Beseri, so what could I do?
๐ ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐
One good thing about studying in MRSM is that entrepreneurship is actually encouraged as something that the students should be learning. This means I had two options, which are to start a business or join an ongoing one. Guess what? I chose to do both.
First of all, while most of my fellow batchmates (Batch 12), were focused on the elections for student council (Badan Wakil Pelajar, or BWP for short), I was paying more attention to joining the Cooperative Board (Lembaga Koperasi). Joining the Cooperative Board meant I learnt how to run a business through observation and participation, while also getting paid a token sum for the work and effort we put in.
Secondly, there was also the Program Usahawan Muda, which consisted of four different chapters. Somehow, I found out about this program a little late and by that time the teams had all been formed. Luckily for me, a friend of mine was the president of one of the chapters, and when they had a drop out, he invited me in.
In this program, we were allowed to start a business and find ways to generate income. We sold food, t-shirts, and anything we felt could help us generate revenue, which we would then share out among group members. At the end of the program, our group was the highest earning group and went on to represent our school at the national-level convention held in Kuantan.
๐ ๐ฟ ๐๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ป
The Program Usahawan Muda was meant for Form 4 students as it was expected that once we entered Form 5 we should be focusing on our studies instead in preparation for our SPM examination. However, thanks to the program, I discovered that running a business from my cubicle would not be hard. I set myself to brainstorming what would be a good business idea.
One glorious day, I struck gold. What would growing teenagers in a boarding school look for throughout the day and especially at night? And so, I began to sell instant noodles packs to my dormmates.
I started by buying packs of 5 of the popular flavors (thereโs something magical about the smell of Maggi Kari), and selling them individually with a small margin added. With the profits, I would reinvest in buying more stock to sell to my eager customers. The word quickly spread that if youโre hungry you can buy instant noodle packs from Rafiq. As the size of my โempireโ grew, the number and range of customers grew together. I began getting customers from other dorms within Beseri coming over to my cubicle to purchase the yummy goods.
Upon consulting the best shopper I know (my mother), I learnt to buy these noodles in boxes of 60 rather than packs of 5. This reduced my cost of purchasing, thereby improving my margin. I even remember buying up to 10 boxes of Maggi once to replenish my weekly stock.
Running this business helped me realize that knowing what the market wants is very important, as this will reduce the issue of generating sales. Additionally, managing your business finances is also very important especially at the start because the more money I reinvested in the business helped me to expand my business and increase my profit margin, which ended up helping me achieve my original goal of spending money as I see fit.
๐ง๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ผ๐๐
As successful as I was at earning from my business, my second semester in Form 5 (this was in 1997) was the start of a new passion which was to study hard and I stopped my business. My SPM trial exams were coming up soon and I needed to focus. This was very important as back then, you would receive your tertiary education scholarship offers based on how good your SPM trial results were.
I made the right decision in refocusing my energy as I then scored straight As in my SPM trial exam and became part of the 1st two students in the history of our MRSM Beseri to receive a 4.00 GPA for any semester. With straight As came several offers of scholarships which I narrowed down to my final choices which were engineering or accountancy.
You would think that somebody with money often on his mind would go with the major that had more dealings with money, right?
However, in my next chapter, Iโll tell you more about why I chose to go with engineering instead.
