PETALING JAYA, Sept 2 — Home-based food seller Nur Hidayah Jeffri preferred working in a restaurant with a stable income as she feared the risk of starting her own food business.

Afraid of stepping out of her comfort zone, Nur Hidayah, 24, was shy to speak to people and could not perform a live cooking demonstration.

When she prepared Tauhu Begedil for a family event and received positive reviews for it, she decided to sell them from her home to earn an income and support her family.

She told Malay Mail that apart from selling Tauhu Begedil, she had also been supplying spaghetti to school canteens since 2019 but business became bad due to Covid-19.

"With business bad, I had to find a way to earn an income to support my family as my parents were not working while my dad was unwell.

"My elder brother and I have taken the responsibility to look after my parents and there were many times where I just hit rock bottom thinking of how to get a proper income.”

She eventually decided to join reality TV series Resipi Berani Maggi programme to learn leadership skills, as she wanted to build her confidence and upgrade her food business.

The competition, held over a period of six weeks from July 14 till August 18, was mentored by actress Datin Paduka Eina Azman, producer and actress Sheila Rusly and My Mum’s bakery owner Anne Idris.

The television series is part of the Program Mentor Wanita Cukup Berani Maggi campaign aimed to inspire women to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.

Out of 1,000 women who participated in the programme, only eight mentees were selected as finalists for the TV series with Nur Hidayah being one of them.

Over the span of that one month, finalists participated in various challenges in the areas of digital and cooking skills, feedback mentorship sessions and business acumen.

A daunting task that Nur Hidayah remembers was that all finalists had to catch as many catfish as they could from a tank and show the judges how to cut it the proper way.

"It was a terrifying experience for me but I had to catch the fish no matter how scared I was.

"All I thought at that moment was to just put my fear away and take as many catfish as I could.”

Nur Hidayah’s resilience and determination bagged her the first placing for the competition, winning a seed capital of RM8,000 and an eight-week mentorship programme with Anne.

She said that after being on the show, she has become more confident now, able to talk to people and can even perform a live cooking demonstration.

Nur Hidayah is not just able to speak in crowds but she has also learned to upgrade her business to selling packed lunch meals. — Picture via MAGGI Malaysia

"Apart from providing lunch meals to offices in Klang Valley, I’ve learned to be mentally tougher and to take challenges in my stride.

"Most importantly, I’m glad to be a different person now — one who is more confident and prepared to promote my lunch box business to anyone,” she said.

Never too old to venture into something new

Second place winner and single mother Bibiaminani Abdul Ghani, 49, has two children and has had her own struggles of financially supporting the family being the sole breadwinner of the family.

Always having to rush to send her kids for their tuition classes and run errands, she never found the time to cook proper and nutritious meals for her children.

"Being a fashionable person, I would also use my free time scrolling through e-commerce sites to buy make-up and clothes.

"And then one day it hit me that I wanted to do something meaningful in my life and that was when I turned to cooking.

"I followed some of my mother’s cooking recipes such as her Asam Pedas paste and opened an Instagram account to promote it on a small scale to my friends and family.”

When she entered the TV show, one of the challenges she faced was coping with digital marketing and getting familiar with doing online posters.

"I didn’t know the importance of promoting my brand online nor did I have a proper business logo to be proud of.

"During the programme, I not only learned how to create my own posters, but I have even changed my packaging style so that it is more appealing.

"It was also during the show that I came up with the name Pes Kak Bi so that people will think of me when they try my paste.”

The single mother of two also has a packed schedule having a full-time job with Telekom Malaysia, studying part-time for her psychology and management degree while selling a variety of food pastes as her side income.

Asked how she is able to cope with her tight schedule, she said that was determined to learn as much as possible and to fulfil her time with positive thoughts.

Bibiaminani talking to the audience about a meal she is preparing during a cooking demonstration challenge for the reality TV show. — Picture via MAGGI Malaysia

"There are days where I wake up really early to buy my groceries, cut and prepare my raw ingredients, continue with my full-time job, and then make my food paste after work.

"At 10pm, I would rest for a while and continue packing my food pastes at 12am.

"It’s a hectic schedule and there are days where I would break down because I’m the only one doing all the work at home without any assistance.

"But I tell myself, that as much as I feel like giving up, I need to always pick myself up and to align myself with my goals,” she said.

She has sold her food pastes throughout Peninsular Malaysia and plans on selling them to Sabah and Sarawak next month.

Being a better role model for her family

Home-based food owner Mazzaton Miza, 42, used to work at a telecommunications company in Selangor but was laid off from her job due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Determined to look for another job, Mizzaton, fondly known as Miza, a mother of two, decided to join a virtual cooking class to kickstart her home-based food business selling sandwiches.

Despite her courage in opening her own business, Miza always needed her husband to accompany her wherever she went and was afraid to make decisions in the family.

Before joining the TV show, Miza was always dependent on her husband to accompany her and to make important decisions. — Picture via MAGGI Malaysia

"I always needed my husband to be with me wherever I went because I felt safer with him by my side.

"But that changed after I joined Resipi Berani Maggi reality TV series. I can drive on my own anywhere I want to go and am more independent now.”

She said that she has learned the importance of promoting her sandwiches to social media and has learned to speak up in a crowd during one of the challenges.

Learning how to calculate her food cost and making sure she was able to garner profit was something she learned coupled with having her family to support her.

"I am more confident of myself as a home-based chef and as a mother especially with my family supporting me.

"I’ve also stepped in to help my sons with their school presentations and have even encouraged them to become speakers for their school projects,” she said.

Her courage and continuous learning have also made her make local cooking pastes such as Fried Rice, Sambal Balado, and Mee Curry Nyonya.

Bagging third place for the TV show, Miza plans to host a cooking class soon and plans to write a book documenting her food business journey together with food recipes inspired by her late mother’s dishes.

* A previous version of this story contained an error which has since been corrected