By Rachel Ung & Lisvia Ferdian

Written by the “JomEntrepreNOW campaign,”

Final year SOMAC Public Relations Event and Consultancy students at Taylor’s University.

Project Advisor: Ms. G. Manickam Govindaraju

How did it all start?

It all started with the craving for a slice of lotus biscoff cake. Whenever she wanted to have one, it was not available. This craving drove the 23-year-old Susi Mulyani to her baking tools which began an exceptional baking journey of a young entrepreneur.

“I could not go back to Johor to continue my final year studies physically because of the pandemic last year. This was the time when I decided to hone my baking skills. My family was very encouraging and supported my drive to start up my business,” uttered Susi with a smile.

Coming from a humble background, Susi admitted that she needed to support her family as her parents were not able to go to work due to the pandemic. She also had to pay for her final year tuition fee to complete her degree.

With little steps, Susi took out her personal savings to start her business. She realised that the best way to reach potential customers in the fastest and effective way was online. She turned to Instagram to promote her business called @LittleProject_byMe on Instagram and it had been her best decision since.

The first step into the field

Every first step had been a baby step for Susi. In the beginning, her bucket of confidence was empty, “I was not confident that my business would receive a lot of attention and support from my surroundings.”

“But I knew that nothing comes easy, especially in the field of business.” she continued. Thus, she established her small home bakery business from her home kitchen, where she took orders online and delivered the dessert boxes from another door to another neighbourhood.

There were demands in the market as the homemade dessert made its name viral in social media. However, the limited manpower resulted in Susi being able to take in limited orders only weekly.

That does not prevent this strong-willed young lady from dreaming big. “I love to think big. I plan to open a huge bakery with a few branches in Southeast Asia,” said this growing and glowing entrepreneur!

Managing studies while setting up a business

Besides playing the role as a business owner, Susi is also a full-time student majoring in Civil Engineering. Running a business is never easy, it requires a lot of effort and energy, especially when trying to strike a balance between work and study.

Although online classes allow for a more flexible schedule, her daily routine still includes starting off her day attending classes from 8am-5pm and as a responsible student, she tries her best to focus on her studies during the daytime and do the baking at night.

Susi also shared that there were times when she had to bake for orders until 4am and wake up shortly after for her morning classes. It can certainly be tiring, however, she managed to overcome the exhaustion due to her passion for baking.

What she learned as a young entrepreneur

Throughout her experience, Susi learned that effective communication and marketing strategies are vital for growing a successful business. Thus, she would create engaging content on social media to connect with potential customers.

However, she used to struggle with time management, “I did not have much time to design my social media contents to be aesthetically pleasing to keep up with the trends like others. The competition is fierce.” She later learned that it is also important to plan a schedule to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

“It was demotivating to see other businesses flourishing while I was struggling to attract more customers. But I knew that I just had to be patient.” The home baker also shared the time when ingredients were out of stock due to its high demand resulting in her business being halted for a period.

To sustain her business in a competitive environment, Susi pushes herself to be innovative and always think out of the box. Most of her delicious desserts are through countless experiments of different recipes. Her best recipes would then be used to expand her menu.

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Some of Susi’s desserts, biscoff cake, mix box of burnt cheesecake

Perseverance through difficult times

“There are high and lows through the journey but giving up was never an option for me.” Having been a solo entrepreneur for more than a year now has led her to realise that perseverance is the key to success.

When asked about her support system, “My family and my friends are my source of encouragement. They have been supporting me since I first started my business,” said Susi. She also added that her friends, some who are business owners themselves, would give her plenty of business advice which helped her a lot.

“I feel grateful for the small circle of support I have, who motivates me to move forward.”

Susi admitted that she did not take any online business courses before running one of her own, “I regretted that I did not attend any classes when there are so many free courses offered online.” Thus, she encourages young entrepreneurs to utilise them as it will help in growing their business.

How young entrepreneurs can nurture their business

Young entrepreneurs could minimise the risk of business failure by seeking for wisdom mentors to guide them through their entrepreneurship journey such as INSKEN.

Institut Keusahawanan Negara (INSKEN) is an agency that offers over 300 entrepreneurship training programs to develop entrepreneurial competencies. INSKEN could help in building the foundations for a better chance of success for your business.

For more information on the programs and courses, please visit INSKEN at www.insken.gov.my 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of TVS.