I've seen businesses come and go. In less than 5 years a shop lot in Bandong, Sibu may see 2-3 times of ownership change. From kedai kopi to car wash to boutique, many gulung tikar.
Let's take a simpler example: The new food court at Simpang 3. It was good, so good some people who are well-established wooden stall food & drinks operators could not get the approval to set up shop there. The ones running the new eateries at Simpang 3 are newbies and unfamiliar faces except for Koleksi Azza clothes boutique. Where's the Kedai Roti Canai and the corner Kedai Runcit? Gulung tikar...
They all ran well. Facilities were good and rental was around RM450 per month (whoa!). Then came Raya on 1st September. After the Raya holidays, 2/3 of the eateries never open shop again until now (10th October). What happened?
1. Cannibalism
Look at Taman Harmoni food court. I can see at least 2-4 eateries selling the same Nasi Lemak and Mee Goreng with similar prices with only taste to differentiate them. Basically this food court was a cannibalistic ground. Can you count how many food operators who managed to survive until today? How can one survive when your competitor is just 5 feet away and it all comes down to feng shui or where customers parked (or in most cases rely on friends to support the business).
Recommendation: A law or accord must be set to allow Bumiputera SME to offer a set of different product or services within a certain commercial area. Anyone who wants to sell something similar, goes to another area. So far I'm just aware it's a canis canem edit world, every man for himself.
2. Low Market
Seriously, looking at the volume of customers I wonder how small businesses can survive. For example there was a furniture shop at a corner lot at Bandong. The market is low-middle income buyers from Kampung Abang Barieng, Nangka or maybe some economic outliers. Can you expect people from these groups to come and buy furnitures everyday? No. Some products and services are seasonal and furniture might only sell during Raya, Gawai etc. Then when they do buy some may go for loan. This is risky as the customers may not pay and default. Where's the Bandong furniture shop? Gulung tikar...
Recommendation: There should be an initiative from existing agency like SEDC to help provide market research to SMEs. This way the SME can know where to locate their business for best profit and performance.
3. Lack of Skills
Businesses run on dreams, passion, money, customers and skills. Sadly most SME proprietors run on dream and passion, which is not enough. They open shop with high entrepreneurial hope but some have no basic business skills. For example there are those who do not know business and the owner(s) are two separate entities. Profit earned from business should not go into personal accounts. Marketing, PR and competitive skills? Mostly based on hunch and experience. Those who remain usually knows the selok-belok.
Recommendation: Enough with the kerepek pisang with photocopied Microsoft Word 2003-typed simple packaging. There should be an initiative to teach and train SME proprietors the basics to run a successful business such as marketing, book keeping, contingency plan, service etc.
4. Master Plan
Excuse as I will revert to Bahasa Sarawak for this important section. Okay kita mun berbisness mesti tauk long term juak, bukan nangga untung bulanan. Tuk contoh senario long term:
Tauk sik bus terminal lamak dekat RTM? Banyak kedai dekat commercial lot sekelilingnya nak? Plan membangunkan commercial area tok ada brutal sikit. Bila ada area commercial mok didevelop, semua bus terminal, lot, rumah etc dipolah sekelilingnya. Bila dah sik berkembang, sidak transfer bus terminal ya kat tempat nya baru nun untuk dibangunkan. Best kan area bas terminal baru ya banyak lot commercial besar dari area terminal lamak? Pas area ya sampe tahap tertentu agik, bas terminal ya akan ditukar agik gi area Salim untuk memajukan tempat ya gik. SME dekat terminal kinek tok akan terimak nasib sama ngan area RTM. Stagnant.
Recommendation: Sometimes we need to know what the government or developers have in their master plan. If you know they are going to Salim next, invest there early on. Be dynamic. Be alert. Mok share nasib dan invest dekat area cam bas terminal lamak? No.
5. Killer Giants
The amount of giant players like big supermarket, fast food etc are killing the small SME everywhere. Have you seen what happened to the old Ngiu Kee? With each new Super or Hypermarket that opens in Sibu, the less market share one can get. If Ngiu Kee, Sugarbun (Cathay) etc are facing danger or already gulung tikar, what chance do small and new Bumiputera SMEs have? They are at the mercy of these invading superpowers and the only thing keeping them alive is either determination or luck. For now you might think "Oh kedai kopi ok eh, can invest", but what if one day Starbucks come here and the new market by then, the younger generation, prefer to go there? Gulung tikar la labu...
Recommendation: Will share with you at a kopitiam somewhere, just call my 017. We can still go against these empires.
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