Never Say Never: From Factory Worker To Owner Of Tapioca Flour Mill

PASIR PUTEH, Dec 19 (Bernama) -- Never say never … just as a young man never imagined that switching from his welding job to selling ubi kayu (tapioca) in the village would see him doubling up on income, besides running a mill to produce two metric tonnes of tapioca flour a day in Kampung Gaal here.

Muhammad Muazzim Zulkiflee, 28, said three years ago, he was just one of the uniformed numbers working at an electronics factory in Selangor after graduating from a skills institute in welding.

He said his mother, Wan Rokiah Wan Deris, 56, was then running a small-scale ubi kayu chips business from home and persuaded him to return to manage the business.

"At first, I was a bit reluctant because this business is quite a far cry from the skills I learned (welding). When I think about how my mother raised us five siblings with that job until we could pursue university studies, I finally decided to follow my mother's wishes," he told Bernama at his mill today.

Muhammad Muazzim said that when he started the venture, he was also peddling raw tapioca and chips his mother made by the roadside during the monsoon season from under a tent.

"I found the response to the sale of raw tapioca very encouraging during the monsoon season, and there were also customers looking for flour to make tapioca-based cakes, including putu halba (steamed cakes made from grated tapioca mixed with grated coconut with a filling of brown sugar; halba is fenugreek seeds).

"From there, I started learning how to produce tapioca flour manually before buying a machine and then successfully operating a mill," he said, adding that 10 workers operate the mill.

He said his employees also manufactured various chip products for daily sales and festive seasons, including banana and onion chips.

"The mill started operating last year with my products bound for the local market and I am currently in the process of expanding the cultivation area of ubi kayu, which currently covers about eight hectares to increase production of by-products," said the third of five siblings.

He said this tapioca business has good prospects for expansion, apart from opening up jobs for locals. 

-- BERNAMA