KEPALA BATAS, March 2 — A couple who started a marinated lamb business during the Movement Control Order (MCO) last year using financial assistance provided by the government is grateful to be able to expand the business and to provide employment opportunities to others.
The husband and wife team, Rosnizam Ishak and Roazian Md Noor, both aged 44, had to close their restaurant and cookies factory due to the implementation of the MCO last year and almost went bankrupt due to lack of income, until they received assistance of RM3,000 of Geran Khas Prihatin (GKP) and RM1,000 under the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN).
Rosnizam said with assistance they received from the government, they started a marinated lamb business from home to generate income by selling directly to buyers and their agents.
“Alhamdulillah, with the help received from the government, we started the marinated lamb business in April last year. After more than eight months, we were able to restart the cookies business.
“During the MCO, cookies business and the restaurant suffered badly. We almost went bankrupt with several debts to settle at that time. However, thanks to our marinated lamb business, we use the profit to reopen the cookies business and our restaurant as well as offering western dishes,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Rosnizam said since starting the marinated lamb business, they were able to generate monthly sales between RM30,000 to RM50,000 before putting aside some as savings to reopen the cookies factory and restaurant.
He said finally in December, they were able to reopen the cookies business and the restaurant.
They were also making making some improvements including selling marinated lamb at the restaurant and ready-mixed marinade ingredients (for lamb, chicken and beef) for those who want to prepare their own at home.
“We are very grateful to be able to provide employment opportunities to others, as in the cookies factory we have 30 permanent employees while in the restaurant there are six people. In addition to the 30 agents for the cookies business and six agents for marinated lamb.
“Apart from me and my wife, we are happy to help those affected during MCO by offering them jobs … Alhamdulillah, the cookies business seems to be showing good development, especially now, ahead of Aidilfitri,” he said.
Meanwhile, Roazian said now she and her husband can heave a sigh of relief and able to make repayment of the outstanding debts, especially the house and she hoped to be able to expand the business to help more people affected during this MCO.
She said the business was not just for them but they had promised to expand their business to help more people, especially those who do not have a job at the moment.
“Alhamdulillah, we always believe in sharing the ‘rezeki’ (sustenance) with others, that we managed to survive thus far and continue the business when at one time we almost went bankrupt. We are also grateful for assistance of the GKP and BPN to help us start the marinated lamb business and then slowly raise our capital,” she said.
She was also of the view that the marinated lamb business is one of the wisdom of MCO that they managed to create a new business opportunity and in turn help provide employment opportunities to others.
Sources: BERNAMA