Sabah Entrepreneur Takes Sandakan's Fishing Roots To Global Markets

By Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil

JAKARTA, Nov 7 (Bernama) -- What began as a modest family fishing business in Sandakan, Sabah, has grown into an international seafood enterprise, with entrepreneur Nur Hayati taking her Naafee brand of dried seafood products to more than 10 countries across Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

From being enjoyed as snacks alongside coffee in Arab countries to finding their way into Korean dishes such as kimbap and soups, her products have travelled far beyond the shores of Sabah.

For Nur Hayati, managing director and co-founder of Magnawave Sdn Bhd, the company behind the Naafee seafood brand, the journey began with her family's fishing business in the 1990s before she ventured into food processing in 2015 and eventually broke into international markets in 2019.

“In Arab countries, they enjoy our products as snacks while drinking coffee. In Korea, some use them in dishes such as kimbap and soups," she told Bernama.

Nur Hayati was met during the SIAL InterFOOD exhibition in Jakarta, recently where her company was among nine Sabah small and medium enterprises brought by Sabah's Ministry of Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship and Transport (MINDET) to showcase their food and beverage products under the Sabah Pavilion.

Long before Naafee found its way onto international shelves, Nur Hayati said her family's livelihood depended on the sea, with her grandfather and father making a living as fishermen and supplying fresh and dried seafood to local customers.

“My grandfather was a fisherman, and so was my father. We supplied fresh seafood to the local market, while the dried products were sold without packaging," she recalled.

But the family's early hopes of reaching overseas markets were dashed in the 1990s when a buyer from a neighbouring country failed to settle a payment, leaving her father reluctant to pursue exports again.

Despite the disappointment, her father continued running the family business and encouraged her, as his eldest child, to carry on the family trade, even after she had completed her studies and joined the government service.

Rather than taking over the fisheries operation, Nur Hayati ventured into food processing, focusing on dried seafood products that were easier to transport and did not require the specialised storage facilities needed for fresh or frozen seafood.

“Fresh and frozen seafood require proper storage facilities, but dried products are easier to transport. That was why I decided to focus on processing dried seafood,” she explained.

In 2015, she established a food-processing factory with just three workers, an operation that has since grown to employ about 45 people as production and overseas demand increased.

A turning point came in 2016 when she attended a trade exhibition at The Mines in Kuala Lumpur, distributing product samples that eventually attracted the attention of a Japanese buyer.

“A Japanese buyer contacted me after getting my product sample. The contact details were on the sticker, and that was how he managed to find me,” she recalled saying that the encounter introduced her to more rigorous product testing and preservation requirements, helping the company develop products with a shelf life of up to two years.

The experience also highlighted weaknesses in the company's packaging, prompting her to seek guidance from a Sabah government agency involved in developing local entrepreneurs.

“When I approached the agency, they told me my products were good, but the packaging was not up to standard. That was when we started focusing on research and development, innovation and improving the packaging to make the products more attractive," she said.

Nur Hayati said support from MINDET, particularly through international trade exhibitions, helped the company gain exposure to overseas buyers, although its factory, machinery and production facilities were financed independently.

The improvements eventually paid off in 2019 when Naafee began exporting to South Korea and Japan, with shipments to the Korean market reaching about four containers annually, depending on orders.

Beyond its dried shrimp speciality, Magnawave offers a wider range of seafood products, including dried anchovies, squid, abalone and sea cucumber, alongside frozen fish, prawns, crab and other value-added seafood products.

Nur Hayati said participation in international trade exhibitions in Germany, Thailand, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates had further expanded the company's exposure to overseas buyers, including customers in the Netherlands.

For her, the transformation from selling unpackaged dried seafood in Sandakan to building a brand exported to more than 10 countries represents a new chapter in her family's three-generation fishing legacy, achieving the international reach her father once hesitated to pursue.

-- BERNAMA