Entrepreneur earns lucrative monthly income selling frozen rissoles

KOTA BHARU, Jan 11 -- With only RM100 in savings to start off her business selling frozen ‘rissoles', a popular snack in Indonesia, entrepreneur Hassmira Che Omar @ Che Hassan, 34, did not think her business could now reach a profit of more than RM20,000 a month.

The Bachelor of Entrepreneurship and Business (Commerce) graduate from Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) said that the idea to start the business came about as her family often come together over food.

“In the early stages, I only sold on a small scale to acquaintances in the neighbourhood in Banting, Selangor, because this food was quite foreign at that time.

“However, I did not expect the snack to become popular overnight among the people here,” she told reporters here today, adding that she had learned how to make rissoles from her Indonesian sister-in-law, Evy Widiastuti, 40.

The mother of two, who is from Machang, said that the use of social media helped her a lot to boost her sales revenue.

“Previously, I was only able to produce around 100 to 500 packets a month; now with the marketing strategy via social media platforms, production and profits have increased.

“I managed to produce 6,000 to 10,000 packets of rissoles a month, for distribution nationwide through appointed distributors and agents, and successfully marketed them to 70 stores nationwide,” said Hassmira, who has seven employees.

Hassmira, who now owns her own factory located in Jenjarom, Banting, Selangor, plans to further expand her business to provide employment opportunities to the needy.

"Alhamdulillah, support from Selangor government agencies, the Department of Agriculture and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) has allowed the business to expand," she said, adding that there are five types of rissole flavours, namely chicken, meat, chicken cheese, meat cheese and beef pepperoni with cheese.

-- BERNAMA