From Small Home Venture To 70-tonne Sales: The Rise Of ‘Mak Et’s’ Crisps

By Nur Fatin Mohmad Kadenen

SEGAMAT, Sept 1 (Bernama) -- Selling over 70 tonnes of onion crisps and earning nearly RM1 million in gross revenue during the last Aidilfitri, a woman entrepreneur from Felda Sri Ledang here has transformed her home-based venture into a thriving business.

Salmi Selamat, 55, started her venture about eight years ago with around RM5,000 in capital, gradually reinvesting her profits to improve operations and eventually establishing a processing factory to produce her ‘Kerepek Bawang Mak Et’.

Her perseverance has paid off, and she is now able to build another factory to store stock and set up a showroom, which has become a source of pride for the local community.

“The first processing factory was built behind my house bit by bit, starting in 2018. The new factory was completed in June and is expected to start operating next year.

“Almost every sen of profit goes back into the business. I believe that if we are patient, success from our own hard work is all the sweeter,” she told Bernama recently.

The winner of the 2024 Felda Entrepreneur Award (Business Category) said the factory has not only elevated her name but, more importantly, created jobs for locals, including youths, housewives, and single mothers, who now earn a living through the enterprise.

Salmi said her products, which come in red and white onion, tomato, and chilli flavours, are now sold nationwide, with demand reaching six to seven tonnes in regular months.

“Social media platforms like TikTok have also contributed to increased demand and helped raise awareness of our products, especially after we won the award. We were swamped with orders,” she said.

The mother of four, fondly known as Mak Et, said her halal-certified business is managed professionally, with a complete administrative setup, including a research and development (R&D) team to ensure that products meet customers’ tastes and remain competitive in the market.

She said the business, which combines traditional and modern production methods to maintain quality, focuses on wholesale to meet agents’ demand and also caters to those wishing to use their own branding.

Salmi said that her success was not hers alone, crediting her husband and children as her pillars of strength, and acknowledging the support of agencies such as the Department of Agriculture, the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA), and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), which provided both equipment and guidance along the way.

Determined to keep growing, she is setting her sights on the Indonesian and Singaporean markets and plans to open a factory in Sabah to better serve customers in East Malaysia, where courier deliveries risk compromising the quality of her crisps.

She also hopes her onion crisps will become a go-to snack, rivalling other popular snack foods in the future.

For her, every crisp fried carries a prayer and a sacrifice, as true success is not just seeing the brand gain recognition, but also watching her children pursue higher education and witnessing the local community thrive from her efforts.

“Felda is often linked with social problems, so I told my husband that it’s all right if we don’t have much money, as long as we work hard to provide for and raise our children.

“That was the turning point for me – I started earning from home, running small businesses until I found success with onion crisps. Alhamdulillah, all my children are now doing well,” she said.

-- BERNAMA