Couple with disabled child among 200 pandemic entrepreneurs

Filled with glee, Kavitha Munusamy held up an attractively packaged bottle of murukku mix, a popular Malaysian snack, that had transformed an informal business she runs with her husband from a five-foot street vendor to a home-based online business.

“The packaging changed our murukku business,” she told Malaysiakini after receiving the Primus Wellness “Best Leadership” award handed to her by Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Minister Noh Omar, on Saturday.

Kavitha, 42, who gave up teaching at a kindergarten in Sungai Siput, Perak, when her daughter was born with spina bifida six years ago, said the idea for the new packaging was mooted by Primus Wellness chief executive officer Selvamalar Selvaraju.

Her husband, Devindrean Balakrishnan, 42, had been selling the murukku mix to pedestrians, packed in plastic packets tied with a rubber band but with the simple yet trendy plastic bottles along with a brand label, their business was transformed.

“We were able to market our business online especially during the lockdown when movement was restricted.”

With bulk orders coming in for the murukku mix for events such as wedding door gifts, Devindrean said he was able to also go back to a full-time job for a more stable income at a quarry while also supplementing their income through the business.

His snack is still named “kacang putih” (white ground nuts) in keeping with the name of the roasted ground nuts he started his business with 15 years ago, on a bicycle.

Devindrean shared that Primus Wellness’ business training had encouraged him to brand the product with a name, image and packaging and now he was able to set aside some money for savings every month.

By the time the couple joined Primus Wellness as its micro-entrepreneurs in January 2021, the company was already recognised as a social enterprise by the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Ministry.

When Kavitha signed on for a set of herbal products distributed by Primus Wellness to supplement the murukku sale, the couple never expected their lives to change so drastically.

“We learned so much from Primus Wellness because they provided us motivation, business training and the stamina to never give up,” said Devindrean, who was also new to using online tools.

A social enterprise by chance

Selvamalar estimates that the company may have been the only company to be given that recognition at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in October 2020.

With a business model for its micro-entrepreneurs to sell natural herbal products requiring zero investment, Selvamalar said the company’s revenue for 2020 was RM800,000.

“Half of our profits were distributed back to 200 micro-entrepreneurs who were recruited the same year, as their profits for their sale. Most of them are in the B40 household income group.

“The profits in 2021 dropped a little to RM500,000 but this was because business slowed as people started to return to the workforce.

“But I am not daunted as I am aiming to recruit 5,000 micro-entrepreneurs and open a factory to step up production of the moringa-based herbal products,” she said.

Selvamalar explained that Primus Wellness was set up to supplement the budget for the MySkills vocational school in Kalumpang, Selangor and by the time the products were ready to distribute, the global pandemic changed its direction.

“We decided to use the products to help give women an opportunity to make some money to support their families.

“Whether it was the opportunity or adversity that drove them, the zero-investment concept was well received and women were very accountable in submitting their monthly business statements back to us,” she added.

By 2021, Selvamalar said she realised many would do better with other products and intended to play a role in ensuring that nutritional raw foods reached the B40 segment.

She started the “pasar pintu” or “door market” programme at a B40 community in a People’s Housing Project (PPR) in Desa Rejang, Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur.

Nuruzuharizaezatulfazliana Johar, 27, was among the quickest to sell produce sent to her door, earning her the “Most Promising Entrepreneur” award which she received at the Petaling Jaya Civic Centre.

The mother of three children told Malaysiakini she was a housewife and the “pasar pintu” concept suited her very well as she was able to sell all the products within the same day.

“For example, they sent me pineapples and I sold them to all my neighbours within the same day.

“I started only last month and already I have earned RM1,000 in profit,” she said.

Nuruzuharizaezatulfazliana and all other award winners received RM1,500 monetary gifts and RM1,000 worth of Primus Wellness products.

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