TASK 1 (B)
Write a brief biography of one successful entrepreneur of your own words. Then, explain how he or she demonstrates any five (5) entrepreneurial traits that highlighted in the Question (A) and how this assists them to be successful in their venture.

Dato' Haji Ramly bin Mokni
               Dato’ Haji Ramly bin Mokni is the founder of Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd. He is married to Datin Hajjah ShalaSiah binti Abdul Manap and has three children. Due to some issues to identify whether the imported meats from overseas were halal or haram for Muslims in Malaysia, he had gotten the idea to run a business to produce his own beef burger which would be halal, clean and good quality products for all Muslims. The company was founded in 1984 from a pure desire by the owner himself, Dato’ Haji Ramly. The company have a processing factory located in SME Industrial Park, Mukim Batu, Kuala Lumpur. Now, Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd. has become one of the well-known Bumiputra-owned food-based manufacturers dealing with meat-based products in Malaysia. Behind his success, he has adopted some entrepreneurial traits in his management.

            Dato’ Haji Ramly bin Mokni is a proactive person. He started the small business with a small loan from the Development Bank in 1982. From a small company, it has evolved and grew over time. The main company is now known as Ramly Mokni Holdings Berhad and its subsidiaries are Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd, Ramly Mokni Marketing Sdn. Bhd, Ramly Supermart Sdn. Bhd and Ramly Mokni Bakery Sdn. Bhd. Dato’ Haji Ramly managed to expand  his business to a commercial level. The company also has been granted recognition three times by the Development Bank which were the Best Project Award (1982), Client Development Award (1984) and Jaya Entrepreneur Award (1992) due to the excellent performance. This showed that Dato’ Haji Ramly is proactive in his management.

            Besides that, he is also an open risk taker. He had to overcome many challenges and obstacles in order to become a successful entrepreneur. Before he managed to open the business, his loan application was rejected by the bank. MARA (Majlis Amanah Rakyat) rejected his loan application because they thought that Malaysian don’t love burgers. With high expectation to own his first frozen food company, he took a huge risk by using his own savings. Haji Ramly Mokni decided to produce his own beef burger manually with a capital of RM2000 only. The operation started at a flat located in Jalan Haji Hussein at Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur. However business was bad at the beginning as many Malays were not into burgers. So he took some risky steps to expand his business by set up more stall burgers around Chow Kit area and since then the demand for his burgers were increase among the Malays. Unfortunately, his products were often undermined by the people. There’s a rumours said that the product produce by Ramly were not halal and theres also a rumours saying that the business has been sold to another party.  However, he did not give up easily.  All the obstacles he faced did not discouraged him but it turned him to become more confident and eager him to work harder on his business. Now after 20 years, Dato’ Haji Ramly were able to expand his business from owning a burger stall which produced 300 pieces per day to a factory that produces 30 tons of meat a day with annual sales that was recorded up to RM42 million. This showed that he is willing to take a risk in order to success in his business.

            Other than that, it can be seen that Dato’ Haji Ramly is an observant person. He is a smart entrepreneur who is sensitive to environment conditions around him and tries to fulfil the needs of the society by generating new ideas. He began to make observation towards meat and frozen food needs when he worked as a butcher at a supermarket in early 1970. He feels that the halal status of the meat being sold at the supermarket were questionable. So it sparked his idea to open a business by producing halal frozen food such as beef burgers and sausages for Muslims as he realised that Muslim committee is a dominant community in Malaysia. He wisely took this opportunity to start the halal frozen food business. He also made an observation on how to pack his products creatively to attract his customers. The observation made him a creative and innovative entrepreneur.

            In addition, Dato’ Haji Ramly have set his own vision for his business. The main purpose of his business, which is Ramly Burger, is to produce halal, fresh and good quality products especially for Muslims. Although he started the business from the bottom, he was confident that the business will be overwhelming and get accepted by the customers. He believes in his abilities to make the business a success. Because of his strong spirit, he did not give up but kept moving forward to make his business successful. As we know, during earlier years, most Malaysians are eating rice as their daily meal and it is difficult for them to eat western food during that time. However, Dato’ Haji Ramly was very brave to run the business and to make sure that his vision becomes a reality. Now, he managed to become the first founder of halal frozen food meat-based for Muslims in Malaysia.

            Lastly, we can say that his business is outcome oriented. This is because he was determined to start the business to produce halal frozen food in order to take care of Muslim welfare. With his determination, he started the business with the capital of RM2,000 to produce 300 pieces burger per day. Now, Ramly Group has grown into a company worth nearly a billion. The development of the companies also helped the indigenous people to become burger dealers which is more than 25,000 chain stores selling burgers under ‘Ramly Burger’ brand in all countries with the income exceeding to RM30,000 a month. In 2008, Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd. invested to reach RM15 million for factory expansion in SME Industrial Park, Kuala Lumpur. The factory expansion and the development of technology used in his business also have increased the production up to three times than before and improve the quality of the products. To ensure the company’s goal can be implemented successfully, the engine technology is used with a workforce who is fully skilled in handling machinery from the beginning to the end of the process. As the business succeeds, SME Bank has approved the Islamic financing to Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd. to buy the raw materials for the company.


            As a conclusion, we can see that Dato’ Haji Ramly has adopted these entrepreneurial traits in his management in order to become a successful entrepreneur. Due to his successful management, the high quality products produced by Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd. have made its mark in the frozen food industry in Malaysia. He can be a role model to the people who wants to become entrepreneurs. All his experiences and skills he has shown can be a motivation and inspiration to young entrepreneurs to expand their abilities to become creative and innovative entrepreneurs in their businesses.


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