Making RM5,000 a month from selling fried tofu at home
Published on: Sunday, May 26, 2024
By: Bernama
Siti (second left) showing Arthur the fried tofu.
TAWAU: A housewife’s determination to increase her family’s coffers by selling fried tofu from home saw her fortunes changed when she was able to open a shop to process the food with help from the government, to eventually earn a minimum net income of RM5,000 a month.
It was a humble start as Siti Juna, 42, launched the fried tofu business from home in 2018 with a production capacity of no more than 1,000 pieces per day because at that time the process of producing the fried tofu was done manually including deep frying the tofu in a wok on a gas stove.
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“When we started at home in Kampung Pasir Putih, we began by sharing the fried tofu with neighbours and friends, and they urged Siti to do a business because at that time there were no Muslim tofu producers.
“In 2021, when the demand went up, and with no machine to help me at home...even if there was one it would have been too huge to have it at home, (so) I dared (challenged) myself, with the support of my husband, to open a shop in Megah Jaya, selling the Hanan Soya brand, and with our (new) machine producing 3,000 pieces of fried tofu a day,” she said after receiving a visit from Deputy Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup here Saturday.
In 2022, she recalls receiving a farmer entrepreneurship empowerment grant (called ‘Rise Up’) worth RM70,000 in the form of a machine, and from that point onwards, the production of fried tofu more than doubled to 7,000 pieces a day which she sold at only 35 sen apiece.
“We were able to fulfill the requests of (orders from) traders in Tawau, especially ‘begedil tofu’ traders at the night market. There are 12 traders who buy our fried tofu, their requests are indeed ‘kaw kaw’ (orders filled to the brim) because in one night these traders can sell between 1,000 to 1,500 pieces of ‘begedil tofu at RM1.10 apiece.
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“These people also promote this ‘Hanan Soya’’ tofu by putting up banners at their stalls,” said Siti, who now also opens a tofu-based restaurant ‘Kedai Mee Tohu Hanan’ in Perdana Jaya.
According to her, as a result of the government’s assistance, profits are getting better because before that the profits earned were only able to cover the expenses.
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Meanwhile, Arthur cited Siti’s tofu story as an example of a success story which is to see the help provided by the government succeed in empowering micro-entrepreneurs in Sabah.
“The programme called ‘Rise Up’ helps entrepreneurs to reach their maximum capacity so that they can become successful entrepreneurs in the agro-food sector, like when I visited the shop and factory owned by Siti, she has bought some equipment with govt assistance to expand her production,” he said.
According to him, the ministry through its agencies has many programmes to empower entrepreneurs to increase their income, including marketing their products not only nationally but internationally.
Arthur also made a visit to the Tawau Area Farmers Association entrepreneur project namely the Nittaku Nita Bakery in Bandar Sri Indah and Viral Kek (company) in Garden City here.
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