KUCHING: Siti Khadijah Abdul Latip started her entrepreneurial journey at the age of 15, selling burgers in front of her home.
Now 27, she is still going strong. She has ventured into various types of business, including being a dropshipper and selling hijabs since her SPM days.
“After finishing SPM, I established a company SK Kitchen,” she told New Sarawak Tribune.
In the beginning, she only sold various types of biscuits. This continued while waiting for her STPM results.
She was finally accepted into Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and managed to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in Design Technology.
“After graduating, I started focusing on developing SK Kitchen. I started selling cheese tart painting, one of SK Kitchen’s signature products until now, then slowly I produced other desserts such as brownies, cheese cakes, birthday cakes, cupcakes and more.
“Now I have two helpers, a runner and another in the production department. I do business in front of the house at Kampung Kudei and I have a special studio for baking built by my father,” she added.
She promotes her business through social media such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. Word of mouth also plays an important role when customers start introducing SK Kitchen to their friends or family.
Among the challenges faced are the rising prices of essential materials and the difficulty in sourcing out stock, for example eggs.
“It is very limited. Similarly, when Covid-19 hit, it was really hard to get stock, many shops were closed.
“The products start from RM7 to RM100 and above.
“My daily routine is, during the day I focus on the production of the products, at noon we will start delivering orders and in the evening we will start producing more desserts for orders the next day.
“One of the people who inspired me to do business is my mother. My mother is the backbone of my business. She is also one of the reasons why I continue to be strong in the business world that has its ups and downs.”
She dreams of expanding her business as well as to provide more job opportunities to people who need work, especially single mothers, and women who have no income.
“There are ups and downs in business, but fortune will never be in the wrong direction if we keep working,” she gave this advice.
Siti Khadijah can be contacted at 013-6656557, or Fatin Khadijah on Facebook, or SK Kitchen on Facebook Page, or Fatinkhadijah96 on Tiktok, or fatinkhadijah96 on Instagram.
