KEUSAHAWANAN (TASK 2)

a)    Students are required to identify and describe the entrepreneurial traits that highly needed and applied to operate the business by the entrepreneurs. Based on the traits provided below, explain each trait with a relevant example(s) in the business perspective.[Must use different entrepreneur as an example for each trait. (At least one example)]

I) Open risk taker

Tan Sri Dr Anthony Francis Fernandes, known as Tony Fernandes is one entrepreneurs who have the characteristic of risk taker entrepreneurs. Open risk taker is an individual or business that tends to behave in a way that can potentially cause physical harm or financial loss, but might also present an opportunity for a rewarding outcome. Tony Fernandes is the man behind AirAsia’s journey to world domination. He was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Asia and founder of Tune Group. From an ailing company deep in financial trouble, AirAsia went through a remarkable turnaround and made its first profit merely after seven months of operation, also they never looked back and created records after records. When Fernandes took over AirAsia in 2001, the airline had two planes and millions of dollars in debt. Fernandes, who had no previous experience in the airline industry, joined with a group of investors to buy the airline for about 25 cents. Fernandes, who had previously worked in finance for Branson’s Virgin Records, mortgaged his home to make the purchase possible. Mr Fernandes bought Air Asia from a Malaysian government-owned company in September 2001 for a mere 25 percent. Air Asia was heavily indebted at the time. Fernandes set about reforming the airline as a short- haul low cost carrier, similar to those operating in the West. The decision revolutionized short-haul flights around Asia and Fernandes saw his business expand rapidly. He made a decision to buy the loss making Air Asia and then transformed it from a small and struggling airline. Tony meet Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed in October 2001 to advised him to buy the airline.

In December 2011, Tony Fernandes initially bought over Air Asia from DRB-Hicom for a token of RM1, but with that RM1 came with a whopping of RM 40 million debt and two ageing Boeing planes. He set the vision of Air Asia is “To become the largest low cost airline in Asia and serving the three billion people who are often charged high fares. No one willing to take risk but Tony even went as far as to mortgage his house and use u most of his personal savings to sustain and grow Air Asia. At that time, nobody understand what he thinking by doing all these things and most of the people simply think that he was hysterical.

In order to achieve his vision he introduced the low cost to Malaysian with the slogan “Now everyone can fly”, which aims to make flying affordable so that everyone can fly. Air Asia had broken even and cleared all its debts but Tony continued to expand and grow Air Asia into what it is today. Airlines Air Asia is quickly becoming profitable within two years because of low fare, high quality service. Now, Air Asia has been voted the world’s best low cost airline and unprecedented, in six consecutive years (2009-2014). Observant and his vision has changed the Ari Asia to pioneer low cost airlines in Asia and the largest low cost airline in the world.

II) Networked

Developing and using contacts made in business for purposes beyond the reason for the initial contact. Networked is a structured plan to get to know people who will do business with you or introduce you to those who will. This entrepreneurial trait found on Dr Noor Irfan Khairi Noor Azmi or known as Irfan Khairi. He is graduated with a Bachelor of Multimedia Design from Staffordshire University United Kingdom. He has an experience by working in one of the largest information technology (IT) company in Birmingham, UK after his graduation. He is having an experience as a multimedia system designer and consultant so that he is responsible for design of Internet learning system for schools in the United Kingdom called the Learning Grid. At that time, more than 5,000 schools in the UK using the Learning Grid system. So this is become his basic and started his own business by applying information technology. Irfan Khairi is not only an entrepreneur but he also is a consultant who organized a seminar on business through the Internet. He was started his own business on the internet as a part time in 1999 because of his interest and having a deep background in internet. He realized that he can generate more income from the internet business and more profitable than working income.

Since then, Irfan Khairi has worked as full time from home by using a laptop and internet. Within 3 years of operation, one of business generated a net profit of RM1,000,000 without workers and sophisticated computer equipment. He internet business’s name are registered as IdeaBuble, and until now his company has served more than 3,000 customers around the world. IdeaBuble customers are mostly from the USA, UK, European Countries, to the Middle East, Japan and Australia. Among the business that he done and success is designing E-books, web sites, graphics, SEO services (Search Engine Optimization), sell the map, booking hotels, consultants multimedia, E-business and Learning.

 III) OBSERVANT

The entrepreneur must observe best place or area to expand its business market. Observant is a skill that requires thinking and learning before making an action. Observers also can be defined as looking at things or behaviours that going on. Observations can be run through feedback from the local community. Through feedback from our customers, entrepreneurs can find out whether their products adopted by the customers or not.

Things can be categorized as being two cases consciously and unconsciously. The observers must carry out observations seriously and use wisdom. Therefore, planning and regular therapy should be considered before conducting an observation. Planning to be implemented must have something unique in order to have a successful observation.Entrepreneurs should be recorded as a result of feedback obtained from the community.

Richard Branson, he was a businessman who became the founder of Virgin Group. With Virgin Airlines, he started a thriving airline literally in an afternoon. With Virgin Cola, he took one of the most successful companies of all time head on and almost won. With Necker Island, he acquired the island first believing that the money to develop it would show up eventually and it did.He is a successful entrepreneurs need to do outdoor activities as well as in relation to society. Virgin Atlantic flight is one of the organization led by him. He also got the idea when meeting with Virgin Atlantic crews and had the idea into his notebook. The idea received from the crew is more than ten new things. Beside of that, he will shake hands with the passengers on Virgin Atlantic flight when exiting the aircraft. Some of the passengers will be presenting the opinion and said the problems experienced them. Opinion and the matter will be recorded in his notebook. The next day, Richard Branson will answer and give feedback on the issues raised by the passenger. So, it is clear that Richard Branson has to observe nature in improving the business and its services.

In conclusion, every entrepreneur should be observe with their business. This is  important because they shuold focus on what they do and always alert with everything especially when related to customer satisfaction.

IV) VISONARY

The entrepreneurial world is very challenging because the world is the main pillars of entrepreneurs in advancing the national economy because they had to compete with another countries such as Japan, United States, China and others. For entrepreneurs who have a clear visionary and aims, profits obtained not only for themselves and the country, but the community also get many advantages such as entrepreneurs diversify the choices of product and carrying out social responsibility. Entrepreneurs who do not have a clear vision is certainly they cannot carry out this social responsibility effectively.In this regard, the entrepreneur is one of the individuals who played a key role in developing the national. The vision is something like to be achieved in the future as well as the benefits to be achieved by using a creative and imaginative way.

Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Shah bin Syed Nor Al-Bukhary is a Malay entrepreneur and businessman that are richest in Malaysia. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary is one of Malaysia’s most recognised and successful business figures. With a large and heavily-diversified business portfolio, he brings exceptional knowledge, experience and foresight in managing diverse business environments. According to Malaysian Business magazine, he has assets valued at 2.93 billion in 2005 as the seventh richest person in Malaysia in 2005. Visionary means having strong moral principles, ethical standardsand hold on to what one’s values and beliefs. For Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary,he has strong vision in helping those who are in need and has strong belief towards his religion, Islam. That is why Yayasan Al-Bukhary was establised in March 1996, to help the poor partiularly in education and islamic. He is known among the public is as the Yayasan (Islam) Al-Bukhary. Until now, Yayasan al-Bukhary spends more than RM300 million for religious activities, culture and education. In addition, Yayasan al-Bukhary is to finance poor students only. Among the initiatives undertaken is the financing of poor muslim students from all over the ASEAN so that studying in Malaysia. In 2000, Yayasan al-Bukhary donates a total of RM775 million to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, islamic studies centre which is famous all over the world.As his determination starting to skyrocket, he quickly moved to expand into diversification of other businesses. His next big move was in the logistics business, with initial goal to transport their trading materials. Today, his business empire has grown into areas such as plantation, property development, construction, engineering, power generation, infrastructure and ports.

In conclusion, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary is a very visionary person since he was young. He create a visoin to every single things he do and he will follow the vision until he reached what he really want to do. His family also depends almost everything on him, especially on financial needs. Overall, he has a vision that is very high in doing something. 

 V) FAILURE IS AN OPTION

Failure is a word that carries a negative meaning. No one wants failure. In entrepreneurship, an entrepreneur will not run out of facing failure in carrying out its business. However, every entrepreneur must make failure as an option. The real failure is the first step for an entrepreneur to succeed and thrive. What is important is to plan from the failure and learn from it. On average among successful entrepreneurs hold the principle that failure is an option.

            Normally, when we design something, we will make mistakes. Not all departments are planned to be successful. Therefore, as the entrepreneurs they must accept the failure and continue to fix mistakes made. Most entrepreneurs who fail will quickly give up. However, successful entrepreneurs will accept failure as an opportunity to gain knowledge. They also made mistakes, but they are among those who did not give up and do not stop to learn something new because they know that failure is an obligation in the business world. With it, they quickly learn about the world and pursue a business deal business deal.

           As an example of successful entrepreneurs who adhere to the principle of failure is an option is Dato 'Shukri Aliff. He was the founder of D'Healthy Herbs Sdn. Bhd. He has been successful in business with a wealth of experience and the difficulties he faced before. He never had problems to get business financing. His request was rejected by the bank even underestimated. However, he did not give up and keep trying to get business capital. He tried to get a loan from friends nearby and monies derived from a beauty workshop ever held. Initial loan and the money accumulated as a result of business at the farmers market for two years, he was able to build its own brand name. D'Herbs have become well-known brands of beauty products in the Malaysian market.

VI) OUTCOME ORIENTED

According to Webster’s Dictionary, an outcome is “something that follows as a result or consequence.” The term “outcome,” then, emphasizes something which is the result of particular conditions or actions. While oriented is align or position (something) relative to the points of a compass or other specified positions. Generally, outcome oriented is a term used to describe clearly define what result or achievement that are important, and focusing resources to achieve them. As entrepreneur, outcome oriented is an essential entrepreneurial skill because it can fulfill and meet long-term corporate target, or any entrepreneurial objective.

An example of an outcome oriented entrepreneur is Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is arguably one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. At just 24 years of age he became the world’s youngest billionaire, and his website has now reached over 900 million active users. Zuckerberg once said that his mission was to “make the world more open”. Nowadays Facebook unites long lost family members, reports conflicts in areas where free speech is banned, and has been a useful tool in planning uprisings against oppressive governments.

Understanding your main aim, whatever it may be, and not getting distracted by unproductive ventures, is the best way to ensure that you reach your goal. Mark Zuckerburg’s achievements were not the product of luck. He gained everything he has through a combination of hard work, passion, and the courage to dream big. By not shying away from taking risks and moving forward in the face of major competition, it is possible for any entrepreneur to be just as successful.

VII) TEAM ORIENTED

Team oriented entrepreneur is entrepreneur that working collaboratively with a group of people in order to achieve a goal. Team oriented also can know as teamwork. Teamwork is often a crucial part of a business, as it is often necessary for colleagues to work well together, trying their best in any circumstance. Teamwork means that people will try to cooperate, using their individual skills and providing constructive feedback, despite any personal conflict between individuals. Through teamwork, organizations can increase revenue without increasing resources for teamwork involving the combined efforts, knowledge, skills and abilities that can produce higher performance than if done alone. Eight core values are a precondition of the implementation of the teamwork of the same goals, shared responsibility, mutual trust, sharing ideas and cooperation.

An example of an team oriented entrepreneur is Tan Sri Mokhzani. He born in 1961, is the second son of the former prime minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad & Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali. Tan Sri Mokhzani graduated Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A. So through the educational background, it is clear he is well versed in the field of petroleum. He set up an investment company called Kencana Capital Sdn Bhd's business in the field of Oil and Gas service provider, IT, automotive and real estate. Kencana Petroleum subsidiary companies joined the company in 2012 Investor Group, a company producing SapuraKencana Oil and Gas Service Provider's largest country.

Datuk Mokhzani working with Chong Hin Loon in advancing the company Kencana Petroleum. The success achieved by Datuk Mokhzani in Kencana Petroleum company also depends on its relationship with employees, with partners as an entrepreneur working together. When was able to work in a team, then the entrepreneur can produce outstanding work performance level. This team work performance can be achieved by looking at the ability of workers, the environment and employee motivation factor of employees. However, now Datuk Mokhzani had resigned from SapuraKencana due to personal reasons.

VIII) OPEN CULTURE

Culture of openness is defined as culture or work practices which emphasize openness without feelings or things that are hidden from others. Individuals with an open culture makes it easier to work with people around us. Therefore, entrepreneurs should always be open-minded and can accept a new culture in operating a business.

Open culture of entrepreneurial perspective can be defined as a business that produces products that are universal, that the resulting product can be accepted by all walks of life regardless of religion, race or culture. Entrepreneur who operates a policy of open culture within the business is considered to have a very high potential for being able to attract many customers,

 As examples of entrepreneurs who have the culture of openness is Datuk Steven Lim. He is the founder of Secret Recipe recognized by all walks of life around the world. He hails from Kota Bharu, Kelantan and is the youngest of eight siblings. He has many close Malay since he settled in the Malay village since childhood, even when there are differences in skin color and language.

The hard life of the village and lacking in the past made him a human being creative and open-minded. Prior to venturing into the food business, he has worked with international companies in the field of marketing and brand-specific oversees a network of offices in Asia Pacific countries.

 The experience of visiting various countries throughout his career that he did not waste it because he also acted as an observer to the lifestyle of the people in the countries visited. He analyze and find answers to any questions such as why people like to eat late at night Dubai.

He and his three older brothers cake and coffee to start a business about 14 years ago. Secret Recipe existence began when he realized there was something lacking in the food business in our country where the hotels have a "fine dining". Thus, he tried to raise these issues so that customers will also be able to relax and enjoy a meal with a charming atmosphere and food prices are not too expensive in ordinary eatery.

The establishment of the first Secret Recipe is in SS2 Petaling Jaya.  He did not have enough capital to advertise on the first outlet, then he do marketing by offering free coffee to customers. The move aims to attract customers to try cakes available at Secret Recipe and enjoy free coffee.

A reporter from the magazine Vision KL try the cheese cake and suggested that he join the competition at the annual cheese cake. Even without preparation, Secret Recipe cheesecake won the Grand Champion of the competition cheesecake annual unexpectedly. After the awards received countless Secret Recipe. Therefore, this award has been successful in fostering trust and confidence in the brand.

Secret Recipe development of the favorable idea to Steven to franchise the brand. Secret Recipe market now has reach to Australia, the Philippines, China, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia and some other countries to raise brand Malaysia. In addition, he has about 200 outlets and houses approximately 3,000 employees nationwide. Nearly 95 percent of his employees are from the local people and the rest of the neighbors.

Datuk Steven Lim vigorously ensure that Malaysian brands that have Halal certificate even opened anywhere because he believes the halal food industry is very broad to be explored. Muslims can enjoy it anywhere other than non-Muslims also believe in hygiene products, Secret Recipe and quality of the dishes served.

Hence, Steven Lim arguably a culture that is both open as he managed to detect a lack of something in the food business in our country and attempt to introduce a new concept that can be adapted to all levels of society globally around the world.

IX) PROACTIVE

An entrepreneur must be proactive to continue to compete in the business world. Refers to the proactive nature of the individual who is always striving forward to succeed. Success was achieved when one is high and responsible initiative to life. These individuals will continue to seek new ideas and interesting according to current needs. In the context of entrepreneurship, an entrepreneur must be more aggressive in the behavior and actions in the business world.
 Entrepreneurs have to be brave and not afraid of the risks to decide which contain interesting ideas and make creative changes to the company. They should seek out various alternatives in providing products and services that are more creative and skilled in the business world. Furthermore proactive entrepreneurs is related to entrepreneurs who act for the initiative of the opportunities in the market, and the action is to take this opportunity to form a new environment.
            As an example of a proactive entrepreneur is Tuan Haji Ramli bin Mokni. Who is not familiar with the brand Ramly Burger fast food are popular in Malaysia. A product of this persistent Malay entrepreneurs who are in every corner of the country and also successfully penetrated the market in Singapore but also to fast food that is popular among Singaporeans.
Ramly Burger was founded in 1984 by Haji Ramly b. Mokni and his wife Puan Hajjah Shala Siah Bt. Abdul Manap. Bumiputera entrepreneurs have founded Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd. namely the famous indigenous industry in producing food products based on beef, chicken and seafood. This proactive entrepreneurs have got an idea and passion to produce pure Muslim halal, clean and high quality to customers.
Bumiputera entrepreneurs coming from Parit Buntar, Perak has only started as a butcher in a supermarket in Kuala Lumpur in the early 1970s. At that point most of the frozen-food products such as meat supply is uncertain status because of greed averaged processed meats in supermarkets were among the owners of non-Muslims. Thus, he was proactive and took the opportunity to undertake the manufacture of halal meat burger to satisfy the demand of Muslims in Malaysia.
 Starting only with RM 2,000 without any equipment or machinery to make beef burgers, now he has managed to expand this business to commercial levels. He has a parent company that is Ramly Mokni Holding Berhad and its subsidiaries namely Ramly Food Processing Sdn. Bhd., Ramly Mokni Marketing Sdn. Bhd., Ramly Supermart Sdn. Bhd. and Ramly Mokni Bakery Sdn. Bhd.
Furthermore, he also has had 450 vendor booths and 25,000 burgers in 35 branches nationwide. More exciting yet is when the group of companies are in the plan to set up a processing plant worth RM1 billion in the Industrial Park Halal Hub in Pulau Indah, Klang, Selangor. The plant is expected to be completed in 2017 with production tripled compared to now.

He is concerned with the quality of goods produced, and the views of customers of his company's product is never taken lightly. Any criticism and dissatisfaction by the customer, he will definitely improve the quality of their products to meet specific customer as soon as possible to find out the problem. This clearly illustrates his very pro-active and efficient in dealing with any problems that arise. The results of his hard work and success, he was awarded the Best Entrepreneur Award several times.

b)  Write a brief biography of one successful entrepreneur of your choice in 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.

Jack Ma is now the richest person in China with the worth estimated $25 billion. Jack Ma is a true rags-to-rich story. He grew up poor in communist China, failed his college entrance exam twice, and was rejected from dozens of jobs, including one at KFC, before finding success with his third internet company, Alibaba  (The Inspiring Life Story Of Alibaba Founder Jack Ma, Now The Richest Man In China, 2014).

Based on The Inspiring Life Story of Alibaba Founder Jack Ma, Now The Richest Man In China (2014), Jack Ma (a.k.a Ma Yun) was born on October 15 1964, in Hangzhou, located in the southeastern part of China. Jack Ma live in poor family and also at the time communist China still isolated from the west. He have an older brother and also have a younger sister. Jack Ma parents work as a musical story teller that was banned during Mao’s Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 (Alibaba's Jack Ma: From 'crazy' to China's richest man, 2014). As a teenager, Jack Ma will wake up early and go to the main hotel in Hangzhou to learn English from tourist as exchange he will be their tour guide. The nickname “Jack” was given to him by a tourist he befriended. If few things can characterize Jack Ma background, education and path to success, they are failure, rejection, fighting, resolve, hard work, agility and vision (Jack Ma: Early Life and Education, n.d).

After high school, Jack Ma applied for go to college but he failed the entrance test twice. Based on Jack Ma: Early Life and Education (n.d), Jack Ma failed test for primary school 2 times, failed test for middle school 3 times, failed entrance test for go to college 2 times and after graduate he been rejected all work that he applied such as police force and also as KFC manager. Jack Ma graduated in the 1988, and works as English teacher at a local college for five years and earning $15 a month (Alibaba's Jack Ma: From 'crazy' to China's richest man, 2014).

In the mid 1990’s Jack Ma got to know how important internet to the world. He also began seeing this new technology can be an opportunity to do a business. In 1995, Jack Ma have visited United States and learn more about the internet. He also raised a fund $20,000 to start up his first company. The result is Jack Ma earn $8000,000 just in 3 years. The purposed company that he created is to create a website for the clients (Jack Ma Biography, n.d).

Through is first two venture failed, four years later he gathered 17 of his friends in his apartment and convinced them to invest in him and his vision for an online marketplace he called “Alibaba”  (The Inspiring Life Story Of Alibaba Founder Jack Ma, Now The Richest Man In China, 2014).  The reason he created ‘Alibaba’ is to make one stop shop for business do a business transactions. Based on Alibaba's Jack Ma: From 'crazy' to China's richest man (2014), the company now makes more profit than rivals Amazon.com and e-bay combined, as China’s burgeoning middle class are big spenders online, and small companies rely on Alibaba and its online payment system. Today based on the IPO have made Jack Ma an extremely wealthy man, but he still don’t changed and still has hobbies such as reading a kung fu fiction, playing poker, meditating and practicing tai chi  (The Inspiring Life Story Of Alibaba Founder Jack Ma, Now The Richest Man In China, 2014).

i) VISIONARY

Based on The Dictionary: Visionary (n.d), Visionary means a person with unusual powers of foresight. Its mean you have great ideas, the ideas that can change the world. You’ve considered a visionary. Jack Ma is a visionary because he has an idea and also he can see the future. For example, he knows one day that internet will become important to the world. He decided to make a business based on the internet, so that the reason why he created Alibaba. Alibaba is a company that operate leading online and mobile marketplaces in retail and wholesale trade, as well as cloud computing and other services  (Company Overview: Alibaba Group, n.d.). Jack Ma believes a good leaders must have a foresight. A good leader must try to one step ahead of the competition and taking time to develop creative thinking skills and following informed intuition is a hallmark of any great business leader  (8 Keys to Success from Jack Ma, Self-Made Billionaire and CEO of Alibaba, n.d.).

ii) FAILURE IS AN OPTION

Many major success that Jack Ma achieved today but actually Jack Ma life has been riddled with failure. Jack Ma had failed in primary school test, middle school test, and also the exam entrance college but is not the end to Jack Ma. Based on The Inspiring Life Story Of Alibaba Founder Jack Ma, Now The Richest Man In China, (2014), Jack Ma received more than a dozen rejections including KFC before his being hire as a teacher at local college with salary $12 a month. Before Jack Ma meet the internet, he determined to enter business and Jack Ma created a translation company and ended up he fails (Alibaba's Jack Ma: From 'crazy' to China's richest man, 2014).  Based on his biography, we can say many failure that he been through but he never give up and try harder to achieve what he want.

iii) OBSERVANT

Observant mean quick to notice or alert about something. Jack Ma is a  observant person. It is because during his first encounter there was  no search result about China. Then he think Internet will gave him business idea. Back to  story in 1995, Jack Ma made his first trip to the US and tried Internet for the first time. He entered "beer" and found no result about beer in China, and he realised there was no data about China on the Internet. "So, we made a very ugly page about China," said Ma, adding that he received emails immediately after the launch as they told him "it was the first time we saw a Chinese website". (http://business.asiaone.com/news/ten-surprising-facts-about-jack-ma#sthash.yG0PKPW4.dpuf)

iv)PROACTIVE

Jack is a proactive. He use Ali baba name for his company. It is because Ali baba is a word famous story. Jack Ma simply wanted a global and interesting name for his company and checked for test with passersby during his stay in the US. He concluded that because the name begins with A, his company would also appear on the top of lists. Nowadays Ali baba has over 100 million buyers visiting and shopping at its websites every day, and has created 40 million jobs, directly or indirectly, in China. 

v) OPEN RISK TAKER

Jack ma is not a coder. He barely even uses technology. Despite having founded one of the largest technology companies in the world, Ma is not actually tech-savvy. He was train to be a high school teacher. He does no nothing about technology. He use computer only for send, receive email and browse. He doesn’t spend much time online and depends on a colleague to help him download U.S.