A livestream of a husband and wife making banana chips in their backyard proved to be a turning point for Nekyahh Kerepek, which now records monthly sales of up to RM136,000.
For Muhammad Akram Shairi, 32, and wife Siti Farhana Masud Hayati, 26, it all began during Ramadan last year when their first TikTok livestream unexpectedly generated an order for 30kg of banana chips.
Today, the factory in Parit 6 Tebuk Pulai in Sabak Bernam, Selangor, processes about 200kg of bananas daily.
The company has 14 workers aged between 24 and 66.
“During Ramadan last year, we started a livestream of us frying banana chips, and immediately received a 30kg order,” said Muhammad Akram.
“The next day, we hired a worker to help out after receiving an order for 60kg.
“Orders continued to increase and we added workers to meet the demand,” he told Bernama.
Their cottage business provides jobs for local residents, including the elderly and single mothers.
Muhammad Akram said seven employees handled production, while the others managed office operations.
The production team comprises mainly older workers who prepare the raw materials, peel bananas, fry the chips and package the finished products.
Siti Farhana said the older workers’ experience in food preparation was an advantage to the business.
“Some share with us how to make chips and sambal because they have been doing this kind of work for a long time.
“They also enjoy coming to work as they get to meet friends.
“Some arrive hours before their work shift starts. The factory’s operates from 7am to 4.30pm,” she said.
Muhammad Akram said sales generated online now ranged between RM130,000 and RM136,000 a month, depending on raw material supplies and demand.
But behind the success was a painful lesson from their previous business.
The couple suffered losses of nearly RM400,000 when their clothing business ran into cash flow problems in 2023.
“During the Aidilfitri preparations that year, we only had RM60 in our pockets.
“At that time, money from online sales accounts could not yet be withdrawn.
“I told my wife, let’s pretend to be busy frying chips in the backyard so that when relatives ask, we have the excuse of supposedly having too many orders.
“But in reality, we were avoiding them because we had no duit raya to give,” he said.
Muhammad Akram said the experience taught them to be more careful with their money and to grow the business gradually using profits generated from sales.
Their present business’ rapid growth also brought a new challenge – securing sufficient banana supply, particularly when prices rose to as much as RM7 per kilogramme.
As a long-term measure, the couple are cultivating their own bananas in Kampung Gajah, Perak, where they have planted more than 2,000 seedlings.
Muhammad Akram said securing their own supply was necessary to maintain production and safeguard jobs for the locals.
“We do not want to repeat past business mistakes,” he said.
“If retailers face supply problems, our own plantation can help keep our production going,” he said.
