For the community: Muhammad Alif preparing to deliver the nasi lemak.
JOHOR BARU: Muhammad Alif Ikhfan Abdullah (pic below) is a hardworking young man who does several jobs and still has time to sell nasi lemak for charity.
Since 2021, Muhammad Alif, 28, and his 67-year-old grandmother, Maimunah Ahmad, have been selling and delivering RM1 nasi lemak to those who are donating to charity homes and mosques.
“After completing my degree in Physics in 2018, I have been doing some part-time jobs so that I could have time to take care of my grandmother and great-grandmother.
“However, when Covid-19 hit in March 2020, I could no longer take up any part-time jobs and needed to find a way to get income. That was when my grandmother and I thought of starting the RM1 nasi lemak business from home.
“My grandmother makes the nasi lemak while I deliver them to our customers. We did this for about one year before deciding to focus on selling the nasi lemak for charity,” he said in an interview.
Muhammad Alif, who works as an administrative and customer service officer as well as a part-time tutor, said that they decided to do so as they noticed that they have many customers who were buying the nasi lemak to be donated to charity homes instead of consuming it themselves.
“During the peak of Covid-19, we could really see Malaysians banding together to help one another and that inspired us to provide this service.
“In the past, we sold nasi lemak to everyone and charged a delivery fee of between RM1 and RM2, depending on the location.
“However, since April 2021, we started to focus on selling the nasi lemak to individuals who want to donate the food to charity and not charge them any delivery fee,” he said.
Muhammad Alif said that he delivers the nasi lemak once a week.
“In the past, we would make and deliver the nasi lemak almost every day, but since I am now juggling two jobs, I could only do so once a week. However, during the month of Ramadan, I will do so every day as there is a lot of demand from customers who want to do charity,” he said.
Muhammad Alif said that he also has customers who would leave it entirely up to him to decide on which charity homes to donate to.
“I have customers who will book dozens of nasi lemak and tell me to just donate to any charity home I know,” he said. “Some will already have the homes they want to donate to and have me deliver it to them.”
“After making the delivery, I will send them a short report and some photos,” he said. He added that he hopes to inspire others to also find their own unique way to contribute to the community.
“I may not have the money to donate to those in need, but what I can do is to donate my energy and provide a platform to others who want to help.
“I hope that in the future, I can expand this initiative further.
“My plan is to reach out to single-mother associations and train their members to earn a living through this business while doing their bit for charity,” he said.
