This event is of interest to me as I’ve worked with and spent some time with students and youth, and for the past few months have been discussing the elements and issues around cultivating a climate, an environment, an ecosystem that is more vibrant for the creative scene, the social entrepreneurship scene namely in the context of bottom-up growth progression.
Jst left old furniture shop. In love, did not spend, but hv their email & pics of wht I like. Oh dear..http://lockerz.com/s/159887637
The last time I went on a furniture spree, Jakarta 2009, it caused some damage and no regrets. The same has been the case for the last few outings I’ve had with the shops.
But there are a few realities some must come to face. And the new one I had was, to run away.
By that I mean, not to stay another night in Penang, because if I did, I’d pay this store another visit to confirm purchase of the items I’m interested in.
When I started looking at this, I knew I was getting carried away. So..the wise thing to do was to continue letting that happen.
Aren’t they lovely? Note how the legs are angled, and that there’s only three.
I actually came looking for this. And got excited seeing all the other stuff.
And then I enquired about the price for this gorgeous heavy peranakan beauty. That snapped me back to life and marked my exit.
Khor Antiques, Beach Road, Penang. Near Chulia Street.
That said, here it is for your perusal as I don’t subscribe to this notion of keeping the good things a secret. In essence, no good has ever come out of such selfish behaviour.
Some months ago I started reducing speaking engagements because I felt, if I was in the audience, listening to me, I’d be upset with how the speaker just wasted the time in my life, albeit brief. This was indeed how I felt most of the time for the talks I’ve been going to for the past year. That self reflection made me improve in some areas and recently I put it to test.
Few weeks ago I gave a talk at Monash university on entrepreneurship. I wrote about it in my column last week in The Star, and reproduced it below. Last weekend, the Malaysian Students Association in Australia organized a summit that included MAP (Malaysian Aspration Program), their version of TED Talks. I couldn’t go to Melbourne, so I recorded my part on youtube (below) for them to screen and did the Q&A live via Twitter from KL.
For both, I tried to focus on the reality as well as substance and not style. Either way, I thank both organizers for having me and hope I did not disappoint you and the audience. If I did, don’t expect a card and some flowers. Just let me know and I’ll work on it.
Video Part 1 of 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkfo42ezZ0k
Video Part 2 of 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky0dxz_64UE
Video Part 3 of 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuhOPPPenTw
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Business Minded
MANY people I know do not actually have a clear idea of what they did in the past that had gotten them to where they are today. I was asked recently to speak to Monash University students on entrepreneurship. Until that point, I was not actually conscious of being an entrepreneur, nor was I aware of how I got “there” in the first place.
In 1995, my father brought home football magazines from an overseas trip, which I photocopied (without legal consent, of course) and sold to my friends at school. That’s a “pirate”, not entrepreneur right?
Years later, I was a performer, getting paid as a rapper and moving with it business-wise such as booking shows and recording with other people. After awhile, when it was not as fun anymore, I left. But that too is being a musician right? Not an entrepreneur I think.
Today, I run a startup company, a business that thinks of, sells and executes ideas. If I have no clients to do business with, there’d be no money. The excitement is fascinating but the risk does make me lose sleep sometimes.
“A person who organises and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” That was how my laptop dictionary defined entrepreneurship.
So I suppose yes, I’m an entrepreneur although I’m not too sure how I got here. I sure didn’t make any plans, or a conscious choice to be an entrepreneur. I just did what I felt like doing, but let’s set a few things straight.
I don’t mean to discourage anyone but I feel from what little I know so far, certain things about entrepreneurship must be made clear.
First of all, not all entrepreneurs are successful. It’s not always like the stories we hear, where it’s glittered with positive words, romantic elements, big money and at most a difficult beginning. We know this is not true but not many people are that consciously aware of it. For some people the risk they have to take is immense, and when the flowers don’t bloom as they’d hope, the pretty garden they planned for their life can fall apart horribly.
Besides that, there are some who choose entrepreneurship as a way out of something they were unhappy about and not because they wanted it or because they had the characteristics of being one. To illustrate, if you don’t like rock music, that doesn’t mean you might not like another genre.
There are also some people who choose entrepreneurship for the supposed “cool” factor. Your career is also your livelihood and there’s nothing cool about not having enough money to make a living or paying the salary of the people who work for you. It’s a very serious circumstance to be in.
Finally, there’s often a tendency to be inspired when reading the journey of an entrepreneur, but don’t let that devalue your perception of other professions out there.
There are many people out there who hold on to their conventional job while being involved in a business venture.
My company actually started out as a side business while I had a full-time job that eventually didn’t work out for me. At first, the company didn’t work out either, but many lessons learned during my job helped me start the business and subsequently, continue to grow it.
It’s not just about me, myself and I. Apart from the experiences I got at my old job, I also had a business partner who helped make the work smoother by bringing in lessons he learned from his previous work.
On top of that, a supportive staff also made things easier.
So, should you consider going down this path of entrepreneurship, do take into account all the little things you’ve learned along the way. At the end of the day, whatever you choose, make the best out of it.
* Zain runs Random Alphabets (randomalphabets.com), and tweets at @ZainHD.
2 days ago, I slept over my brothers place in his tv room, with his son who decided to sleep there with me. The following is a compilation of tweets I put up, some time before we went to bed.
My niece is fun. She’s not on Twitter. She can’t talk. My nephew is lobbying for me to sleep in the tv room.
Me, my nephew and his father will come over to my house to sleep, so the small boy says. ‘Warriors Sleepover.’ And ‘girls are not Warriors.’
Dnt think nephew being sarcastic abt me not having a tv of my own, but he jst showed me how to work his, highlighting Disney channel number.
I told nephew I need a shower n he showed me the bath. ‘Girls use cold water. You must use hot water Ami Zain. Because boys are warriors.’
Nephew also said, perhaps I should not shower but jst ‘bilas badan. Or, you can use soap (and shower) but jst don’t waste water.’
Me n nephew sleeping infront of tv tonight. He is equally talkative when he is tired, watching tv n me on the phone. Fascinating.
‘We sleep aftr this cartoon is it? U kno I used 2 wear pyjamas like u whn I was small.’ He replies: ‘these 2 cars r Hotwheels.W/c 1 u like?’
While I don’t always agree with the organizer’s, Sister’s In Islam (SIS), approach and outlook towards issues and how they tackle things, they do do some good work. But more importantly, it would be wrong for you to disengage yourself with someone who is either you’re in disagreement with, or that is wrong.
To put into context, it’s like you like the colour blue and refuse to talk to anyone who likes yellow. Or refuse to shake hands with someone who is a thief, because he is a sinner in one clear way (like yourself too, in a way that might not be as obvious).
Now back to the poster above, each speaker will focus on one prejudice area, such as age, nationality, caste etc. Mine is on political prejudice. Whether or not you attend the talk or read it’s content afterwards, it’s important to make clear first to yourself, what does prejudice means. It sounds basic, but a good amount of pointless argument and discussion can ensue should something as simple as this, is not understood let alone agreed.
Check this joint out. Behind Maybank TTDI on Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi, near the TTDI Police station. You’ll be seeing me here quite a bit, nice interior decor to chill bebual kosong or lek one corner to do work. Arty ish place.
PS. Some of the people who work here, were the same people who are responsible for almost all design work for RandomAlphabets as well as my company logo. Many thanks for all that support guys. :)
Last week a day after the July 9 rally, I was interviewed by an Indonesian magazine. This comes after I did the skype video interview with Channel News Asia on the same matter on July 8.
Of late these appearances on media are becoming more frequent. But these two deserve a mention because of the cause that I feel for, and also the unexpected exposure beyond domestic borders. which might not be new to the dairy products of New Zealand, but it is to me.
Please note:
unlike what the article suggests, I am actually one of the coordinators involved in Yelloh Festival. There were quite a few of us. It was mentioned in my interview because I was narrating a story about how the coordinators briefing was interrupted by the interest of cautious diligent security guards,
it’s nice to see MCCHR (better known as Pusat Rakyat LB) mentioned. There’s quite a few good people running it that I personally know. Click here to read about it and Follow it on Twitter.
- http://zainhd.com/2011/07/bersih-interview-with-indonesian-magazine-tempo/ (click here to read interview)
Recently I asked on Facebook and Twitter, ‘where can i find pengat pisang, in PJ? I know elsewhere ada. But aku cari PJ. Kalau kau suggest Bangsar, kau mesti cari otak.‘ Thanks to Syaza, Sidek, Nigel, Jasmin, Ili, Ivan, Liyana, Najihah and Izwa for responding. For leads, see below. For recipe, click here.
‘there is a Mamak place in New PJ, near to CIMB, forgot it’s name though… depa ada jual pengat… or the one i like is in kelana jaya, near SRK kelana jaya (in front of is more like it)… there is a white van, the owner is a Pakcik with white kopiah… the problem is, sometimes je ada… you have to try your luck… good luck pengat-hunting :)’
‘try Pencala.. the sambal hijau restaurant. maybe they have’
‘restoran jaya near nasi lemak cikgu. tau? but i think masak sendiri jela.’
‘TTDI got. Its the Malay shop on the same row as the Bomba, the row facing the Vads building.’
‘make it…easy peasy dude…ripe bananas, coconut, a lil rice flour to thicken, generous pinch of salt & 50/50 gula melaka & sugar. Packet coconut milk.pandan leaf or two. Warm. Throw sugar in, dissolve. Then salt and cut bananas. Thicken with dissolved rice flour . simmer 15 mins.’
‘there is a shop on the ground floor of a flat in s 17 pj. It’s the nasi champur restaurant. Can’t remember the name. The same row as UM hostel and pasar at the other end.’
‘I think I saw it the other day at the foodcourt in front of that balai polis near jalan templer the other day. Don’t know what seksyen is that. & amcorp mall also got~ :) in amcorp mall kat the same level with the entrance. Got a stall selling kuih muih melayu. Last week I went they still had it. good luck! :)’
‘Cuba sek 14 depan Digital Mall. Boleh pergi jalan kaki je.’
‘ttdi – restoran puteri, behind secret recipe. tapi biasa2 jelah’
Tonight at 9.30pm I’ll be on Astro Awani, for a 20 minute plus interview that was shot in my home. The reason why I’m publicizing this particular one is for two reasons.
The first is that it’s that it’s an extended tv interview, which is rare. The long slot, allowed me to convey and speak a little more extensively on my work and personal views related to it. Often the slot I get on this platform is less than 8 minutes. This recording was done about two weeks ago btw.
The second is because I prepared breakfast for the host and tv crew, which I was apprehensive about as unlike other occasions, I knew my guests prior. Following that, it was breakfast, and I’ve never hosted anyone really at that hour. As some of them had been to various parts of the middle east (one covered the demonstrations in Tahrir Square Cairo in January), they narrated their fond experiences working in the region and how much they miss the food and enjoyed my tea.
In truth, that was enough for me.
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*I’m meant to get a soft copy of the interview on a cd at a later date, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to upload it on youtube due to copyright issues.
