Entrepreneurship

Using Modern Marketing Techniques to Promote Traditional Tuhau

Eriy Dusun used to be an average rural housewife having to brave life’s challenges with her husband’s limited income. Like others, she tried so many things to supplement the family’s income but her efforts were fruitless. Then, her life took a drastic change when she enrolled for the entrepreneurship training programme conducted by Celcom’s Internet Centre in Putera Jaya, Telipok in 2014. She was very inspired by the story of a rural lady entrepreneur who was successful in her business of harvesting and exporting seaweeds. Driven by this motivation, she started to search for a suitable product to produce and market. The idea for producing tuhau (a Kadazandusun delicacy made from wild ginger) came out and it was too strong to ignore. After all, she had been making pickled tuhau for her own consumption based on a family recipe given by her mother.

To kick-start the business, she started producing jeruk tuhau (pickled) and serunding tuhau (flossed). The brand name “Que Yun” derived from her eldest daughter’s name, Kuyun, was adopted. Armed with the graphic design training she learned at the internet centre, she came up with the logo and label design for the packaging. She started production on a small scale in her own kitchen with assistance from her husband who handles distribution. Initially, she sold her products to friends and relatives, as well as at the local tamu (traditional agro market), local expo and also promoting to restaurants and food outlets.

Growing the Business

Encouraged by the positive sales response and customers’ feedback, Eriy was given support by the internet centre’s manager to expand her online business by developing a blog, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube accounts. Arbaya Angin, the manager, is a Computer Science graduate from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Additional trainings were given to help Eriy prepare a business plan and company profile to apply for a grant from FAMA. The grant was approved and utilised to produce better stickers and packaging materials using glass jars and foil packaging. Her product range also expanded with the addition of new products like tuhau bilis (anchovy) and tuhau udang (shrimp). Currently, there are seven variants of tuhaus in her product range. Her success enables her to get additional funding from authorities to start a small but proper factory to produce her tuhaus.

Impressive Results

From a small start-up making a monthly income of just RM80, Eriy’s business is now able to rake in over RM5,000 in monthly sales. Now, almost 90 percent of her orders are done online through Messenger and WhatsApp. Orders received online are delivered on cash-on-delivery basis, or by buses to various locations, or even though Poslaju for her customers in Peninsula Malaysia. Her succcess has not gone unnoticed. Recently, The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) awarded her as the “Best Internet Centre Entrepreneur, Sabah Region” for 2017 which came with a RM5,000 cash award.