KUCHING: Sarawak’s tapioca chips is on its way to the international market.

THANK YOU: Naroden receives a memento from DBNA president Ik Pahon Joyik (left). — Photo by Johnathan Bullet

The first shipment of tapioca chips to London was scheduled for June 15, revealed Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development) Mohd Naroden Majais yesterday.

Naroden said the buyer was Premium Product Limited in London.

He pointed out that the demand for tapioca chips was six containers per month but “we only managed to supply one container so the opportunity to produce five more containers of tapioca chips is there”.

The first 20-foot container of chips is worth about RM21,000.

Naroden told reporters this after the closing the two-day Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) Entrepreneurship Development seminar themed ‘Nurturing Business Acumen for Bidayuh Towards the year 2020’.

He said tapioca chips was a good example of how to add value to a product, an approach that should be followed by local entrepreneurs.

He advised entrepreneurs to have more initiative to expand their business and not be satisfied with current conditions.

Naroden cited the example of the border towns of Serian and Serikin where local entrepreneurs sourced most of their products from Indonesia.

“Why are local entrepreneurs not producing their own products?” he asked.

“We feel a bit disappointed with this kind of attitude. I think they don’t have the initiative and prefer short-cut. That’s why they want to be middle men who only earn a marginal profit,” he said, adding that if the entrepreneurs had initiative, interest and were willing to work harder, they could easily earn more.

“If you cultivate the tapioca and process it into chips yourself, I believe the profit from the value-added product is higher than the commission,” he pointed out.

He also said the federal government wanted to establish a Bumiputera Commercial and Industrial Society (MPPB) to produce 150,000 new entrepreneurs a year.

“To realise this in Sarawak, we aim to produce at least 6,000 new entrepreneurs per year,” he said.

The state has almost 90,000 entrepreneurs who are mainly in the Small and Medium Industries (SMIs).