BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

“I HAVE never worked for someone else. In all honesty, I’ve only worked for myself all these years.”

Zubaidah Hj Aji is proud that she is self-employed, selling plants at the weekend Tamu Hujung Minggu at Pasar Gadong. The bottom line is she likes the independence of being her own boss.

“All my life, generation to generation, we rely on our income by doing some small trading, setting up a stall business and joining expos, selling our own plants and fruits,” she said.

Zubaidah said it was her choice to be self-employed and not depend on monthly wages if she had worked for the government or the private sector.

“For some people, they think the only job worth having is a government job. They even see working in the private sector as just a stepping stone before joining the government,” she said.

But there are people who think differently, she stressed.

“My weekend Gadong business selling ornamental plants is really a good business,” she said as she encouraged other people, especially the youth to try their hand at running their own business.

Zubaidah said selling ornamental plants, flowers and fruits is a lucrative business. “I joined an expo at Kupang last year for a week. During the opening day, I earned $700 in profit selling only fruits from my farm (lent by the government). That didn’t even include sales of the plants,” she said.

Although competition is tight at the weekend Pasar, business is still hopping, she said. The trick, she said, is knowing what the people want. “Plants are always the same, but we must know the seasons and the taste of the people from time to time.”

Zubaidah said that during the fruits seasons when people tend to buy local fruits, she would display fruit-bearing plants at her stall, knowing some customers would have dreams of growing their own fruit trees and would be tempted to buy.

She said one of the most sellable trees is the mango. She found that people who have just moved to a new house preferred to plant mango trees as they were easy to maintain and the fruits bountiful.

She said that once in a while, there would also be contractors buying hundreds of flower trees for planting at their projects. “I make big sales during those times.”

Zubaidah said, “The good thing about selling plants is that the capital needed is very low. You could break-even once the plants have grown.”

Patience though is key to success as it takes a long time to wait for the trees to grow, she said.

Zubaidah said that another good thing about selling flowers and plants is that unlike food they don’t spoil.

“If they don’t sell this week, I could still bring them home. I won’t need to throw them away. And the taller or bigger they grow, I get a better price for them.”

Zubaidah won’t disclose how much she makes a month, but said she earns enough that she doesn’t need to depend on anyone to support her.

And that’s the way she wants it.

The Brunei Times

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