Women were struggling to find comfortable & high quality prayer prayer garments.
A lady saw the opportunity to create better & more comfortable telekung (prayer garment).
Using innovation & clever marketing, she made it a global success.
This is the story of Siti Khadijah.👇
Siti Khadijah or SK was founded by Puan Hajah Padzilah Enda Sulaiman from Perak, Malaysia.
Her company was named after the wife of Prophet Muhammad, Siti Khadijah.
In 2009, she started selling telekung from her home in Kajang, Selangor to support her family.
After her husband's early retirement, he started his own business.
But the business was failing and they fell into heavy debts.
They had to do something to survive.
She started selling cosmetics and joined MLM schemes.
But, it didn't go well.
She knew she had good sewing skills that can be turned into a business.
Finding telekung where the face area can fit nicely was a problem then.
Her customers always asked for alteration.
She saw this as a big business opportunity.
(Photo: SK)
She started it from home with only RM10k capital.
Her husband helped with the production but selling the first 200 units was hard.
She tried to sell them to travel agencies for their customers going for Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca).
Nobody was keen.
(Photo: Majalah Labur)
People thought her telekung was too expensive.
One day, she met a journalist at an event and the person agreed to write about her telekung.
That changed everything.
She received endless calls from customers.
Then she was invited to appear on TV and the sales went up.
It was not all positive.
They were criticised of turning the telekung into a branded wear.
She said she designed it in such a way so that it would encourage the wearer to pray.
People also copied her design and made fake products.
In 2014, two major events happened:
1. Her son, a digital marketer who used to work with Google Japan setup an online store.
2. Her products appeared on Astro Go Shop, an TV shopping channel.
She sold more than 50,000 units worth RM10m.
They're constantly innovating with their products and marketing.
New and fresh designs every year.
Clever and catchy billboards around the city.
Their e-commerce website is well-built.
(Photos: @richardker & @ijaicool)
This Raya / Eid, they started selling them in vending machines at the rest areas along the highways.
They know people will stop and pray at the rest areas and may need to use them.
They go into their minds of their customers.
(Photo: Madam Padzillah's FB)
She now produces more than 2,000 telekung daily, 10 times more when she started the business.
She created a business that employs women and people under B40s.
SK has more than 40 stores in Malaysia and abroad.
They're sold in Australia, UK, Canada & Japan.
Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs:
Be positive, strong, daring and never give up.
Always be learning and put your trust in God.
(Photo: PUBI Perak)
I share stories on entrepreneurship, science, tech and innovation. If you find this inspiring, please RT the first post.
Follow me @richardker for more.
Sources:
1. nst.com.my/lifestyle/flai…
2. gempak.com/intrend/jumaat…
3. majalahlabur.com/inspirasi/9-ra…
4. sitikhadijah.com
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