By Haidah Halid
GOMBAK, 27 July 2020: It was a surprising turn of the event at the second session of the “Save and Earn” webinar held in accordance to the Smart Youth 2020 last Sunday (26 July).
The session titled ‘Passive Income Ideas: Shariah Compliant, Practical and Low Cost’ held via Google Meet initially started at 2 p.m. before being delayed to 3 p.m. after the original scheduled speaker, Dr. Zaharuddin Abd Rahman, was unable to attend.
However, the Smart Youth 2020 organisers were incredibly calm and prompt with getting another speaker as a replacement just within minutes after Dr. Zaharuddin was unable to attend.
Dato’ Haji Sahariman Hamdan, the President of Homestay Malaysia as well as the founder and owner of Kampungstay Desa Murni, stepped in as a replacement to talk on the topic “Keeping in Pace with The Growing Trends in Tourism Sector (Homestay)”.
In this session, Dato’ Sahariman shared his experiences in running his Kampungstay (similar concept to homestay but in villages) business.
Dato’ Sahariman told the session on how important it is for businesses especially those in the tourism industry to constantly incorporate innovative and creative ideas to ensure that they are keeping up with the pace of growing trends.
He has been actively expanding his Kampungstay with multiple accommodations and activities. For accommodation, he said, visitors can choose from camping in tents to staying in rooms, cabins or houses.
Visitors can take a dip in the large pool, go rubber tapping, or take a bike ride around the village, as part of their physical activities, he explained.
Sharing his experience in his business, Dato’ Sahariman said, “I treat challenges like it’s my hobby.” The recent COVID-19 pandemic was a huge hit to the tourism industry, he highlighted.
However, this unfortunate event had pushed himself and his colleagues to branch out to different industries aside from tourism. He shared, “We have a group with all homestay and Kampungstay owners, and there we shared other businesses which we started because of the Movement Control Order (MCO), like selling home cooked meals to baked goods to freshly caught fish and many more.”
The session ended with a lucky draw with two participants receiving a chance to win cash prizes. In a turn of event, Dato’ Haji Sahariman decided to generously give 10 lucky participants the opportunity to win a two-day and one night stay at this Kampungstay destination in Temerloh.
Coordinated by Communication internship students of the Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences (KIRKHS), the webinar session was held with the aim to expose students to industry experience. The organisers were happy that the session ended on a very high note. ***