NaBillion Empire Founder inspires students at COMMFEST’25

By, Afifah Syahmina

GOMBAK, 2nd June 2025: A podcast titled, “Student Startups in The Digital Age,” was held on 27 May 2025 at Multimedia Lab in conjunction with Communication Festival 2025 (COMMFEST’25). Muhammad Nabil Fikri Sulaiman was invited to share his vast experience growing his business, NaBillion Empire, into a dynamic multi-brand enterprise that includes a health and beauty products, apparel, food and beverage business.

Muhammad Nabil graduated from IIUM with a Bachelor of Economics degree. His entrepreneurial journey began since he was a student. He started by selling locally produced health and beauty products like skincare and supplements on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

A key factor in Muhammad Nabil’s success has been his early embrace of digital marketing. He relied on zero-cost marketing strategies on platforms like Facebook and Instagram as he focused on organic content creation, crafting engaging videos and posts to attract customers. He disclosed that he spent his time learning how to create high-quality content and maintain consistency when posting it online. He emphasized, “You have to capture your audience’s attention in the first three seconds, or they’ll just scroll by.”

Apart from that, as the market became more competitive and saturated, Muhammad Nabil pivoted to paid ads and explored newer platforms like TikTok, which emerged as a game-changer in online retail. “Trends shift quickly,” he noted. “Shopee was big, but now most of the best deals and the best vouchers are at TikTok Shop,” It is important to adapt according to the environment where most of the audiences are into to maintain business’s online presence.

Muhammad Nabil emphasized the importance of networking in growing a business as it will be beneficial in terms of monetary and financial. Sometimes, it also helps in endorsing the brand and the product. “Engaging with people could bring a good reputation and good image to your brand,” he mentioned.

Muhammad Nabil also disclosed that one of the main challenges in handling a business was managing people. “You need to give a different approach to different people as they have different attitudes and traits,” he explained. He further explained that learning from others is a constant part of running a business since an entrepreneur needs to be ready for any obstacles that may arise.

As a student himself, he advised students not to get carried away from the fun of managing business and cash in hands. “If you’re running your business while studying, make sure to focus on your studies and put that as your top priority,” he said. Muhammad Nabil also added the importance of finding a mentor, “Learning from books is different and learning from experience is different.”

Finally, Muhammad Nabil gave advice to students who want to start their own business. “I started with just 500 ringgits,” he said, adding that it is okay to start small because the business can grow over time. He also recommended students to use Canva for design work because it is free and convenient. ***