Evening souq where students can learn to become entrepreneurs

By Nur Najmi Jamal

GOMBAK, 12 September 2015: The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) is lucky to become the first among other universities in Malaysia to have been chosen by the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (FAMA) for a collaboration in organising a campus pasar tani called ‘evening souq’.

Evening souq is an open market which is held every Friday from 5 p.m until 9 p.m and located at Convest Hill.
Different from other ordinary night market, this evening souq offers a variety of goods which includes foodstuffs, vegetables, fresh meat, women’s garments and clothing.

This event is not only open for students but also staff and outsiders. The main bonus of the evening souq is that the prices of goods are much cheaper than the outside market since they are selling directly from the source without going through any third party.

Besides that, FAMA also provides a good opportunity for students to enrol themselves in business by providing them a booth without charging any fee or rent. For now, FAMA is providing six booths for the students which they can apply through the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC).

Students who are interested to know more about doing business can join the souq and learn to do business.  As stated by FAMA’s Officer, Abd Rahim Limin, “We do not want students to struggle looking for job after graduating, instead they could be the one who provides other people with jobs by doing business and become entrepreneurs.”

Among others, the objective of this event is to invite students to be familiar with business environment and to provide a convenient market place for the students. As mentioned by the organiser, “We show how business works for students, so they can feel how great it is, and if there is a good demand, we might provide more booths than what we have provided now.”***