FAILURE IS AN OPTION

PUAN FARIDAH ZAKARIA

Failure is a very bitter pill to swallow. If we take failure as a positive thing, it is not impossible for it in bringing success to our life. The example of the entrepreneur that making failure as an option is the Managing Director of Boutique Fareeda, Mrs. Faridah Zakaria. Her determination and strong will enable her comeback success.

Her determination to change the fate of the family makes her strive and never give up, and the result was born into the frenzy. Boutique Fareeda sells hijab in various patterns nowadays. She was born in Singapore but was raised in Penang. She began involving herself in the field of beauty and opened a beauty salon in Pulau Pinang. The business received no response and only lasted a year only. After the failure of her beauty salon business, she did not have any work to do and it put herself in pressure. She determined to find a way to support her family. She must do something to change the fate of the family, and she began dealing hijab from Dubai on a small scale.

She then got the idea to produce scarf with her own brand. That was the beginning of Fareeda hijab design which was inspired by her taste. She proved that it is not impossible to become success if we want to. When homemade hijab were made, many friends and relatives have the interest in it and starting to buy the hijab from her. She finally decided to open a business that sell hijab. At the beginning, she only used two sewing machines to sew the hijab. She struggled to finish the hijab ordered by her customers because the machine owned by her business is not enough.

She received hundreds of orders that need to be completed in a timely manner. She need to divide her time wisely as she has to spend her time with family as well as she need to sew the hijab and serve customers in the same time. She only sleeps two to three hours a day but she has a high level of discipline that enables her to become a successful businesswoman. She felt very lucky to have a husband who is very understanding and always encourage her to continue to expand her business.

Fareeda boutique has more than 100 employees and 300 dealers that sell almost 2000 hijabs every month, especially from the branch in Bangi, Selangor. Customers are willing to queue to get the hijab as the designs are limited. Every Fareeda hijab produced is limited in order to maintain the quality with the use of the best fabrics imported from abroad.