Disabled entrepreneur produces fertiliser from food waste

The motivational quote has driven Abdul Rahim Muda, 32, a disabled person (PwD) who is also an environmentalist, to venture into the business of producing fertiliser from food waste, better known as 'bokashi'.

Abdul Rahim, whose left side of the body was paralysed following a tumor operation 2017, began the business by himself the same year, and can now generate an income of up to RM8,000 a month.

"Currently, I am marketing the product at the Shah Alam Community Farm and and I earn enough to cover my expenses,’’ said the father of one when met by Bernama at the Selangor Youth Community – Leaders, Entrepreneurship, Acceleration and Development (SAY LEAD) Entrepreneurship league here, yesterday.

Being one of the three winners in the programme, he would receive a year's guidance under the SAY LEAD+ programme to expand his business through access to new markets, business digitilisation and exports.

Abdul Rahim, who also rears chicken, said the idea to venture into the business cropped up when he was seeking a feed replacement for his poultry using the 'Black Soldier Fly' larvae.

"During the period to produce the larvae, I had to use the bokashi horticulture method first. Apparently, I found this process can also be used for agricultural fertilisers. So basically, it was a solution to two problems,” said the entrepreneur who wishes to prove that having a disability is not an obstacle for a person to succeed.

Abdul Rahim is now conducting a study to use the same materials for making bokashi fertilisers to produce livestock feed as a second product in his business, and wants the state of the Selangor to be the first to make beneficial use of food waste on a large scale.

‘’We have to look at something more positively. For example, when people look at waste, they regard it as worthless, but I feel waste has value,’’ said the Terengganu-born who been staying in Selangor for the past 15 years.

Earlier, the Raja Muda of Selangor, Tengku Amir Shah consented to be part of a jury to pick three winners from 10 PwD entrepreneurs contesting in the programme.

The other winners were Md Rizuan Rahim, 33, a person with dwarfism who runs a car service workshop and 35-year-old Zaim Zazami Ibrahim, who suffered from a spinal chord injury, and is now teaching sewing online, besides selling books on sewing patterns.

Other members of the jury were Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi, Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS) chief executive officer Siti Zubaidah Abd Jabar and Hasanah Foundation managing director Shahira Ahmed Bazari.