Alumnus Dr Toong Foo Weng from the Management and Science University (MSU) Class of 2019 had begun his journey into entrepreneurship by selling fresh produce at a morning market in Broga. Graduating from MSU with a Master in Business Administration in 2014, he took a path less travelled by transitioning to poultry when a friend offered him capital. His first stock of 70 chickens became the beginning of ShanShui Chickens, which grew to its present 30,000 capacity over the next five years.
“A local businessman who had heard about my efforts offered me the opportunity of expansion on his land in the foothills of Ulu Langat, Selangor where the farm currently is,” he says.
Etched in Dr Toong’s enterprising heart had been the words spoken to his MBA batch in a talk given at the Graduate School of Management (GSM) in MSU Learning Centre KL Sentral. Moving and motivating, those words inspired him to do everything to the best of his ability thereon; academically, personally, and in business.
Among the challenges the-then-new MBA graduate had to face was the chickens’ mortality rate, which in organic chickens is normally ten to fifteen percent. The green diet was another, because it had to be sourced and put together from various suppliers; soy waste from tofu producers, for example, and coconut waste from makers of kaya (traditional jam made from coconut and eggs).
“I had 2,000 dead chickens in one day instead, more than the 10 to 15 percent; but after learning and changing many things I managed to bring the figure down to five percent. I had also been sold feed that either had expired, was mouldy, or had been mixed with tiny pebbles to bump up the feed’s actual weight. In 2017 I lost fifty thousand Ringgit from 8,000 chickens dead owing to illness, but even more devastating was a loss from theft by my own workers who stole and sold nearly half the livestock,” he recalls.
Ricky rearing chickens for a living elicited laughter in the beginning but he kept at it. His efforts began to get noticed, when he was nominated for the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Ten Outstanding Young Malaysians (TOYM) Awards 2018. With green chickens as his subject, he chose to further study into halal chicken production. The FTW PhD student’s typical week saw him delivering fresh chickens and eggs daily to distributors and attending lectures full-time on weekends. In 2019, he graduated for the second time from Management and Science University (MSU) as a Doctor of Philosophy (Management/Business) in Green and Halal Poultry Farming.
Dr Ricky Toong Foo Weng recommends lifelong learning to aspiring entrepreneurs and the supportive ecosystem at MSU.
“A challenge to any business is in dealing with people; the suppliers as well as the customers. There is always a lot of competition, so besides learning to be nice you must also learn to be strong. When you go through the problem phase in your journey, keep in mind that you are still learning. Past this phase, everything will stabilize. Gain new knowledge outside, just as I did at this University, then bring it back to your business.”
MSU Bachelor in Entrepreneurship (Hons)
MSU Diploma in Entrepreneurship
Full-Time Weekend students connect with craft
GSM students on GLP to Thailand
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Alumnus Dr Toong Foo Weng from the Management and Science University (MSU) Class of 2019 had begun his journey into entrepreneurship by selling fresh produce at a morning market in Broga. Graduating from MSU with a Master in Business Administration in 2014, he took a path less travelled by transitioning to poultry when a friend offered him capital. His first stock of 70 chickens became the beginning of ShanShui Chickens, which grew to its present 30,000 capacity over the next five years.
“A local businessman who had heard about my efforts offered me the opportunity of expansion on his land in the foothills of Ulu Langat, Selangor where the farm currently is,” he says.
Etched in Dr Toong’s enterprising heart had been the words spoken to his MBA batch in a talk given at the Graduate School of Management (GSM) in MSU Learning Centre KL Sentral. Moving and motivating, those words inspired him to do everything to the best of his ability thereon; academically, personally, and in business.
Among the challenges the-then-new MBA graduate had to face was the chickens’ mortality rate, which in organic chickens is normally ten to fifteen percent. The green diet was another, because it had to be sourced and put together from various suppliers; soy waste from tofu producers, for example, and coconut waste from makers of kaya (traditional jam made from coconut and eggs).
“I had 2,000 dead chickens in one day instead, more than the 10 to 15 percent; but after learning and changing many things I managed to bring the figure down to five percent. I had also been sold feed that either had expired, was mouldy, or had been mixed with tiny pebbles to bump up the feed’s actual weight. In 2017 I lost fifty thousand Ringgit from 8,000 chickens dead owing to illness, but even more devastating was a loss from theft by my own workers who stole and sold nearly half the livestock,” he recalls.
Ricky rearing chickens for a living elicited laughter in the beginning but he kept at it. His efforts began to get noticed, when he was nominated for the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Ten Outstanding Young Malaysians (TOYM) Awards 2018. With green chickens as his subject, he chose to further study into halal chicken production. The FTW PhD student’s typical week saw him delivering fresh chickens and eggs daily to distributors and attending lectures full-time on weekends. In 2019, he graduated for the second time from Management and Science University (MSU) as a Doctor of Philosophy (Management/Business) in Green and Halal Poultry Farming.
Dr Ricky Toong Foo Weng recommends lifelong learning to aspiring entrepreneurs and the supportive ecosystem at MSU.
“A challenge to any business is in dealing with people; the suppliers as well as the customers. There is always a lot of competition, so besides learning to be nice you must also learn to be strong. When you go through the problem phase in your journey, keep in mind that you are still learning. Past this phase, everything will stabilize. Gain new knowledge outside, just as I did at this University, then bring it back to your business.”
MSU Bachelor in Entrepreneurship (Hons)
MSU Diploma in Entrepreneurship
Full-Time Weekend students connect with craft
GSM students on GLP to Thailand