YOUNG people with perseverance and creativity have found the time of pandemic to be a time of opportunity.

It took resolve and out-of-the-box thinking to press on with business plans that were derailed by the virus outbreak, as photographer Keda. Z  found out.

The 34-year-old founder of the Amazing Baby Studio, which runs a gallery and photography academy for international patrons, returned to put down roots in Malaysia when the coronavirus surfaced last year.

When movement restrictions upended his plans to renovate his studio, the award-winning photographer took his services online.

“The idea is that even during the movement-control order (MCO), people can still make happy memories at home,” he said.

For example, some parents would want to record their children’s growth, he said.  

“So in May last year, we introduced the Amazing Time Machine.  No matter which country you’re in, you can dress up and shoot at home and we will develop the pictures through the system.”

Clients receive a Happy Time guide with instructions on how to prepare for the shoot and tips on wardrobe, styling and posture.

Clients snap the pictures with their smartphone or camera and send them to Keda’s studio for editing. 

The response to the service has been much better than expected, he said.

Keda, who holds a Fellowship with the Master Photographers Association in the UK and has won numerous awards worldwide for portrait and wedding photography, now plans to build studios in Singapore and Kota Kinabalu when the coronavirus crisis ends.

“I did wedding and commercial photography abroad in January 2012. By 2019, I had been a photography instructor in more than 30 countries. It’s now time to return to Malaysia to start my own business brand,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

For four more young people, the key to thriving during a lockdown is adaptability and openness to new ideas. 

The group of twenty- and thirty-somethings are behind the Ah Ma Ho Liao coffeeshop in Malacca. Business is so good that they are now planning to open more outlets.

Kelvin Tan, whose grandmother provided the recipes for the menu, named the coffeeshop, which means grandma’s good food in the Hokkien dialect.

A personal banker in Singapore, Tan had quit his job at the peak of his career to over the business from his mother. Tan had plans for the coffeeshop, which he hoped to put into action together with his friend Yong Jiunn Harng.

Yong had also quit his job at a US-Thai company providing consultation and business development services for the catering industry. 

Tan and Yong had just set their first-quarter goals for Ah Ma Ho Liao when the pandemic struck last year.

Instead of backing out, they decided to forge ahead but with new menus to offer takeaway meals for Malaysians in lockdown. They introduced bottled coffee, which became a hit.

In July the same year, Sam Ng found himself back home in Malacca because of travel curbs. A sailor by trade who had obtained his seaman’s certificate in 2014, Ng had worked his way up from dishwasher to kitchen manager on a cruise ship.

“After completing my quarantine period in Malaysia, I began to think about my future. 

“I came across Ah Ma Ho Liao and I asked the owners if I could join the business. Eventually, they said yes and I helped set up the central kitchen management model,” Ng said. 

August brought Thomas Tong, their fourth partner.

Tang had founded a food delivery platform and still owns a bakery in China. 

He brought to the table his knowledge of cashless payment, social marketing and takeaway management.

The quartet admitted 2020 was a difficult year which they would erase from their ledgers if they could.

Fortunately, they had received strong support from their customers, who promoted the coffeeshop via word of mouth.

The coffeeshop also caught the attention of social media celebrities whose internet check-ins boosted Ah Ma Ho Liao’s profile online.

Though the four have done well, they can only achieve so much without dine-in customers at the two outlets. Renovation plans for two more new branches have been put on hold.

But at a time of unprecedented challenges that has seen many in the restaurant business and other sectors going bust, they know they are lucky to have found like-minded partners whose different skill sets have enabled the coffeeshop to succeed beyond their wildest dreams. – January 25, 2021.