Entrepreneur Exhibition

Gerak Usahawan 2008

Fancy trying some local food and delicacies at the Sarawak Kitchen at the Kuching Waterfront this weekend? Well, I was on duty at the Waterfront reprensenting the MPUB Sri Aman (Majlis Pembangunan Usahawan Bumiputra Sri Aman) during the Gerak Usahawan 2008 held from 25 - 27 July 2008. Its my first function as the Chairman of the Majlis (by virtue of my position at the Resident's Office). Just two weeks it seems and I find myself in the forefront of a very important event. The butterflies in the stomach became evident as I saw our booth - ermm..it was almost empty! Just a few products at the entrance and that's it.

The entrance to The Sarawak Kitchen

Various stalls at the events ~ plenty of food for the visitors

The entrance to the Official Opening tent of the event

Welcoming the VVIPs are the Iban maidens in traditional costume backed by the other ethnic groups

Our star product from Sri Aman - the bumbu bubur pedas is our icon and in his speech the Honourable Chief Minister has identified it as a potential for export outside the Division and Sarawak

The Sri Aman team with Noor Hayati at the far left, David Michael the Mara representative for Sri Aman (Secretary to the Majlis), myself and Mr. Rickson Jauk the prime mover of the Majlis - in a way as he single handedly organised this for the Division as I came in half way two weeks ago as preparations were already halfway when I joined the Resident's Office

The River Cruise ship sailing with the new Legislative Assembly Building as its background is one of the unique panaroma to experience when standing at the Waterfront

The Right Honourable Chief Minister delivers his launching speech - his main message was for the small entrepreneurs to work with the major players comprising of the non bumiputeras especially in the food industry due the increase in price and demand as the world sees an increase in population with more mouths to feed (plus ensuring that we too will be self sufficient)

There was also an attempt to produce the longest Kek Lapis and enter it in the Guiness Book of World Record

The attempt was recognised as the 45 feet Kek Lapis was confirmed by the Guiness Book representative ~ a a certificate to acknowledge the effort! Well done.

Visiting the stalls is another experience in itself - reason being the various names given to the recipes by the food stalls

Trying one of the dish: The laksa presentation looks appetising - the ratings ~ I'll give my views tomorrow on the actual star product as I see some potential favourites - the item being sold out before the day ended. As for my recommendations on which dish to try - so far none comes to mind. Maybe tomorrow I may find some unique dish which deserves special mention.

The traditional products produced by the other Majlis from the other Divisions ~ in this case the Sarikei team was equally attractive

There was a presentation at the Main Stage regarding the use of the Internet to promote the participating entrepreneur products to the world. I heard that a million times before and I would like to invite that speaker to Sri Aman one day and give our Internetless entrepreneurs on how to buy a Personal Computer ~ if they can be converted as Internet usage in our part of the State is so low. As for our participation, I reserve my comments on how we presented our products coz I have my standard with which I will share with the Majlis in the next meeting.

For me the spirit of entreprenuers that day was best shown by these two boys who were making brisk business selling their balloons - equipped with a bag of balloons and a simple pump.

Comments

udinb said…
Desmond,

My sister knew that I love Umei so much, so she texted me to get my favourite Kasturi Restaurant's Umei from Sibu at the waterfront. U may wanna try.

Heiii .... how's working in Sri Aman?
Elsa Gabriel said…
the laska so yummylicoussss...i wonder, who'll be eating the kek lapis????