Bizcom as a centre for entrepreneurs.

Dear readers.
Before I start with my new topic, let me apologize for the long absence from my last post until today. I was busy handling my business and personal stuff; however I will try to post as frequent as possible if time permits.

Ok, let’s face it, our majority of Bumiputera entrepreneurs are still lacking in ‘Information Technology’ in practice and in skill. I have been training our entrepreneurs for quite many years for Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) and have seen so many of us without even any basic knowledge of IT. It’s a pity when advances in the computer world are not going parallel with our entrepreneurs’ knowledge in the area.

How can we promote e-commerce when most of us do not know internet application or without an e-mail account? How do we optimize the benefit of the search function in the internet for business purposes when we do not know what is Google or Wikipedia? Nevertheless, I firmly believe things will change in the future when Government agencies, individuals or private sectors make a non-stop effort to promote IT among Bumi entrepreneurs.

One such effort is from Bizcom that actually is promoting business networking among Bumi entrepreneurs using internet technology. Even though still relatively new (up until today there are only about 24,559 visitors to their portal), the concept promises a great leap in business networking among Bumi entrepreneurs if prosecuted properly and supported by Bumi entrepreneurs in Malaysia as a whole.

If you walk to the main entrance of MARA headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut, Kuala Lumpur, you hardly can avoid seeing a reception counter of Bizcom with an office like setup or kiosk as they call it at the back of the reception counter itself. That kiosk is one of the many kiosks of Bizcom that are and will be all over Malaysia. You can use the kiosk's facilities like high speed internet, PCs, meeting room for free if you register with them (also free for first year) at the counter or online.

Among benefits for members (Bumiputera only) are:-
1. Cheaper SMS broadcasting.
2. Cheaper ICT application rates.
3. Bizcom kiosks and centre points (I found it handy when meeting with clients outside my own office premise).
4. Counseling counters.
5. Reference centres.
6. P.O Box and address. Etc. Please refer to their portal/website www.bizcom.net.my


Overall, I think Bizcom is a commendable effort by Bumi entrepreneur for Bumi entrepreneurs. There might be rooms for improvement like having a notice board at the kiosk or incorporating multi communication functions inside the portal, however, cheers for the informative reception staff, En Tahren for being entrepreneur friendly and blogger friendly too. Keep up the good work.

PS: I just bought a new camera 'canon powershot S5IS, 8 megapixels and 12x optical zoom but I forgot to raise the flash when I took the above shots. Still need to learn a lot in photography.

10th Avenue Food Mall at Berjaya Times Square.

I went to Berjaya Times Square last week before the beginning of ‘fasting month’ to print my new business card at a printing shop in the 5th floor there. It was 12 am and the printing and cutting process took around 45mins. While waiting, my tummy was rumbling to be fed as it was almost lunch time, so I asked Joanne the shop manager as to where the food court in ‘Berjaya Times Square’ as I am not very familiar with the huge shopping complex. She pointed the 10th floor and advised me to take the nearby elevator. Well, I straight away embarked on my journey to the food court.

Upon arrival, I was shocked to see the state of the food court which is named 10th Avenue Food Mall, next to the indoor theme park and the gigantic cinema theatre the IMAX (the largest movie screen in South East Asia -5-storeys of movie screen in 2 or 3D). As to why I was shocked to see the Food Court, the place is so gorgeous yet so empty. There were only about less than 30 percent food operators currently in operation with a capacity to seat 2,000 diners with 40 stalls. I wasn’t sure whether it’s good or bad luck for me as at the point of time, there were only 3 occupied tables including mine and totaling 5 persons (a couple of lovebirds at one table, 2 young females at another and the single mingle me).

I guess I shouldn’t be complaining as compared in KLCC or Maju Junction, to be seated at Lunch time is a very complicated affair. In contrast to any food court of Kuala Lumpur, 10th Avenue Food Mall offers a different yet modern and posh architecture. There’s nowhere in KL of food court standard that you can savor your food at the same time enjoying high class view including live panorama scene of KL skyline from glass wall. Altogether I can say that 10th Avenue Food Mall is an architectural masterpiece with magnificent view of KL. Honestly, I felt exceptionally grand having lunch there than any 6 stars hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

The stalls operating currently offer varieties from local (example Rasa Utara), Korean, Thais, Middle eastern and Italian. For my lunch I chose the Middle Eastern – kebab and rice that was served by Indonesian workers. So, with all the beautiful and huge aspects of the 10th Avenue Food Mall, where are the diners and stall operators? Is the location not good enough or lack of promotion from the management or do they still need time to attract business?

Whatever the problems I still think that 10th Avenue Food Mall boast a very good prospect to be a great dining location in Kuala Lumpur or perhaps South East Asia. For the great chefs of Kuala Lumpur, 10th Avenue Food Mall in Berjaya Times Square might be a place for you to carve your name, and for lovebirds out there, the place is for you to be romantic or even argue and fight with good privacy.

Bumi food entrepreneurs, anyone interested?

Shopping online with AmBank NexG prepaid MasterCard

It is a known fact that shopping online is not a favorite pastime for Malaysian. The number one reason, is the fear of being phished, scammed, hacked or whatever names they call it these days. I personally have confronted a phishing site 2 months ago when trying to pay a bill online using my Maybank2u.com when the Firefox browser I was using informed me on time that the site (not the original maybank2u.com) was a phishing site. Even though I was lucky enough to escape, that incident gave me few sleepless nights.

But what if I really need to shop online like buying a domain name and site hosting which are customarily selling efficiently online. Try ‘www.godaddy.com’ or even ‘yahoo small business’, despite the fact that they are among the cheapest in the world but they accept no more than payment online. I guess, my safest alternative is to pay with a prepaid debit card so I can control the amount of balance thus minimizing the risk of doing transaction online.

I did just that when I bought my domain names, www.hanafionline.com and www.nafibiz.com, both from 'godaddy' and ‘yahoo’ with an ‘AmBank NexG prepaid MasterCard’ that I bought from Seven Eleven nearby where I live. The card sold at RM25.00 and I can top it up according to my approximate amount that I need to pay online after I have verified my identity with a form provided and forwarded through fax. Other special benefit from the card is that the bank automatically covers me for RM10k in personal accident insurance for the first year.

Right after the payment transaction, I called the bank and asked for the detail of my transaction and they willingly gave me the info of my transaction up to my balance after confirming my identity. Now I can be rest assured my transaction is in a safe hand. Well, I suggest that you too pay with a prepaid debit card if you are not confident enough to do transaction online.

Good night and happy surfing.

Short post announcing my birthday (14 September).

Dear friends and well wishers, thank you for cheering up my birthday that happens today. In short, I want to say thank you Allah for letting me breathe in this wonderful life, my brilliant dad, for being passionate to my mom at the right time so I can be born and to my wonderful mom who endured the labor pain and to the whole world that allow me to coexist.

Happy birthday too, to my two beautiful nieces, Farhana (the eldest from my sister) and Ayesha (the eldest from my brother) who are sharing the same birthday with me and also sharing the birthday was my late grandfather aruah Haji Abdul Manap Safar (Alfatihah for you Baktok). Lost him on 14 September too, some years ago, you are always in my memory, really miss your love.

Should I wish for more? Ok, if I should, I wish for great health so I can keep contributing to the world and do things that I always crave to do before I cease to exist.

Selamat berpuasa to all.

Incubator programs to start up your business.

Hi to my fellow entrepreneurs.
What if you have a great business ideas but without any solid support to initiate your business? There is one suggestion that you might find very useful, joining an incubator program like I did years ago.

According to Wikipedia, business incubators are organizations that support the entrepreneurial process, helping to increase survival rates for innovative startup companies. Entrepreneurs with feasible projects are selected and admitted into the incubators, where they are offered a specialized menu of support resources and services. Resources and services open to an entrepreneur might include such diverse elements as: -

Provision of physical space (offices, labs).
Management coaching.
Assisting in preparing an effective business plan.
Administrative services.
Technical support
Business networking
Advice on intellectual property and
Help in finding sources of financing.

Well that’s what I copy paste from Wikipedia but when I first started my business I was in the incubator program of MARA (Majlis Amanah Rakyat) and with a very little financial capital, contacts and without a proper business premise, I managed to run my business as smooth as possible. My office was a cubicle in the second floor of MARA headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut. By joining the incubator program those days allow me to expedite my maturity in the entrepreneurial world when the only capital I have was only my business ideas.

Nowadays, we have few government agencies sponsored incubator programs in Malaysia like MDEC (for Information Technopreneurs), Sirim and MARA (for Bumiputera entrepreneurs). The resources from MARA can be contacted in the 22nd floor of MARA headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut or try the link I have provided or you can e-mail me for further information.

See you in the next post.

How to beat the traffic in Kuala Lumpur.

If you are in Jalan Bukit Bintang at 4.30pm driving your car to the point of Jalan Raja Laut or Jalan Sungai Besi on Friday, you are in traffic hell. Not just Friday but almost every day except public holiday and Sunday but Friday is always the most awful traffic day in the city.

Despite the fact that I love driving my car, I have to admit that there were lots of times I cursed unnecessarily when trapped in a heavy traffic. It is an added frustration when I have to be somewhere on time for an important business appointment and the traffic shows no mercy.

Since 2 years back, I have attempted to beat the traffic in a common way of the Italian, by riding a scooter. I like the method very much although I still drive around when necessary. Not only that I minimized my frustration on traffic situation in KL, I also conserve on petrol and the high costs of vehicle parking not to mention riding it makes me feel young again. It's a Mozkito and we love each other (the machine and I). The only drawback is when it rains. Then I have to use my weather proof attire.





Anyone for a spin in the city? I am not a 'mat-rempit', don't worry.

Mergers and acquisitions of the big names in Computer Industry.

I still remember in the late 90s when Gateway and Packard Bell were the big players of computer Industry in Malaysia. During the Malaysian ‘one home one computer’ campaign selling through the withdrawal of EPF savings in the early 2000s, Packard Bell was heavy on its own advertising which portray how easy to assemble Packard Bell Computers while Gateway was using a cow mascot all over printed medias. Although they are still the big names in the USA, we rarely get to see them in the Low Yatt or Imbi plaza nowadays.

The latest news is Acer is on the way to acquire Gateway in a scheme to become no 3 in the USA PC market right after HP and Dell while blocking Lenovo (a China company that took over IBM's desktops and notebooks) to have a hand on Packard Bell. The deal has already been approved by the boards of directors at both companies and should be completed by the end of 2007, subject to government approval of course and costs Acer around USD710millions. The deal will also indirectly help Acer to acquire Packard Bell which have been eyeing by Lenovo for quite sometimes.

While Acer is on the big move, Lenovo as its competitor, strategize to buy Seagate (a hard drive maker). Earlier, Maxtor (also a hard drive maker) was bought over by Lenovo. With all the big moves from the giants, we as a consumer can only wish that their mergers and acquisitions will expedite the positive rate of information technology, better pricing and services like experienced from HP and Compact mergers.

Hmm what about our big names here in Malaysia especially the Telco’s?

Sources: www.infoworld.com

Signing off tonight, Hanafi from www.hanafionline.com.

E mail scams, please be careful.

Dear readers,
Looking at the internet these days is really worrying me, scams are everywhere, every seconds and in every forms. Greedy people will always contemplate to rob the poor naïve. If you come across anything that offer instant wealth, just don’t fall for the trap. Below is the example of an attempted e mail scam directed to me several times :-

1. The first example
wassim yahmed
URGENT REPLY IS NEEDED FOR TIME SAKE PLEASE !!!
wassim yahmed
show details 3:41 pm (7 hours ago)
FROM THE DESK OF MR. WASSIM YAHMED,
THE BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT.
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT.
BANK OF AFRICA (BOA)ANNEX
OUAGA-BURKINA FASO.

I am WASSIM YAHMED, the manager in charge of auditing and accounting unit
foreign remittance department of bank of africa (BOA)ouaga-burkina faso in
west Africa.
With due respect and regards I have decided to contact you on a business
transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the
transaction ,During our investigation and auditing in the bank, my
department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased
person, a foriegner who died in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant
in his account with the bank without any claim of the fund in our custody
either from his family or relation before my discovery to this
development,Although personally, I kept this information secrete within
myself and to enable the whole plans and idea be profitable and uccessful
during the time of execution.

The amount involved is (us$9,210.000.00) (Nine Million Two Hundred And Ten
Thousand United State Dollars ). Meanwhile, all the whole arrangement and
directives needed to put claim over this fund as the next of kin to the
deceased, Upon your acceptance all the information will be forward to you as
soon as you indicate your interest and willingness to assist me and also
benefit your self to this great business opportunity,In fact, I could have
done this deal alone but because of my position in this country as a civil
servant,we are not allowed to operate a foriegn account and would eventually
raise an eye brow on my side during the time of transfer because I work in
this bank, this is the actual reason why it will require a second party or
fellow who will forward claims as the next of kin with affidavit of trust of
Oath to the bank and also present a foriegn account where you will need the
said fund to be transferred into, after due verification and clarification
to designated bank account,I will not fail to inform you that this
transaction is 100% risk free, On smooth conclusion of this transaction, you
will be entitled to 40% of the total sum as ratification, while 10% will be
set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of
transfer such as telephone bills etc,While 50% will be for me.

Please you have been adviced to keep top secret as I am still in service and
intend to retire from service after I conclude this deal with you, I will be
monitoring the whole situation here in the bank until you confirm the money
in your account and ask me to come down there for subsequent shearing of the
fund according to percentages previously indicated and further
investment,either in your country or any other country you may advice me to
invest in.

All other necessary information will be sent to you when I hear from you, I
suggest you get back to me as soon as possible, stating your wish in this
deal.

Yours Sincerely
WASSIM YAHMED

2. The second example
Dear Sir/Madam.

We wish to congratulate you over your email success in our computer balloting sweepstake held on 20th, August,2007.This is a Millennium Scientific Computer Game in which email addresses were used. It is a promotional program aimed at encouraging internet users; therefore you do not need to buy ticket to enter for it. You have been approved for the star prize of US $950,000:00(Nine Hundred And Fifty Thousand United State Dollars Only).

To claim your winning prize you are to contact the appointed agent as soon as possible for the immediate release of your winnings:

E-mail:- globesconsultn@aim.com
Con tact Person: MR.MIGUEL FERNANDO

(I) Batch No: BCA/0 2 2/CAC
( ii) Ticket No: 197-033-02345
(iii) Lucky No: 04-6-8-12-24
(iv) Ref No: MTD/SAN/9500/LAS.

You must contact the appointed agent with your Full Names, Contact Telephone Numbers (Home,Office and Mobile Number and also Fax Number) via email to process the immediate payment of your prize.

Fill the Claim form correctly:
Your full name:-
Nationality:-
Address:-
Sex:-
Date of birth:-
Occupation: -
Telephone number/Fax:-
Lottery Date:-

The Validity period of the winnings is for 30 working days hence you are expected to make your claims immediately.

Once again congratulations !!!

Best Regards,
Mrs,Emilo Sanchez.

3. The third example (they never got tired).

The National Lottery
PO Box 1010
Liverpool L70 1NL, United Kingdom.
Ref: XYL /26510460037/05
Batch: 24/00319/IPD

WINNING NOTIFICATION

We happily announce to you the draw (#1071) winner of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY cash prize of £2,696,385 (Two Million Six Hundred and Ninety held
on the 8th of September 2007 in London Uk.The selection process was
carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection
system(ess) from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from
which you were selected.

The BRITISH UK. Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board. To begin
the processing of your prize you are to contact our fiduaciary claims
department for more infomation as regards procedures to claim your prize.

Agents Name: Van Williams
Email: claims_uknationallottey77@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +447024096270
+ 44 702 402 8482
Fax: + 44 7075767527

1.Name..........................
2.Address.......................
3.Nationality...................
4.Age...........................
5.Sex...........................
6.Occupation....................
7.Phone/Fax.....................
8.cOUNTRY.....................

YOU ARE TO CHOOSE PAYMENT MODE: OPTIONS

1. BANK TO BANK WIRE TRANSFER.
2. CERTIFIED CHEQUE MADE OUT IN YOUR NAME COURIERED TO YOU VIA OUR
AFFILIATE COURIER COMPANY AND WILL BE DELIVERED TO YOUR ADDRESS

Cordially,
Rose Wood
Online Co-ordinator
U.K NATIONAL LOTTERY
Sweepstakes International Program

Huh. Please be careful if you receive those form of e mail scams. Usually after you are convinced that you are going to be filthy rich with no effort, they will ask you to deposit some amount of cash and disappear. The most obvious signs are the bad English (from the first e mail) and any sweepstake lottery winnings (second and third e mails). I hope you won't fall for their traps.

Love
Hanafi
Ps: As an early birthday gift to myself (14 September), I have upgraded my domain name to www.hanafionline.com.

About GPS, pocket pc and a new hand phone.

Last week I felt like rewarding myself after working very hard when finally I decided that I need a gadget to help me getting around easier in Klang Valley. Of course I live in Kuala Lumpur but aside of the city centre I got lost all the time especially if I need to go to PJ, Damansara, Cheras, and Gombak etc.

After countless online research on GPS receiver or ‘Global Navigation Satellite System’ (a device that can sense a US Military satellite and became popular nowadays as navigator to determine the user location, speed and direction), I short listed 3 models of different brands of either 'GPS cum pocket pc', 'GPS cum hand phone' and 'GPS cum pocket pc cum hand phone'. The brands are HP iPAQ rx5700 Travel Companion with price tag of RM1,688.00, Nokia 6110 Navigator with price tag of approximately RM 1,450.00 and lastly Asus P735 about RM1,900.00.

As the average KL guy, I normally do my gadget shopping in the famous Low Yatt Plaza so I went there last Saturday. I window shopped at the mezzanine floor in the hope to get good bargain when a shop assistant at Digi Shop by the name of Joseph suggested to me Glofish x500 with a price tag of RM1,780.00. Glofish is a brand by Eten (Taiwanese) that I have not come across in person except few ads encountered in computer related magazines like Chips and PC.com.

I believe the price is the cheapest compared to other Pocket PC Phone with GPS but I can assure you that I don’t make buying decision on price alone. Style, design, practicality, specifications, product warranty and compatibility to my lifestyle are most important factors. I like my gadget not too bulky yet adequately comfortable for screen viewing. The offer was good enough for me as I received 2 batteries, 2 styluses, a Bluetooth headset, a charger, a car charger and a holder to be used in the car, a leather case and 1GB micro SD card. So the fish became my adopted son.

At home, I started to play with my ‘Glofish’ which has been equipped with Windows Mobile 5.0, which is not a problem to me as previously I have used a Windows CE with my iPAQ. The rest of the functions are quite average for a pocket pc but I like the ergonomic positions of X500 application buttons which are easy to access and simple enough to use, for instance the camera button with the icon is placed on the right giving the feel of a real camera. Graphical display from ample screen size is also very sharp especially indoors. I tested the multimedia with movies and they display good and clear enough for me.

Everything else connected perfectly except that it is not easy to master the GPS which can only be detected outdoors and the lack of manual from the ‘Glofish’ and the software provided which is ‘Map King’.

Even after few days I am still struggling to master the GPS device. I can’t put the blame solely on me as the menu itself is very confusing. Well, I won’t give up; however, if there are anyone out there who are well versed in GPS navigation device who can offer me an advice, I will very much appreciate it.

Below are the specifications of my Glofish X500
CPU: Samsung SC3 2442 400 MHz
Memory: 128 MB Flash, 64 MB SDRAM
Display: 2.8'', 65'536 colors QVGA, 240 x 320 pixels resolution
Dimensions: 113 x 59.5 x 15.5 mm
Weight: 146g (with battery)
Communications:
GSM/EDGE quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
GPRS/EGPRS Class B / Multi-slot 10
Bluetooth v2.0, Class 2 + EDR
WiFi IEEE802.11b/g

GPS:
Embedded SiRF Star III chipset
TMC function supported
SiRF Instant Fix (Ephemeris Extension)

Camera: Built-in 2.0 mega pixels CMOS camera, up to 1600 x 1200 resolutions

Expansibility: Micro SD card slot
Windows Mobile™ 5.0 software for Pocket PCs , Microsoft® Office Outlook® Mobile (Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Inbox), Picture, Notes, Microsoft® Office Word Mobile, Microsoft® Office Excel® Mobile, Internet Explorer Mobile, ActiveSync, Calculator, Game (Solitaire, Bubble Breaker), Voice Recorder, Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® Mobile, MSN® Messenger, Microsoft® Transcriber, Windows Media® Player 10, Direct Push Technology, Microsoft Reader* (* subject to change by region)
Glofish X500 Applications:
Phone Tools : Phone Application*, Phone Setting, SIM Toolkit, Speed Dial, Call Filter, Wireless Modem, Dialer Skin, Add Ringtone, CSD Type, Voice Commander*, Connection Wizard, SMS Sender, SIM Manager, Skype Receiver Switch (*subject to change by region)
Multimedia Tools: Image Wizard, Image Maker, Multimedia Manager, Camera, Camcorder, FM Tuner
GPS Tools: Satellite Data Update, Location SMS, GPS Viewer

Cooking marathon and Bumiputera entrepreneurs food products showcase in conjunction with Merdeka celebration.

What do you cook if it is for 50 hours? I say a recipe for celebrating Merdeka. On the 29 to 31st August, few well-known Bumiputera chefs were displaying their culinary skills non stop for 50 hours at the lobby of MARA headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut, Kuala Lumpur.







Few well known Bumiputera entrepreneurs from the food industry were showcasing their products during the Marathon/ Merdeka celebration. Evidently, sampling products made by Bumiputera entrepreneurs gave me a proud feeling. Their food products are of international quality with distinct Malaysian flavor. Not only that they look yummy but their products are affordable yet nutritious. Dealers are welcome.