This Malaysian Guy Made RM1 Million In Less Than A Year By Selling Men's Grooming Products

Amir Syakireen Ramli studied geology and graduated from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. After his graduation, he worked as a geologist at a giant oil and gas company.

However, after five years, he decided to quit his comfortable job to establish Hipster Pomade, which sells men's grooming products. The 29-year-old's decision to start his own business also came about after he realised that his work has taken away his time from his family, as the nature of his job required him to be overseas for long periods of time.

Amir once told Harian Metro that he founded Hipster Pomade so that local consumers, particularly men, would be able to style their hair as they desire without spending too much money on grooming products.

Amir was introduced to this product and he was fascinated by it. He realised that there is a great potential for the product to be a hit among locals.

"From there, I have this desire to find the best formula to create a water-based product that is easy to carry during prayers and is cheaper than other pomade brands in the market," he said.

It was learned that Amir has always displayed such entrepreneurial spirit, even when he was still a young boy. When he was still in primary school, he would buy snacks in bulk just to get each of them cheaper by 10 to 20 cents. Then, he would sell them to his friends at school just to earn RM1 to RM2 extra pocket money.

He forked out a total of RM15,000 from his personal savings, which he accumulated from the time that he was working, to use as his capital.

Using the funds, he started making products and registering them with the Ministry of Health (MOH).

During the initial stages of the startup, there were only two variations of pomade available, but Hipster Pomade quickly gained popularity among locals.

During the early days of the business venture, Amir had to do everything by himself - from personally taking orders online to getting the stocks whether rain or shine.

Of course, there were naysayers who doubted him, and he even had to convince his wife and family that his idea would work. At times, he wanted to give up, but he pushed through and persevered despite the many challenges.

Today, there are more than 15 stockists and 1,200 agents who handle the sales of Hipster Pomade products across Malaysia.

Hipster Pomade is no longer just an online venture as Amir has made his products available at offline retail stores such pharmacies and toko jamu (traditional medicine shops) .

There is even a dedicated Hipster Pomade kiosk at IOI City Mall in Putrajaya.

Besides Malaysia, Hipster Pomade products are also available in other countries such as Singapore, Brunei, and Egypt, among others.

Known for his advertising techniques that have helped grow his business rapidly, Amir revealed in an interview with Utusan that he bought billboard placements at 27 different spots along major highways across the country to promote Hipster Pomade.

It was also noted that he has strategically used celebrity endorsements for Hipster Pomade products. Most recently, a new product by Hipster Pomade called 'Extreme' was featured together with popular local actor Hairul Azreen, who is also the winner of 'Fear Factor Selebriti Malaysia'.

The young entrepreneur is also not afraid to explore creative ways to continue building the product's brand image, such as creating a 'Hipster Pomade Show' on YouTube and even developing a mobile game.

Hipster Pomade also managed obtained the halal certification from JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) recently, which is particularly important to Muslim consumers.

The success of Hipster Pomade reached new heights when Amir received an award at the 'Anugerah Personaliti Industri & Usahawan Malaysia 2017' in April.

Moving forward, Amir has plans to collaborate and work with various entities to develop his business and provide a better service to consumers. He has also expressed his desire to take his company public within the next five years.