STS : Teen spices up dad's business with Net venture
Yap Yok Foo
2nd December 2001
Teen spices up dad's business with Net venture
Fourteen-year-old is the youngest winner of the Netpreneur of the Year
award for putting his father's spice shop on the Net
By Leslie Lau
IN KUALA LUMPUR
MALAYSIAN teenager Kridaraan Komahan is not old enough for a driver's
licence; nor has he gone on his first date yet.
But the 14-year-old is already the chief executive of his own Internet
start-up that came to life behind his father's thriving spice shop.
'I know about the Internet bust of course but my ambition is still to
develop a workable Net enterprise,' he told The Sunday Times.
Last month, Kridaraan beat older and more experienced competitors to
become the youngest winner of the country's Netpreneur of the Year
award.
The reasons for his first success can be found among the sacks of
dhall, cinnamon, pepper and other spices that define his father's shop
in Brickfields, a predominantly Indian neighbourhood.
'When I was 10, my father made me sit in front of a cash register and
it was really boring. So I pestered him to buy me a computer and I
started surfing the Web,' he said.
One day, Kridaraan had the sudden inspiration to go into e-business.
And so an adventure with his father began.
'I am very close to my father and we talked it over and decided to try
it out,' he said.
Together, the two began attending seminars on e-business while
Kridaraan learned coding and web design online.
Last year, citrastore.com.my was born to add value to Mr K.S.
Komahan's spice-supplies business.
Basically, the website serves as an online spice supplier.
'I own the physical shop and my son runs the virtual business, so we
complement each other,' Mr Komahan said.
The virtual store receives 10 to 15 orders each day, usually from
around the neighbourhood.
It has even received orders for dhall and packets of Maggi Mee from
Malaysians living in the United States and Switzerland.
'We Fedexed the orders to them,' said Kridaraan.
Mr Komahan is opening more outlets for his business in other
neighbourhoods and Kridaraan is expected to ride on his father's
expansion plans.
'With my father having more shops, I am quite sure our orders over the
website will increase as well,' he said.
But the boy's ambitions run beyond just helping his father sell sacks
of dhall.
Together with five schoolmates, who are his 'employees', he has
started a consultancy service called e-citra.com.
They have already secured one client.
'We are basically a web-designing team. And we have now got a contract
from a company here to design their website. Whatever money we make, I
will share it with my friends,' said the teen.
Kridaraan is emphatic that he is not a computer nerd who sits around
all day in front of the monitor.
'I am very keen in sports and I play badminton a lot,' he said.
He is also clear about 'getting my degree in business information
systems' and being fully prepared for the next phase of an Internet
boom.
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10-15 CALLS DAILY
THE virtual store located behind a spice shop now receives 10 to 15
orders for spices a day, usually from around the neighbour- hood.
It has even received orders for dhall and packets of Maggi Mee from
Malaysians living in the United States and Switzerland.Line is
overdrawn
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/
*************From Uncle Yap**************
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J Cheung
business with e-commerce.
"Yap Yok Foo" <yf...@pop.jaring.my> wrote