The Star Online: Business
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| Freelancing – a necessity, a choice or a trend? Posted: 20 May 2011 06:06 PM PDT "WHAT do you do for a living?" Chances are, all of us have been asked this question countless times by someone we had just met. Chong, 39, is no exception. There were many times Chong, a work-from-home father, had thought of answering, "I'm a civil and structural engineer on sabbatical leave", when parents at his son's school asked him what he does for a living. He nevertheless says that he's a stay-at-home-dad who freelances and this more often than not, draws some stares of scepticism from the parents. Like everything else, there are pros and cons of holding a freelance job. Interestingly, freelancing has gained significant popularity in the past decade boosted largely by the quest for flexible working hours. And this has been further enhanced by the demand for freelancers, be it in publishing, writing or communications which has made freelancing a viable option for many, mainly mothers looking to juggle their time between work and children and retirees who still have much to contribute but do not want to be saddled with long-term contracts. In fact, there are also many who hold both a full-time job while occasionally freelancing to fatten their pockets. Michael Tan, co-founder of YourPartTime.com, an online service provider for part-time workers, says the main difference is that freelance jobs are usually undertaken on a project basis. The strongest appeal of a freelance job, says Tan are personal satisfaction of doing what one really likes to do, time flexibility and for some, side income. "We serve three type of markets the undergraduates, housewives and retirees. Undergraduates like to earn some side income during their semester break, housewives like the flexibility of working from home while retirees want the side income and to keep themselves occupied," Tan says. YourPartTime.com currently serves 40,000 jobs seekers and 2,500 employees. Freelance is also helpful for those looking to bridge the short-term job gap while they look for better job opportunities or have left their jobs due to lack of creative satisfaction. My time, my schedule Many believe freelancing is a blessing, a luxury. Being able to decide when and how often to work is something many people can only dream of, especially if there are many financial obligations that make a freelance job seem inaccessible. "I can take control of my life and schedule... and can spend time with my young children," says Soong, who used to work as an accountant for a multi-national corporation. She quit her job seven years ago to spend time with the children and currently does freelance book-keeping for sundry shops near her housing area. "My schedule is mine. I work when I want during the day or in the evening after tucking in my children. I get to go to the supermarket at 11 in the morning on a Thursday. How about a movie at 11am? It is empty everywhere because everyone's at work. I also get to spend time with my children every evening at the playground," Soong says, adding that the flexibility was one big reason she left her job. "I've been lucky to live the life I've been dreaming of, working on various select projects, taking Fridays off" These days, for many, given the rising cost of living, freelance jobs offer a chance to supplement one's income. This is true for Jessica Hiew, an auditor in her early 30s who has been teaching yoga part-time for about 2 years over the weekends. "It was a struggle initially because of my work, but after a while I got used to handling the yoga classes. I get to exercise and teach students at the same time. What better way to indulge in my hobby?," Hiew says, adding that it also helps pay the bills. The proliferation of blogs has brought about another opportunity to earn some bucks. Writing a blog regularly can earn bloggers some money from Google Adsense, Nuffnang and other channels. Locally, the most common way of making money from one's blog is via advertisement. At times, bloggers will also be offered opportunities to write advertorials which pay slightly more than the advertisement pay-per-click. In addition, freelance job opportunities have already increased given that there are many tasks that can be done via the Internet these days. Could there be cons? Still, when it comes to building long-term career goals, freelancing could fall short especially when done over a long period of time, unless of course, one is so successful that they build a business around it. Also, full-time employees, unlike freelancers, enjoy various benefits such as medical and insurance benefits, Employees Provident Fund contributions, Social Security Organisation (Socso) coverage and various other perks from their employers. However, even that is gradually changing. According to Tan, last October, the Government introduced the Work Regulations (Part-Time Workers) 2010 to allow part-time employees to be entitled to salaries and relevant benefits such as EPF contributions, Sosco medical benefits and leave. These will be pro-rated based on the time spent on the job by the workers those who work between 2.5 hours and 5.5 hours a day or during weekends qualify as part-time employees. The new set of rules, under the Employment Act 1955, are designed to better regulate and protect part-time workers, and will serve as incentives to galvanise the idle workforce estimated at 6.8 million. To hold down a freelance job and make it work well for you, discipline and self-motivation are crucial. In this regard, an observer says the absence from office or a work setting where everyone else shares a common goal could lead to boredom or a lack of motivation. Then, there's also perceivably more stability in being employed full-time in terms of job and financial security. When will work come in? When will you get paid? For many, this fear of working for a bad paymaster is real. "My previous employer did not pay me in a timely fashion. Once, it had been over 2 weeks since the payday and I was still not paid. She kept pushing it off. So, I quit the job soon after. They only paid me after 6 weeks!" says an irate Will Chong. 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| Posted: 20 May 2011 06:05 PM PDT BY 2015, Felda Global Group, the commercial entity of Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is envisaged to emerge as a dynamic agri-business and multinational organisation with strong upstream and downstream activities, a well-recognised brand, diversified activities and a leadership especially in agri-based new technologies. Under its current five-year transformation programme, Felda Global Group (comprising Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd (FGV) and Felda Holdings Bhd) has been tasked to undertake the strategic mission while at the same time ensuring steady growth of sustainable businesses to support Felda, its ultimate shareholder. Running a unique company like Felda Global Group so far has been interesting, an eye-opener as well as challenging, says group president and chief executive officer Datuk Sabri Ahmad to StarBizWeek recently. "The five-year key performance indices (KPIs) I set when I took up appointment as group president in July last year will be the immediate yardstick to measure whether Felda Global's transformation programme is going to be successful." The target is to double Felda Global's pre-tax profit in the next five years, adds Sabri. In 2009, FGV and Felda Holdings posted pre-tax profits of RM203mil and RM804mil respectively. Furthermore, a bigger portion (about 30%) of Felda Global's revenue should come from added value products such as margarine, oleo chemical derivatives and specialty fats rather than from the upstream plantation division where the current heavy dependence is on. "Our growth strategies include to fully unlock the values in agri-businesses which are related to palm oil and rubber via expansion particularly in Asean through new investments, joint ventures and M&As," explains Sabri. In addition, the group will be looking at exploring niche businesses like micronutrients as well as renewable energy projects using palm biomass waste as the new "green technology" income-generating operations for Felda Global. Should the Group be able to expedite all the tasks, Sabri says that "We will be well on our way to becoming a successful, globally integrated and diversified agri-business MNC by 2015." In terms of size, Felda Global currently oversees and supports the largest oil palm operations in the world, exceeding 850,000ha. "No other company in Malaysia or in the world, does that. When I was at Golden Hope Plantations Bhd, our landbank was only about 200,000 ha. The biggest company before the 2007 GLC-plantation companies merger (Golden Hope, Sime Darby Bhd and Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd) did not even top 300,000ha," says Sabri who joined Felda Global Group in July last year. Furthermore, Felda Global is involved in the whole value chain of the industry upstream, midstream and downstream from producing seedlings to refining and logistics right down to marketing and distributing packed products and cooking oils. Sabri adds, "Felda has many strengths. This is particularly in the upstream operations where we have world-class R&D facilities from the iconic Tun Abdul Razak Agricultural Research Centre in Tekam, Pahang to our biotechnology centre in Nilai, Negri Sembilan. Downstream, our bulk storage facilities are also the largest and most advanced in Malaysia while our cooking oil, Saji, is a market leader." However, Sabri says the real challenge in running Felda Global is that, it is a commercial entity with profit-oriented target but the business objectives were founded on a social mission by virtue of Felda whose charter is to serve the settler community. Felda services its overheads and implements various programmes from internally generated funds. "Therefore, there exists, for Felda Global Group, the added dimension of having to ensure a strong and sustainable business to support this." "This also means that Felda Global Group has many stakeholders in its business and it is always a challenge for us to balance the interests of all of them," explains Sabri. Having said that, the ultimate litmus test, however, will be the reception from all Felda Global's stakeholders. He points out that Felda Global's business activities already impact more than one million people across many geographies. The proceeds are channelled to various social and developmental programmes initiated by Felda. At the same time, Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF a co-operative whose membership comprises Felda settlers, staff and their respective families) has a majority stake in FGV's 49% subsidiary, Felda Holdings. Therefore, Sabri says Felda Global's commercial success will have spill-over effects to the settler community. "The first generation will enjoy higher income through their investments in KPF and the second generation will benefit from Felda's skill development programmes as well as enjoy better career opportunities within the growth areas." "Should all our stakeholders respond positively to the transformation, we would deem ourselves to have achieved our objectives," adds Sabri. He says Felda Global Group returns over RM1bil, the direct profit from its management of Felda's land, to Felda annually "FGV was only launched in mid-2009, but if you were to look at Felda Holdings (the predecessor of the commercial entity of the Felda Group), we have reported billion-ringgit returns since the nineties," says Sabri. "In the last few years, the pre-tax profit stood at around RM800mil annually," he says. There are many aspects of its plantation operations which are unique to Felda Global Group, adds Sabri. "To begin with, we only own some 11,000ha under our R&D subsidiary where we conduct our field trials. Our mills receive fruits from oil palm plantations owned by Felda and estates owned by settlers, altogether totalling some 850,000ha." "We manage Felda's land on their behalf but we have no control over the management of the settler estates. Therefore, it is also a very big challenge for Felda Global Group to increase the oil extraction rate at our palm oil mills as this is a function of good estate management," explains Sabri. In addition, the plantations and estates were developed from land given by state governments to Felda for land development and settlements. "These are not necessarily prime land for agriculture and neither are they always in the best locations. This is unlike the scenario at most other commercial plantation companies as they acquire their landbank through a careful selection process taking into account soil suitability, topography, land status and rainfall patterns to ensure that the planting can yield the best returns from their investment in the land," adds Sabri. Felda currently has a skewed age profile where a large percentage of its palm trees are between 19 and 25 years old. "A considerable number are above 25 years old. This is much lower in most other plantation companies. "Therefore, we are pursuing an aggressive replanting programme, at a rate of 4% to 6% every year to ensure that FFB production remains at desired levels," says Sabri. Under Felda Global's five year transformation programme, the idea is to undertake about 30,000ha of replanting annually with a capex of about RM450mil. At the same time, Felda Global would like to see better productivity as much as 23% average OER at its 71 mills and FFB yield of 25 tonnes per ha at Felda estates. According to Sabri, Felda Global Group is a truly sustainable plantation operator who practises the three sustainability principles People (for its 112,635 settlers), Profits (for Felda's financial well being) and Planet (adopting green practices in its day-to-day operations) Related Stories: |
| Posted: 20 May 2011 06:03 PM PDT July will mark the completion of Datuk Sabri Ahmad's first year as Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd group president/CEO and managing director of Felda Holdings Bhd. StarBizWeek recently caught up with him to get an insight on the progress of the country's very high-profile plantation conglomerate and his vision to transform the group into a champion in the global agri-business sector. Herewith are some of the excerpts from the interview: StarBizWeek: Is it true that you are an advocate of the Blue Ocean strategy ... "Go where profits and growth are and where the competition isn't". How would you describe your leadership and management style in Felda Global Group? Sabri: Yes, I'm a strong advocate and promoter of Blue Ocean strategy. I am very much a people-person and my approach is consultative rather than dictatorial, even while I push hard for things to be done. In that respect, I am most fortunate to have a very capable management team from diverse backgrounds public and private sectors, locals and multinationals. They are the reason that I am very confident that the Felda Global Group will make giant strides in the next few years. How would you describe the five-year Felda Global transformation programme and its significance? We actually modelled our transformation programme after the Government's Economic Transformation Programme, where we conducted a Strategic Lab for one full month from September to October last year. The outcome is a 300 plus-page programme of action comprising 45 key initiatives based on 7 Strategic Thrusts (refer to Felda Global's transformation programme chart). Based on the estimated value creation of the transformation initiatives, the key focus areas will be projects under Thrust 1, Thrust 2 and Thrust 4. Thrust 1: Improving the productivity of current plantation assets and monetising by products with focus on harvesting efficiency and yield enhancement (more for domestic); Thrust 2: Expanding land bank and diversifying to other crops (global); and Thrust 4: Enhance value creation from existing investments (global). By 2015, we expect these three Thrusts to contribute about 93% of additional pre-tax profit to the group. How do you implement the programme and how do the respective businesses under Felda Global support it? We have created a Transformation Management Office which is tasked with driving the transformation initiatives. The Key Initiatives (KIs) are grouped into three clusters: Multicrop, Downstream/Logistics and Corporate Centre, reflecting the three sub-Labs. Each cluster has its own project director, project coordinator and several team leaders. They are responsible for ensuring the KIs are successfully implemented and that targets are achieved according to the agreed timelines. The respective business heads play a very important role as enablers and facilitators to support the various teams undertaking the projects where it involves their respective business activity. What are the major challenges facing Felda Global in pursuing the transformation programme? Also, what measures have you put in place to ensure it will succeed? Any corporate transformation programmes entails a mindset change. We have 19,000 employees, many of whom have served long and loyally in the Felda Group. We also have many mid-career hires, subject matter experts from local and multinational companies as well the fresh graduates. Given the diverse cross-section, ages, backgrounds and scattered locations of our employees, this is, naturally a huge challenge. To overcome this, we employ both the carrot and stick approach. We have a targeted communications programme in place to share the Group's vision, strategies and corporate developments as a means of engaging our employees and motivating them to buy into the transformation programme. We are also formulating a gain-sharing incentive plan to reward those involved in achieving spectacular targets. At the same time, we are shaping a better working culture by stretching Key Performance Indices (KPIs) and tracking these rigorously. We also adopt a pro-active approach by zooming-in on problematic areas and directly removing any roadblocks and bottlenecks that hinder performance. The second challenge is capital investment. There are numerous proposals contained within the KIs, many of which require capital investment. Obviously, one of the major challenges lie in deciding where to invest and what is the right form of investment to make for these projects. In this respect, we have to adopt the utmost prudence. That means employing even more stringent criteria than what we have now for selection of investment. This includes capital budgeting for new projects as well as determining just how much investment would be sufficient to modify process and delivery systems in order to strengthen operational efficiency. It also applies equally to the selection of suitable business partners to achieve our growth objectives. The third challenge is operating the business in an increasingly complex global environment. Given that we have businesses in 12 countries, we conduct detailed scenario planning covering political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal aspects. We establish good risk management practices to help us prepare for any eventuality. At the same time, we are identifying suitable business partners to ensure long-term sustainability in the host country. Where necessary, we streamline the business structure to ensure better governance and reporting. The final challenge will be recruiting and retaining talent We already have a robust Talent Management Programme in place. We are enhancing this to ensure that we have the required human capital capabilities and capacity to support the growth agenda. We are also improving the current Performance Management System. Related Stories: |
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