Cost of Accessing the Market

Of course you can just open a stall in front of your house selling nasi lemak. However, most likely there will not be enough customer.

If the Internet can really save you then at least you’ll need a smartphone and a data plan. That will cost at least RM700 for a decent Xiaomi smartphone and RM30 per month for the cheapest Umobile data plan.

To start receiving money online you’ll require a basic savings account from any local bank. CIMB or Maybank will be a safe bet. The initial deposit is around RM250 – RM300.

Even if you don’t plan to sell anything many employer will require you to have a savings account. Probably you can search for jobs using your smartphone.

So at the very least you’ll need RM1000 initial outlay plus RM30 per month.

If you want to go full fledged eCommerce then you need to register an enterprise. That will cost around RM100. Then the company current account will require RM100o to RM2000 initial deposit.

eCommerce site can’t be effectively managed from a smartphone so the very least you’ll need a second hand laptop. That will add another RM3000 to the cost.

Factor in hosting and domain then you’ll need another RM150 per year.

Thus, even if you have all the required technical skills you’ll need at least RM5250 to begin. That’s quite a lot!