Carpedia co-founder and career coach Ameirul Azraie believes that to realise your true potential, you must take bold steps to pursue your dreams
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Kalau hidup sekadar hidup, khinzir di hutan juga hidup.
Kalau bekerja sekadar bekerja, kera juga bekerja.”
Drawing inspiration from the Indonesian philosopher Buya Hamka, UTP alumni Ameirul Azraie built the foundation of his career as a career coach and entrepreneur: Ameirul took the road less travelled to discover his true calling.
Growing up with great expectations
Wedged between two elder siblings and another two younger ones, Ameirul was always under the scrutiny of those around him. With both his parents being secondary school teachers, Ameirul grew up with lofty expectations as he was sent to study at the elite Malay College of Kuala Kangsar (MCKK).
While he did enjoy his days as a student at MCKK, Ameirul was not prepared for his parents’ disappointed reaction despite scoring 6As for his SPM results. To his dismay, his results did not qualify him to study engineering at UTP.
At that time, Ameirul’s parents were convinced that engineering was the only road to a bright future for all their children. Both his older siblings were enrolled to study engineering at a tertiary level by their well-meaning parents. Not wanting to rock the boat, Ameirul followed suit but because of his SPM results, he could not gain entry to study engineering at UTP.
Subsequently, Ameirul received an offer to enrol into a cadet marine engineering programme, but his parents advised him to decline the offer. They were concerned about his eventual safety at sea and that he may end up being deployed far away from home. At that point, it was one of the toughest decisions that Ameirul had to make, but on hindsight now, he is glad that he listened to his parents.
Fortunately, during his matriculation, Ameirul’s combined CGPA results allowed him to enter UTP and qualify for sponsorship. To the delight of his father, Ameirul finally chose to study mechanical engineering.
As Ameirul got into the swing of things at UTP, he began to realise that there were countless job opportunities available in the world than just being an engineer. He made full use of UTP’s library and spent a lot of time reading about the corporate world. He notes, “UTP’s syllabus extends well beyond conventional engineering, and students can opt to diversify into other fields of interest such as business management, policies, information technology and business Information history.”
Engineering taught him the importance of building a solid foundation
During his four years at UTP, Ameirul counted himself fortunate to be tutored by many good lecturers who left a mark on him such as Dr Ena Bhattacharyya and Dr. Chong Su Li.
“Honestly, I wasn’t the best engineering student,” he confesses. “I struggled with killer subjects like thermodynamics, heat transfer and fluid mechanics, but I did my best.”
In his first year, he received a piece of advice from a lecturer that would stay with him forever. “He advised me to build my foundation correctly. The only way you can advance and go far in whatever you do is to build a rock-solid foundation.”
“I’m a people person by nature but studying mechanical engineering has helped me hone my analytical skills and sharpen my thought process.”
The budding entrepreneur
It was also in UTP that he honed his entrepreneurial skills – something he picked up from his mother. Growing up, she encouraged him and his siblings to sell rambutans from their home and to save their earnings. They even sold drawing blocks from their art classes to their classmates for 10 or 20 cents each. Without him realising it at that time, his mother had instilled in him the belief that he could sell anything, be it a product or a service.
During Ameirul’s first year at UTP, he noticed traders selling t-shirts for RM25 to RM30 outside the campus grounds. It dawned upon Ameirul that he could also do the same as the designs of the t-shirts were remarkably simple, and yet they sold like hot cakes.
Initially, Ameirul almost lost his capital when he went through an intermediary to find a printer for his t-shirt business. He then learnt to be more cautious and pragmatic with people that he did not know well in his business dealings.
Ameirul had borrowed RM2,000 from his father to kickstart his business and by the end of the first year, business was so good that he could return his father’s money.
The peak of his t-shirt business happened during his final semester at UTP’s convocation fair. Ameirul rented a booth at the event, sold over 200 t-shirts and went home with RM6,000 cash that day.
He recalls, “I slept with the cash tucked under my pillow that night and could not wake up on time for Ms Ena’s class the following morning. Due to his lack of preparation, he scored a C for his presentation! That’s how I can remember her for life,” he laughs.
Jokes aside, for Ameirul, this became an unforgettable lesson in prioritising and time management. These experiences became a part of his journey in entrepreneurship as he honed his negotiation and creativity skills.
Pursuing the road less travelled
After graduating from UTP with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, he joined Technip as an engineer for three years. In 2013, he switched career paths and joined SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad, now known as Sapura Energy Berhad in Human Resources. From there, he pursued his MBA in the UK.
Explaining he picked a safer route upon graduation despite harbouring a strong desire to be an entrepreneur, he says, “My parents were government servants. I came from a conservative family where no one has ever embarked on starting their own business. I guess deep down, I wasn’t ready to take the risk yet.”
After Ameirul completed his MBA in the UK, his MCKK best friend, Hazim invited him to join Carpedia, which at that time served as a car-sharing platform aimed specifically at gig workers. Although it started out as a part-time business for him, he saw the business grow from RM250K in the first year, and RM500K in the second year. By the third year, revenue had hit reached RM750K. In 2019, he began to take this business seriously.
An investment analyst reviewed their P&L and informed them that they were doing very well for a part-time business. He suggested for them to raise funds to expand and grow and get all the partners to be onboard full-time. Convinced by the numbers, Ameirul and his friends raised money for their business expansion via pitchIN equity crowd funding and secured RM550K in 2020.
Ameirul took another year to climb the corporate ladder before joining Carpedia on a full-time basis in May 2021. “My partner Hazim, the CEO provides the vision and strategic direction while the other partner, Fairuz looks after technology. I’m the bulldozer COO taking care of operations to ensure everything is done smoothly as planned.”
Entrepreneurship vs Employment
Having had a taste of both employment and entrepreneurship, Ameirul concludes, “Entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. The risk and pressure are vastly different from full time employment though each has its own challenges and excitement.”
For Ameirul personally, the biggest appeal about running his own business is the adrenalin rush when people buy into his ideas. “At Carpedia, we have a rock-solid partnership and each of us are excited about what we do. Carpedia is still growing so it might be premature to talk too much, but my advice to budding entrepreneurs is that to realise your full potential, you will need to pursue your dreams.”
Career coaching
At the heart of it all, career coaching has always been the centre of Ameirul’s personal mission. He was first introduced to it while pursuing his MBA in the UK where each student was assigned to a career coach in kickstarting their careers.
With his knowledge and interest in HR, the idea of helping graduates in their job search excites Ameirul. Being one of the pioneers in career coaching on LinkedIn, he managed to gain good traction. With the advantage of having been an HR personnel and a business owner, he is most familiar with the desired qualities and skillsets that employers are looking for.
As a career coach, Ameirul noticed that most people do not realise their full potential as they dare not go against the grain to take the road less travelled. He is determined to make it his mission to change this mindset for the betterment of this generation of young adults embarking on their careers.
“I also have my fears but if you take a calculated risk and fail, at least you fail trying. That’s what I always try to impart to people. I have personally made difficult career decisions too but to realise my true potential, I had to take bold steps. It eventually became one of the best decisions of my life.”
Published: 25 January 2022
