SME

By Nurul Zulkifli | First published: May 6, 2022    Updated: May 7, 2024

Nurul Zulkifli, a homegrown Malaysian entrepreneur, reflects on her journey to success and shares tips for e-commerce businesses in Asia.

Starting a new business is never easy. The idea for my online fashion brand, Mimpikita, was born while studying in Australia in 2006. Although I pursued an engineering course, I have always had a passion for fashion. After comparing the fashion scene in Australia to Malaysia, I realized that there were not many ready-to-wear clothing ranges or custom-made bridal gowns available in Malaysia.

This sparked my interest in starting a Malaysian clothing brand to cater to this market segment.

Mimpikita – from dream to reality

When I got back to Malaysia, I persuaded my sisters Amirah and Syahira to go into business with me. We started out as an online blogshop with an initial investment of RM3,000 (around US$630). We named our new fashion brand Mimpikita, which means ‘our dream’.

From there, the business progressed quickly, and we opened our first boutique in 2009 in Sunway Damansara. Two years later, Mimpikita founded its flagship store in Bangsar, offering bridal and formalwear fashion. We continued to expand our range and focused on creating our own designs.

2014 was a breakthrough year for us. We secured appearances at the annual Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week and London Modest Fashion Week, as well as notable collaborations with several well-known brands. We were thrilled that a shop in the United Kingdom sold our clothing pieces to customers in the UK!

As recognition for our brand increased, we earned several notable awards from media outlets such as Tatler, Women’s Weekly and the Kuala Lumpur Fashion Awards.

It wasn’t an easy journey, but the passion and tenacity my sisters and I share pushed us beyond our limits and outside our comfort zones to bring the brand to where it is today.

Most importantly, we had identified a market niche that was largely unexplored in Malaysia. Beyond bridal dresses, we have now expanded to ready-to-wear collections as well as bridal and bespoke tailoring services.

Shifting strategy and target market to overcome challenges

As with all businesses, we experienced a downturn. In 2018 and 2019, we were faced with overproduction issues. A year later, the COVID-19 pandemic with the resultant lockdowns and movement control orders affected our business further. We were at a crossroads and had to make one of our toughest decisions – to temporarily close our flagship store in Bangsar and permanently close an outlet in KLCC.

With every dark cloud, there is a silver lining. That experience taught us to align, focus and re-strategize our business approach. We shifted our focus back to our online platform and scaled up our digital marketing strategy, targeting the Southeast Asia region.

Today, as a primarily online retailer, logistics is a key concern for Mimpikita – and more specifically, how to get our products to customers in a timely, efficient manner. Going online meant being accessible to the whole world. Orders started coming in from many different countries.

We faced new challenges of order fulfillment, each with a different set of shipping requirements. We also wanted to provide customers with on-time delivery and tracking capabilities.

Thankfully, our shipping affiliate FedEx has made things easier for us. By leveraging its strong logistics infrastructure and extensive global network, Mimpikita can offer a seamless shopping experience.

We can easily reach international customers as far away as the UK and US, and ship our products in a reliable and timely manner to those residing in countries as near as Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. With FedEx handling our logistics, we’re free to focus on our online retail operations and continue to scale and improve our product range.

Our 4 essential tips for entrepreneurs

For anyone aspiring to start a business, here’s some advice:

1. Establish a support system

The Mimpikita team is made up of passionate dreamers who came together to turn our passion into reality. In the early days, we were fortunate to have each other and the support of our family.

My sisters are my support system - always there to uplift me when I need a push. All entrepreneurs need to identify their support system; whether it’s a mentor, an experienced entrepreneur, a coach, or a key family member.

2. Identify the problem that needs to be solved

The best new enterprises succeed because of their ability to provide a solution. A lack of a certain type of fashion may not seem like a huge problem, but as our growth shows, there was a demand for our modest ready-to-wear and bridal fashions, especially in more conservative countries.

3. Branding, branding, branding

This goes beyond logo and colors, and addresses the soul of the enterprise. In our case, we struck a chord in the current climate of female empowerment with our #TheKitaGirls initiative, highlighting women in Malaysia who embody the spirit of “an independent woman who juggles multiple roles, but never forgets self-care”.

4. Lastly, do not be afraid of failure

We learn and grow from our mistakes, which make us stronger in the business world. Despite having minimal knowledge and expertise in the fashion world, Mimpikita became what it is today through sheer grit and determination.

After all, when we started, we were just three young women with big dreams. We decided to take up the challenge of creating an accessible modest clothing line that caters to fellow Malaysians as well as the global market. Dreams do come true.

Today, we continue to pursue our dream of turning Mimpikita into a timeless brand that will grow with our customers and be present during special moments in their lives. When you put your heart and soul into something, any dream is possible. When something doesn’t work out, always work harder till you achieve your goals.

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Nurul Zulkifli is the CEO and Creative Director of Mimpikita, a contemporary modest fashion brand that began as a fashion blogshop in 2008. She is a self-taught fashion entrepreneur, who credits her fashion sense to growing up in a creative household with strong fashion and artistic influences that helped her appreciate the craft.