KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — Rewards sometimes come when a person goes the extra mile to help others.
That is the case of a group of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) students who got help from their lecturer, Normalisa Md Isa.
Her help proved invaluable when they joined the Nescafe Youth Entrepreneurship Programme (NYEP) that is designed to promote decent employment for the youth and nurture diversity at the workplace.
Students in the programme run popup stores selling the coffee at their campuses.
And the group of UUM students, named Bescafe came out tops as the grand champion besting other teams from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Sunway College and more.
The UUM Bescafe team was rewarded with RM20,000 in prize money for demonstrating exceptional performance overall in sales as well as creativity in marketing and promotion.
UUM student Muhammad Zharfan Ali said they would be nothing without Normalisa.
“She is like a mother for us and a father as well.”
Taking time out of her busy schedule in order to see her students succeed, the selfless act did not go unnoticed by students who are forever grateful for her support.
Despite being busy at her job as senior lecturer in the marketing department and a course coordinator for advertising management and electronic marketing, the students always knew they could turn to her for support.
Muhammad Zharfan said the lecturer managed them well by providing advice, motivation and extra knowledge in marketing and business.
“She is willing to sacrifice her very limited time to be with us. That is the reason why we love her so much.”
Under the programme, students are given the goal of growing the business from end-to-end after being given a startup fund.
Muhammad Zharfan said they also had to balance the time between studies and running the Nescafe hub.
The NYEP was started in 2016 and has grown from three to 15 campuses last year.
Nescafe business executive officer Othman Chraibi said NYEP’s vision was to develop and nurture youths.
“While enriching the lives of our youths, we hope the NYEP experience will translate into future employability and improve their chances to succeed in life and in pursuing
their passion.”
He said top performing students were invited to join an internship programme at Nestle.
