As an emerging market, there is an abundance of business opportunities in Malaysia.
With the launch of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) in November 2017, the most obvious opportunity lies in e-commerce. In fact, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) projects e-commerce growth in Malaysia to reach 21% by 2020.

Malaysians, as well as people around the region, can benefit from the DFTZ by launching their own online businesses and even exploring cross-border e-commerce.
But e-commerce isn’t the only opportunity available. Conventional business models like franchising and F&B are thriving in Malaysia as young people spend more of their offline money on experiences rather than buying things.

Regardless of whether you want to participate in the growing the digital economy in Malaysia or take on a more traditional path, I have compiled 7 business opportunities in Malaysia I think you can take part in.

Let’s take a look at them below:


1. Build a Software as a Service Business

Cost: RM200,000 – RM3,000,000
How you make money: You offer a cloud software service to people and they pay you a monthly or yearly fee for access.
The biggest benefit of SaaS businesses is that you can often offer them at affordable prices to your customers. For your customers, SaaS is better than standalone because they get updated software and they don’t need to pay a huge upfront sum to use it.
An example of a SaaS business in Malaysia is Store Hub which offers iPad POS solutions to SMEs in Malaysia.
Who this is best for: SaaS businesses are a good fit for programmers who have product design experience and enjoy problem-solving? Although, if you want to grow your SaaS business, having only programming skills isn’t enough. You may need external investors to help you fund your SaaS growth.

2. Start an F&B Business

Cost: RM50,000 – RM500,000
How you make money: You sell food at a higher price than the cost to make it. The difference is your profit.

Eating is one of Malaysians’ favorite past times. If you can create food Malaysians can’t resist, you will be able to make a sustainable income.

Even if you don’t have the capital to open a restaurant, you can always start small by taking orders from Facebook and delivering them from your home.

Who this is best for People who love experimenting with food and seeing people enjoy their food?
The best thing about this opportunity: Creating food can be affordable so you don’t have to start with a lot of capital. Other than that, once you have a loyal customer base, it is easy to grow your business.
The worst thing about this opportunity: Since anybody can start an F&B business, F&B businesses are competitive. To win, you need to come up with a unique selling proposition (USP) that will differentiate you from your competition.

3. Become a Franchisee Owner

Cost: RM10,000 – 150,000
How you make money: You buy a franchise license from a franchise owners and make money when you use their brand to sell their products.
Since you won’t need to spend any time building the brand or coming up with the products, franchising can be one of the fastest ways to start a business.
The franchise owner will even train you and your employees on how to run the business so you can just plug and play.

The downside is that franchising any business is often expensive. To take part in this opportunity, you will need a significant amount of capital set aside.
Who this is best for People with a significant amount of capital set aside and don’t want to spend time building a brand from scratch?

The best thing about this opportunity: With the franchise’s proven brand and model, you don’t have to waste time and money building up the brand from scratch. You can start up quickly.

4. Set Up Your Own E-commerce Website and Start Selling

Cost: RM2,000 – RM15,000
How you make money: You make money by selling products at a higher price than what you bought them on your own website.
With more and more Malaysians buying online, it is a good time to start an e-commerce business. Unlike when you sell on online marketplaces, with your own website, you can design and market according to what you like and you don’t need to pay the marketplace commissions.

The only thing you need to do really well is sourcing the right products and marketing them to your audience.

You can even design your own products and sell them.
Some examples of Malaysian e-commerce businesses that have been quite successful are FitGear and Storming Gravity.

Who this is best for People who have experience with online marketing or is willing to spend time to learn online marketing?
The best thing about this opportunity: With the right products and marketing, you can make a lot of money without too much overhead. There is also a lot of flexibility with your own e-commerce website. You can make it look the way you want and sell anything you want.
The worst thing about this opportunity: You will need to spend money on a good website design or get someone to build it for you. Other than that, it can be difficult at first to identify the right products to sell and who best to market to.

5. Sell on Facebook or Instagram

Cost: RM300 – RM1,500
How you make money: You buy and then sell products on Facebook or Instagram for a profit.
Who this is best for People who already have a large following on social media or is willing to spend time building the following?


Even if you don’t sell products directly to customers, you can also help other people promote their products for a fee.

The best thing about this opportunity: You can reach a large, engaged audience at a low cost. Social media can be one of the best converting platforms for selling products.

The worst thing about this opportunity: More and more people are working to build a large following on social media which can make this opportunity tougher to make money from in the long term. Other than that, social media algorithms can change to disfavor your business. You will need to be constantly agile and make changes to your business model from time to time.

6. Sell on Online Marketplaces

Cost: RM100 – RM10,000
How you make money: You make money by listing products on online marketplaces such as Lazada, Shopee, Lelong, and 11Street. When somebody buys from your listing, you make a profit.
Selling on online marketplaces can be one of the lowest cost methods of starting a business. Compared to creating your own e-commerce website, you don’t need to invest money in creating your own website to start selling on an online marketplace.

At most, you will need to invest in some inventory for the products you are selling. But even if you don’t have capital, you can always start by drop shipping first. With drop shipping, you don’t keep inventory.

Who this is best for: This is a good opportunity for people who want to get started selling physical products but don’t want to invest in their own e-commerce website yet?

The best thing about this opportunity: Though you may need to invest some money in ads, you can get started without spending a few thousand RM on an e-commerce website. Even if you don’t have money for inventory, you can use the drop shipping method.

The worst thing about this opportunity: Many people selling on online marketplaces. In Malaysia, there is increasing competition not only from local sellers but also from sellers from China, South Korea, and Hong Kong. It takes a lot of time, effort and money to stay competitive.

7. Make Money with Google AdSense

Cost: RM400 – RM1,500
How you make money: You make money with Google AdSense by displaying Google’s ads on your website.

To make a sustainable income with Google AdSense, you will need a lot of traffic to your website. Normally traffic of more than 100,000 unique visitors a month will give you a sustainable income with Google AdSense.

Who this is best for: This is a good business opportunity for people who are good at writing as one of the best ways to get traffic is by creating good content that people find useful?
The worst thing about this opportunity: It can take a lot of time and effort to get enough traffic to your site to start making money using AdSense. If you don’t know how to set up your own website or blog, you may need to hire someone to do it for you.

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