- A mushrooming business

Byline: LOONG MENG YEE

SEPANG: When Cheng Poh Guat decided to give up a RM3,000-a-month job in sales to go into mushroom farming in 1991, relatives thought it foolish.
Even her husband thought so, as mushroom farms rarely survived beyond two years at that time because the fungi are fragile and easily contaminated.
However, the chemistry graduate followed her heart, won over her husband and bravely started her new venture in Tanjung Sepat here.
Today, the 44-year-old mother of two is co-founder of Vita Agrotech, running a business worth RM2.5mil in annual sales that makes delivery of 2,000 half-kilo packets of mushrooms daily.
And the company's range of white and grey oyster mushrooms can be found on the shelves of hypermarkets all over the Klang Valley.
“My chemistry background was an advantage. I knew in my heart I could put my knowledge to good use. Luckily, my husband was willing to give it a try as well,” recalled Cheng. .
Back then, the going was tough.
Cheng and husband Ooi Ching Kiau, 45, a former secondary school teacher, would harvest their mushrooms and go from restaurant to restaurant and from one market to another to sell their produce.
Some people were kind enough to buy a few kilos at once but others would tease her and even ask her to cook up a mushroom before making a purchase.
Their big break came when hypermarkets started up in the country.
Cheng said the growth of their business paralleled that of the hypermarket boom.
“But convincing the hypermarkets was not easy because they wanted consistency and quality. They also wanted me to deliver from January through to December,” she said.
Now, she has also gone into cultivating mushroom with medicinal properties, such as the prized lin zhi and monkey-head variety.
Cheng has been trying to sell her lin zhi in the United States and Taiwan but there are obstacles to breaking into the market there – potential buyers want scientific proof to back her claims about the properties of the mushroom and also question why her price is higher than some other sources.
However, she is undeterred as her heart tells her it is a road worth taking and she is prepared to listen to her heart.
After all, she did the first time around, and it has made her what she is today.