Muadzin Furqanul Jihad: JP/Ika Krismantari

Would you risk everything for that thing called passion?

For a successful entrepreneur Muadzin Furqanul Jihad, the answer would no doubt be a big yes, and looking at his achievements so far, the man has shown that he made the right decision.

On the surface, the soft-spoken guy doesn’t seem like much of a risk taker. During this interview, Muadzin even admitted that he was a shy person who did not like talking too much.

But this timid guy may have been the bravest man in today’s world following his decision to leave an established career in an international company to retire early to set up his own business.

A year ago, Muadzin was a senior engineer, working 9 to 5 for a French company and earning a double-digit salary. But he left his comfort zone to pursue his passion in entrepreneurship.

The results have so far been rewarding, according to the 42-year-old. Today, Muadzin is the owner of the 3-year-old coffee franchise Semerbak Coffee, which despite its young age has opened 420 outlets in 80 cities in Indonesia and books monthly revenue in the hundreds of millions of rupiah.

His key to success is simple. The man says he is just following his passion. Muadzin has known that his calling in life is to run a business and make money, adding that he first discovered it when he was in elementary school.

“I love to draw and paint. I made greeting cards and tried to sell them to my friends,” he reminisced.

Since then, finding business opportunities has become his life’s mission. Feeling that he would be either a student or a corporate slave, Muadzin remained an entrepreneur at heart, struggling to run side businesses and generate profits.

The electrical engineering graduate said he was also a shoes salesman and a basic commodities supplier when he was still struggling to build a career at his first company.

Money is not the only reason behind his decision to become a part-time worker and part-time entrepreneur. Muadzin believed that he needed to hone his entrepreneurial skills despite his employment status. Therefore, as his career progressed at the energy company, Muadzin devoted part of his time to selling multilevel marketing (MLM) products.

Muadzin said MLM had taught him a lot, including improving his speaking skills, but most importantly, building his entrepreneurial mentality. Yet, family affairs forced the father-of-three to let his side career go, as the man also wanted to spend more time with his children. This decision left Muadzin in a two-year hiatus.

One day, after contemplating things in Bali, Muadzin said he was reminded again of his passion to become an entrepreneur. Together with his wife, he designed three business models and asked for loans from banks to finance the operations in 2009. With capital of Rp 300 million (US$31,276), the couple opened a laundry, a food stall and a hair salon. They were all went bankrupt in six months, leaving them with huge debts.

“I was chased by debt collectors for a year and I had to face that because I didn’t have enough money to repay the loans. I spent all my salary and bonuses to cover part of the debt,” the man went on.

He confessed that it was the hardest time in his life, and to make things worse, his wife was having their third child. But it did not stop him from looking for another opportunity. An offer came from his junior high school friend Iwan Agustian, who came up with an idea to set up a coffee franchise. He immediately said yes.

The coffee business was picked for practical reasons: Muadzin and Iwan were coffee lovers. Muadzin explained they had a friend who was also a coffee supplier. They named the franchise “Semerbak” because it is wanted to sound like the global coffee chain Starbucks.

Unexpectedly, the business became a hit, even though it started with small investment. Its starting capital was only Rp 3.6 million in total, which was in huge contrast to Muadzin’s previous businesses that required hundreds of millions of rupiah.

“It shows that what matters in business is not money nor connections, but the entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.

And Muadzin has achieved so much with this spirit. When asked to write what his achievements were in life, the man wrote two things: running a successful business and having an early retirement.

The man said he had dreamed of early retirement ever since he started working. Finally, after 15 years in the office, the man took a brave step and left corporate life last year to focus on running his own business.

But being a retiree doesn’t mean Muadzin has become less busy. Despite having more flexible working hours, the man still works hard as the company continues to expand.

Muadzin explains that Semerbak has started to enter retail and export markets with a bigger goal of becoming a major coffee maker in the country in the next 10 years.

But more than that, Muadzin has a bigger and nobler plan. Muadzin said he wanted to urge other people to also follow their passion.

“Follow your passions and money will follow,” Muadzin remarked.

His wife, Jaumil Aurora, is a good example. Muadzin said he managed to persuade his wife to leave her corporate job and follow her passion in writing.

“She used to describe herself like a fish trying to climb a tree, but now she has become a happy fish in a pond,” he said referring to his wife, who has become a screenwriter.

After his wife, the man hopes more people will follow their step. Next month, Muadzin will publish a new book that will hopefully encourage other fish out there to stop climbing trees and get back into their ponds of passion.

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