@ AGROBiz | JULY-AUGUST. 2026

� Menrez Rimau is taking on Malaysia ' s established cooking-oil brands with Kak Long Cooking Oil.

� Founder Dato ' Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid sees everyday demand as the starting point for building a consumer brand.

� She also believes that scalable businesses are the next step for women entrepreneurs.

BY ADELINE ANTHONY ALPHONSO

It is an everyday essential, bought by virtually every Malaysian household. But that familiarity also makes it a difficult market for a newcomer.

Consumers already know the brands. They know the packaging. They know what they normally reach for. And habits, especially those built over years, are difficult to change.

Yet this is precisely the market Menrez Rimau Sdn Bhd( Menrez Rimau) has chosen to enter with Kak Long Cooking Oil( Kak Long).

For Founder Dato ' Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid, the challenge is not merely getting another bottle of cooking oil onto supermarket shelves.

It is getting Malaysians to pick it up. More importantly, it is getting them to come back for another.

" In FMCG, familiarity is very powerful. You cannot assume that because your product is on the shelf, consumers will automatically choose it," she said.

That understanding is shaping the way Menrez Rimau is approaching Kak Long.

THE FIRST PURCHASE

Cooking oil gives Kak Long one immediate advantage: it does not have to create a need for the product. The need already exists. Palm-based cooking oil is deeply established in Malaysian kitchens and used across communities and income groups. What Kak Long must create is a reason for consumers to switch.

That puts the emphasis on the fundamentals— quality, accessibility, reliability, affordability and, eventually, trust. Price inevitably matters in an essential household category, particularly when consumers are watching everyday expenses.

But Nurulhidayah does not believe price alone can build the business she has in mind.

" Price may encourage the first purchase, but trust, quality and consistency are what encourage the second and third purchase," she said.

That distinction could ultimately determine whether Kak Long remains merely another product on the shelf or develops into a recognisable consumer brand. The first purchase can be won through curiosity, promotion or price. The harder battle is the second.

STAYING ON THE SHELF

There is another side to winning consumers. The product must be there when they want it. For Menrez Rimau, growing Kak Long therefore means ensuring that its ambitions in the marketplace do not outpace its ability to support them.

As the brand expands, the company must manage manufacturing relationships, production capacity, packaging, logistics, inventory and regulatory requirements. It is the less glamorous side of building an FMCG business, but an essential one.

" It is not enough to get the product on the shelf once. Consumers need to know that when they return, the product will still be available on the shelf," Nurulhidayah said.

That makes distribution central to Kak Long ' s development. Menrez Rimau plans to grow the brand through modern retail while exploring other channels that can take it closer to Malaysian households.

Commercial users also represent another market, including restaurants, caterers and food-service businesses whose requirements differ from those of individual consumers.

The ambition is national. The expansion, however, has to be measured.