Sisters In Arms
Mariam and Intaan Rogayah Tun Sulaiman may be sisters, but they are definitely not cut out of the same cloth, JACQUELINE PEREIRA discovers when she meets the riotous business partners.

Intaan Rogayah was first nagged by her older sister Mariam to venture into the food business with Cravings, a restaurant that has since closed. Still keen on food, Intaan began to sell customised cookies in 1992 on a much smaller scale. Mariam, on the other hand, was involved in The Body Shop and went on to dabble in other businesses post-retirement, and still actively participates in women’s associations.

Nurtured in a close-knit family environment, the two sisters began to finally work together when Intaan asked Mariam for help. “I’m not creative or very good with delicate things,” confesses the 45-year-old Intaan. So, when customers began to request made-to-order hampers, she knew the imaginative and inventive Mariam was just the person. The self-deprecating Mariam says, “In the beginning, the extent of my hamper wrapping skills was those coffrets I used to do for The Body Shop. What you see here now is all done through trial and error...”

Complementing each other’s innate strengths and skills, and armed with a clear vision of the business’s niche appeal, exacting quality control and a joint rejection of the pyramid-style supermarket hampers, they induced their business to grow beyond initial expectations. To differentiate themselves from their competitors, of whom there are plenty, the two dynamos focused on customising their homemade cookies and festive hampers, experimenting with styles and seriously considering customer feedback.