Jom LOKA was virtual event put together by the School of Hospitality BSc (Hons) Conventions & Events Management students under the supervision of subject lecturer Hairani M Nur, Senior Teaching Fellow – School of Hospitality.

This virtual event was part of the Conventions & Events: Planning & Design subject module, where students are required to organise a wide-scale event aligned to the School’s advocacy in experiential learning.

When the Movement Control Order (MCO) was imposed in 2020, many local vendors and grocers struggled to make ends meet. Datuk R. Ramanathan, the President of the Malaysian Associated Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MAICCI) was quoted as saying in the local newspaper that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) account for 40% of the country’s gross domestic product – a significant contribution to the nation’s economy. It was further stated that SMEs were facing bankruptcy and are seeking government intervention for financial aid to help sustain businesses because of the extended MCO.

After this public outcry, social media platforms saw a boom in Malaysians providing support to these sellers through tags and hashtags. With this in mind, the Conventions and Events Management students came up with a creative idea to set up a virtual platform for these local vendors, online vendors, micro businesses and SMEs to promote their products and services: this was how Jom LOKA came into fruition. Additionally, the event had a corporate social responsibility (CSR) element to it, whereby profits from the event would be channelled to PUAK Payong, a charity organisation advocating for a safe space for children through building self-esteem, knowledge and skills. This event also partnered with SME Corporation Malaysia, a central agency for start-ups, micro-businesses and SMEs. This event was also sponsored by Printcious.com, an online DIY gift printing platform.

The students and subject lecturer went through gruelling weeks of work to make this event a success. Jom LOKA became an e-commerce platform for 50 local vendors. To improve the engagement of the event, Jom LOKA also included fitness and entertaining components with Jom Fit (Zumba and Tabata), and Jom Dance (K-Pop dance cover competition) and Chill-lah (live entertainment sessions). Alumni were also invited to share their entrepreneurial experience at the “Fuiyoh”Talk session.

Hairani also highlighted, “This event had an upbeat vibe and was able to achieve impressive ‘reach’. The average Facebook post was able to reach out to at least 2,000 people. There was an average of over 100 viewers for its live streaming sessions, a remarkable figure for student event projects. I felt that the students performed excellently and have truly shown that they are qualified event organisers. Their hard work has indeed paid off!”.

Hairaini M Nur
School of Hospitality & Service Management
Email: @email