Malaysia spends over RM1 billion importing onions every single year. For decades, it was assumed that our local soil and climate were fundamentally hostile to the crop, making it cheaper to rely entirely on foreign manpower and imports. Shahrizal Denci is stepping into that massive market gap to prove that assumption wrong. As the founder of Bantu Tani, an agricultural social enterprise based in Sabah, he is building Malaysia’s first comprehensive onion ecosystem from scratch.



After completely failing his first two crop cycles, Shahrizal partnered with MARDI to refine the growing model to successfully cultivate the resilient BAW2 shallot variety. Today, Bantu Tani has produced over 200 tons and developed a high-margin seed that harvests in just 70 days. Backed by a RM2.4 million grant from the Ministry of Economy, they are currently expanding across 40 acres, and building critical post-harvest infrastructure—after discovering that a lack of proper drying houses was initially causing a 20% loss in their harvests.



Shahrizal joins us to discuss their journey; how a 40-hour bus and boat trip to Sulawesi, Indonesia solved their drying bottleneck, and how their farm is actively helping rural communities earn over RM2,000 a month while pushing Malaysia toward its 2030 goal of 30% self-sufficiency.

Malaysia spends over RM1 billion importing onions every single year. For decades, it was assumed that our local soil and climate were fundamentally hostile to the crop, making it cheaper to rely entirely on foreign manpower and imports. Shahrizal Denci is stepping into that massive market gap to prove that assumption wrong. As the founder of Bantu Tani, an agricultural social enterprise based in Sabah, he is building Malaysia’s first comprehensive onion ecosystem from scratch.After completely failing his first two crop cycles, Shahrizal partnered with MARDI to refine the growing model to successfully cultivate the resilient BAW2 shallot variety. Today, Bantu Tani has produced over 200 tons and developed a high-margin seed that harvests in just 70 days. Backed by a RM2.4 million grant from the Ministry of Economy, they are currently expanding across 40 acres, and building critical post-harvest infrastructure—after discovering that a lack of proper drying houses was initially causing a 20% loss in their harvests.Shahrizal joins us to discuss their journey; how a 40-hour bus and boat trip to Sulawesi, Indonesia solved their drying bottleneck, and how their farm is actively helping rural communities earn over RM2,000 a month while pushing Malaysia toward its 2030 goal of 30% self-sufficiency.

The flagship entrepreneurship show on BFM, featuring personal business stories from early stage start-ups, all the way to billionaire octogenarians in Malaysia and abroad. Notable guests include Martin Cooper (father of the mobile phone), Julian Assange (founder of WikiLeaks), Ralph Henry Baer (father of video games), Tony Buzan (Mindmap Guru), Isaac Tigrett (Hard Rock Cafe founder), Robert Kiyosaki (Financial Guru), Nick Vujicic (motivational speaker) and more. Tap into this valuable resource of shared experiences for the SME industry, which also touches on news, issues and trends affecting the business community and beyond.

Open For Business

Discover fresh concepts, tackle obstacles, and unleash growth - Open For Business is the dynamic show where BFM engages with entrepreneurs, business leaders, and industry trailblazers, igniting inspiration, sparking success, and exploring new business models.