KUCHING: After more than a decade in the local music industry, Iban songbird Melissa Francis has decided to take up entrepreneurship and hopes to become a very successful businesswoman in the future.
No stranger to the Sarawak music scene, Melissa is one of the leading artistes in the Iban music industry, having started her singing career as early as when she was eight years old.
In 2003, she started to record albums under the auspices of her own record company Platinum World Network Sdn Bhd. Later in 2012, Melissa became widely known as the first Iban artiste to win the ‘Anugerah Bintang Popular’ in the ‘Artis Paling Stylo’ category.
“Being in the music industry for 13 years has encouraged me to venture into business and start my own clothing line named ‘Melissa Francis’.
“I took the risk of opening a business and grateful that the business is well received,” she said.
After her successful venture into the fashion industry, Melissa eventually collaborated with her best friend Siti Faezah, better known as ‘CT Projam, to start a perfume business.
“It took a year for us to plan on starting the perfume business, and finally we were able to produce our very own perfumes with their names inspired by the titles of my songs, namely ‘Pengerindu Tua’ for women and ‘Raja Sapu’ for men.
“We have been selling these perfumes since December last year and I feel really proud that I finally have my own brand of perfumes, the first two with Iban names,” said Melissa, adding that she is thankful that after two months of sales, the perfumes received tremendous response from her customers who are mostly her fans. Melissa pointed out that she is currently planning on producing perfumes in bigger quantities, from the current 15ml to 30ml for its special edition.
“I am very thankful to friends and fans who have always supported me and my career,” she added.